Talkback

Q What do you think of the teachers' English performance? I am one of the failures in the recent benchmark test. I am writing in the hope that you will consider the possibility of looking beyond the pass rate of 29.9 per cent for writing. With all due respect to Jill Sinclair Bell, [head of the English department at the Hong Kong Institute of Education], I have to take exception to her remark that 'those who still remain in the test system are having difficulty in teaching the subject'. Of the 17 tasks in the five papers, I got nine 5s, four 4.5s, two 3s and one 2. The 2 was for explaining errors or problems. For correcting them, I got a 5. As a result of the 2, my benchmark for the writing paper was classified as 'not attained'. To add insult to injury, I quote from the back of the results notice: 'A candidate who has attained level 2.5 on any one scale and level 3 or above on all other scales of the respective papers is also considered to have met the proficiency requirement.' For the other scales in the writing paper, I got three 5s and one 4.5. For all the 17 tasks, I got an average of 4.44, which should have, if not for the 2, got me a certificate of merit. This is my first sitting for the test and I believe it is an uninformed assumption that those remaining in the test system are 'less capable', as put forth by Professor Bell. This is not a criticism of the professor, but a reminder of the danger of making such blanket assumptions from very general statistics. The problem here is that the public, upon reading the words of someone in authority, will take it as fact and the finger will again point at the teachers who will have to bear, if not all, the major share of the blame for falling English standards among our students. In fact, judging from my school, the 'less-capable' English teachers have not opted for the test but, instead, have taken training courses and they have produced shining results, with every one of them attaining the benchmark. It would be interesting to see how they would do in the public benchmark test. Name and address supplied Q Will the hygiene plan reduce food poisoning? Referring to your article 'Restaurants must hire hygiene supervisors', published on December 15, I think it is inadequate because although the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has done a great job in promoting hygiene awareness and hygiene supervisors' and managers' courses, we still get cases of food poisoning in hotels and fancy restaurants, not simply backstreet operations. What the government and catering associations should do is encourage food premises to adopt and implement a 'hygiene control system' which was launched by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency. This system will raise the hygiene standard and is also an independent assessment scheme. The public should dine at restaurants that have achieved a recognised standard of hygiene. This will put pressure on the restaurants to raise hygiene standards. At the moment, we only dine at the ones we think are safe but we are at their mercy. I have rated kitchens of restaurants that have chefs who are hygiene supervisors and passed the food and environmental hygiene inspection, yet their hygiene would be found lacking under the hygiene control system. Legislator for the catering sector Tommy Cheung Yu-yan is correct in saying the problem could not be resolved through hygiene managers and supervisors because owners are not applying enough resources to create a hygienic environment and practises . Leslie Lee, Kowloon Bay Q How do you feel about the axing of the Canton Road station? The government said via [Secretary for the Environment] Sarah Liao Sau-tung: it is only a 10 to 15-minute walk. The public should have no problem about this. KCRC chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun repeated: yes, it is just a short walk. We will build a tunnel. Ms Liao and Mr Tien, please leave your plush offices and luxury limousines and give the real world a try. See how you feel when you walk 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, five or six days in a row, from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Canton Road. Now try it with a crutch or in a wheelchair. Could there be more out-of-touch people who actually work for a living? I am reminded of Marie Antoinette near the end of the French revolution in the 18th century: if the public are hungry because they cannot find any bread, let them eat cake. If the KCRC believes it is not its responsibility to build the Canton Road station no matter how much the public wants it, then it should become our government's responsibility to ensure that the public demand will be satisfied. Hsu Pen Yin, Hunghom On other matters ... Recently, I was waiting to cross Des Voeux Road Central between Alexandra House and the Bank of East Asia. There were two police standing very conspicuously at each side of the crossing holding clipboards. The traffic lights turned red and the traffic had stopped. My 'crime' was to step onto the road after the traffic had stopped but before the pedestrian crossing green man had become illuminated. I was hauled to one side and my identification card demanded. I was warned of the seriousness of this offence and the officer really could not see the ludicrous nature of stopping me for stepping onto the road less than two seconds early and well after the traffic had stopped. And yet at Pedder Street, where 50 people were doing the same, no officers were to be found. Name and address supplied