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SCMP Reporter

I LEFT Hong Kong in 1974 and came back around this time two years ago.

  Since my return I have had a number of occasions to talk to and work with young men and women who have supposedly passed the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). My experience has been nothing short of a cultural shock from which I will never quite recover.

  On Tuesday, the results of the latest HKCEE were published and I think it is a good time for all of us to sit back and ponder what has happened since I took the examination 39 years ago.

  In the 1950s Hong Kong was less exposed to the outside world. There was no television or computer games and we certainly did not know the term 'brand name'.

  There was only one university and, understandably, most parents were not that well educated.

  When I ran into a problem whilst doing my homework, there was simply no one at home who could help me.

  In school, most of our teachers were Chinese, and we were glad to have a few teachers coming from the UK. We tried very hard to understand them and they made genuine efforts to understand us.

  Even though the medium of communication was not Chinese, there were very few instances where we did not understand what was taught.

  In school we learned, amongst other subjects, grammar, which is essential if you want to understand a language. Every week we were given unseen dictation. Some of us were gifted and had no difficulty handling such topics, while the others had to struggle along. Generally, anyone making an effort could keep their heads above water.

  In Hong Kong in the 1990s, most secondary school students enjoy a much higher standard of living than we did. They are not better off in any other respect. Although I could not afford to attend a university and left Lower Sixth during the third month of that school year, I am indeed grateful that I can communicate much better than students of the 1990s, in English or Chinese, whether orally or in writing. Hong Kong is a multicultural city like Singapore. When we were attending secondary school there were people comparing our standard of English with that of our Singaporean counterparts.

  The consensus was, I believe, that the Singaporeans were a shade better. If a comparison was to be made today, I am sure Hong Kong students would be way, way behind.

  Hong Kong has been a British colony for over 150 years. How the standard of English could have been allowed to drop almost out of sight while it is still under British rule will remain a mystery to me.

  With June 30, 1997, less than two years away, I am sure many of our younger ones will find it equally difficult to communicate - in our own tongue - with whoever they will come in contact with.

  This may be a controversial subject, but I honestly think that it is time for educators, parents, employers and even students to wake up to the realities.

  NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED 



Declining language skills