It's all about scoring in life, as in education, for tutorial king
Tutorial king Kevin Ko issued a rare public apology yesterday, which took up the entire front page of Sing Pao Daily News. Well, it's not much of an apology, really.
The private economics tutor said he had refunded half of the tuition fees to six students - whose names he published in the 'apology advert' - because they scored only a D grade in their Certificate of Education Examination. It's not clear whether conditions for the refund included agreeing to have their names and exam scores advertised on the front page of a mass-circulation newspaper. He also didn't say whether any of his students flunked the economics exam.
But the real point of the ad is the list of 200-plus students who obtained an A in their report cards. It was the ratio of 34 As for every D that the good sir was drawing attention to in the ad. He claimed their scores had been verified by a law firm.
Taking out whole newspaper pages has become increasingly common among a dozen or so tutors who must qualify as multimillionaires. Sir Ko now operates eight tutorial centres across Hong Kong.
Equally well known for being a property speculator and collector of fashionable brand accessories, his fabulous houses and luxury cars often feature in magazine society pages.
Sir Ko has successfully inverted the Education Bureau's slogan - education is about learning, not scoring. He has shown it's all about scoring, in life as in education. Just look at his fabulous lifestyle.
