Blurring the distinction between English and Chinese-medium schools may encourage parents to take a more balanced approach to choosing secondary schools, an influential education academic said this week.
University of Hong Kong assistant professor of education Cheung Kwok-wah was speaking in response to the education secretary's strongest hint so far that the rules governing schools' teaching language are likely to be relaxed considerably.
He said giving schools flexibility to teach some classes in English and others in Chinese would generate a shift in the public's mindset.
'It will no longer be a black-and-white division between English- medium and Chinese-medium schools,' he said. 'You will instead be dealing with black, grey and white, and from there to many different shades of grey.'
While some schools would teach almost exclusively in English and some almost completely in Chinese - through choice or default - the majority would fall somewhere in the middle.
'It's just too complicated for the parents,' he said. 'How do you know when you have crossed the line [from Chinese to English medium]? If you have a large grey area it will be difficult to do a linear comparison, then there is a chance parents will start to look at a wider range of factors.'
He hoped parents could be encouraged to look at the school as a whole when choosing whether or not to send their child there, rather than place too much emphasis on what medium of instruction it used.