Developing a global attitude
Jasmine recently petitioned her school's deputy principal to use cooling fans more instead of air-conditioning to save energy. She is only eight. Jasmine, with some older students at Kennedy School, run by the English Schools Foundation, recalls feeling great about telling him about what fellow students think should change.
Jasmine's parents are far from worried about their daughter's readiness to assert herself at an early age. More personal freedom and less of a burden from homework are reasons they decided to enrol her in an international school. 'It does not help with a child's character development if he or she is always made to follow rules. Parents with children attending an international school may need to spend more time with them, explain different values and attitudes to them. It is part of parenting, after all,' says Jasmine's father, university administrator Dennis Lai Kam-wa.
Like many other parents who also have children in the international school sector, Mr Lai is pleased with the reduced amount of academic pressure his daughters face compared with the local system. He and his wife Esther also prefer to support their children's learning at their own pace.
They are not concerned that Jasmine and her five-year-old sister Hayley, a grade one student at Kennedy School, are more used to speaking in English than in Chinese. They know the girls have many opportunities to learn and practise Chinese in Hong Kong. They have also put them in Chinese tutorial classes, and buy them Putonghua CDs and read Chinese books with them.
'They may learn more about Chinese culture when they get older if they like, but we don't think they should put their Chinese identity above other cultures. They may need to interact with people from various cultures. The most important thing is for them to learn to respect other cultures,' says Mrs Lai.
She and her husband want their daughters to see more of the world and develop life skills.
Hayley says she is pleased with the school's playground, and her toy-filled classroom. Jasmine adds: 'I like to be taught. If I don't know anything, teachers will come and help me if I put my hand up.'
There is certainly no shortage of local parents who are willing to splash out on their children's education. A recent study of 12 international schools commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce found that the proportion of students from local families attending international schools increased from 13 per cent to 14 per cent from 2003 to 2005, while student turnover shrank, which meant that more students were staying longer in school.
The American Chamber of Commerce is calling on the government to give higher priority to providing more building sites for international schools. Its study in July found average waiting lists of 331 students across five schools this year, with a total of 1,654 queueing for places.
University lecturer Alan Au Kai-ming spends a lot of money each month on the schooling of his two sons, aged six and nine, who both attend Kingston International School, and their many extra-curricular activities. After school, Mr Au's sons have various lessons in Chinese, maths and English.
'There have been too many changes to the local education system and I was worried about which way it was going. Also, the English proficiency level of local students is on the decline. I think in an international city such as Hong Kong, a high level of English proficiency is important,' Mr Au says.
He also favours the small classes, broad curriculum and strong Putonghua tuition at the school. He says, however, that there is a trade-off of studying at an international school. Children in local schools tend to be stronger academically, for example, with better performance in maths, he says. But academic performance is not a top priority to the caring father. He values the quality free time he spends with his sons, who are freer than most local children because of their limited homework.
Learning at an international school can be a bit of a shock for local children who are not used to the environment. And the change can affect their confidence.
Curriculum co-ordinator at the Woodland Group of Schools, Ginny Humpage, says: 'The creative thinking, writing, and social group work done in international schools are different from what children from local preschools and kindergartens have been used to.
'Those who come at the age of eight or nine may lack confidence in schoolwork and mixing with their peers.'
She advises parents who are thinking about enrolling their children in an international school to put them in an international preschool first, to lay a positive foundation.
While some local children may require a longer transition period studying in a culturally different environment, parents may experience clashes with children who are exposed to a more inquiry-based system in international schools than they are in the local system.
Diane Fisk, principal of the primary school of the Victoria Shanghai Academy, which adopts the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, encourages parents who are facing such conflicts to talk to the faculty at their school.
'We have an open line of communication with parents. This should be happening in any education system.' She adds that the IB curriculum has a strong moral programme fostering such attributes as integrity, respect for others and tolerance.
'As a school we need to educate parents and children about what we offer. Maybe ours is not right for everybody, but I have never had any parent disagree strongly when they understand our programme. We want children to take responsibility for their actions and it is difficult for people to disagree with that,' she says.
