Chinese learning best for our future
I REFER to the letter headlined 'English learning the best for HK students' from Kwan Wai-man (South China Morning Post, December 19). I agree that the education system in Hong Kong gives an edge to students whose medium of education is English.
The predominance of English in Hong Kong is reflected in the number of tertiary institutions that use English as the medium of instruction, learning and examination. Also, English provides greater educational opportunities because all examinations (except Chinese-oriented subjects) are conducted in English in the Hong Kong A-level examinations.
That means that those students whose medium of education in secondary schools is Chinese must switch to English at matriculation.
However, with the approach of 1997, the wider adoption of Chinese as the medium of education is practical for social and educational reasons.
English is not the sole factor contributing to the maintenance of Hong Kong's international status. As a Special Administrative Region of China, whose official language is Chinese, there is increasing emphasis on Cantonese, written Chinese and Putonghua. Chinese is now used in courts and in parts of the administrative machinery of the Government.
In the future, proficiency in Chinese (including Putonghua) will become important for Hong Kong's expanding political and economic links with China.
While Mr Kwan is right to say English will continue to play an important role in Hong Kong's development as an international business and financial centre, we should not neglect the importance of Chinese.
Students should be taught in the medium in which they can perform best. I do not agree with Mr Kwan that there is no difference in learning mathematics in English or Chinese. Different levels of language proficiency affect a student's ability to learn.
As Mr Kwan says, there is a shortage of quality textbooks and reference books written in Chinese. However, is this not due to the failure of concerned parties to provide relevant and sufficient teaching materials rather than the shortcomings of Chinese-medium education itself? In short, the adoption of Chinese as a medium of education is favourable for the future of Hong Kong and our students. Policy-makers must strengthen public confidence in it by providing more educational opportunities for Chinese-medium learning students and producing quality teaching materials in Chinese.
R CHAN Aberdeen
