Our strict education system kills off initiative and ruins self-confidence

A study has found that parents who praise, rather than constantly criticise troublesome children, get positive results ('Parents should praise, not punish: survey', October 26). This survey has caused me to ask if it is it time for those parents who believe in a strict approach to lighten up.

I was lucky enough to have been a student of a famous Catholic English primary school. I owe my job as an English teacher to the education I was given. But all the time I was there, I never received any praise - not once. Not only that but my mother even employed a tutor who beat me if my schoolwork was poor.

I bear no grudges, because my tutor came from a strict church background, which believes in the need to repent and guard against your own sins. The church leaders' attitude was that we were all sinners, not people to be loved and treasured. They talked of hidden guilt, urging people to be humble and receive salvation.

In the primary school we were mocked in front of the class if we talked. School became something you had to endure so you could acquire knowledge.

Using your own initiative in your studies was unheard of. Later on in my education, during a short period in the US, I saw a different attitude. Almost everybody there lavished praise on you. For the first time in my life, college was really a place where lecturers treated students as friends and students treated lecturers as equals. After half a year studying there, I came back to continue my tertiary education with more confidence. I put up my hand and asked questions in lectures. I guess that explains why parents keep sending their children abroad or to an international school in Hong Kong.

However, criticism is the norm here and a lot of students do badly at school, because of this. They think they should be humiliated, because they are not measuring up. This attitude is exemplified by our chief executive, who believes we cannot rule ourselves and should be given the power to run things our way.