Our education system is full of holes. The many patches devised to fix it have all made the problems worse. That is why many parents have cast their vote of no confidence by sending their children to study either overseas or at the local international schools.
Ironically, most of those driving the reforms have failed to practise what they preach. Like other parents who can afford it, they have arranged for their children to study outside the mainstream system. If these decision-makers are reluctant to let their children live through the reforms, there is no reason why other parents should let theirs be guinea pigs.
Before the Lunar New Year, yet another report was produced by the Education Commission, a review of the medium of instruction for secondary schools and secondary-school places allocation. The paper has opened some old wounds and triggered a new round of heated debate on an old bone of contention - the language of instruction.
Parents and students in both the Chinese- and English-medium schools are virtually unanimous in their opposition to the recommendations of the working group, chaired by Michael Tien Puk-sun. As chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research, Mr Tien should be held responsible for the current mess.
The report suggests that only 40 per cent of current secondary one students are capable of learning in English. However, if an English school fails to ensure that 85 per cent of its secondary one intake falls within this category, it will have to use Chinese as the medium of instruction. A review is supposed to be conducted every six years, starting from September 2009. Meanwhile, schools teaching in Chinese will be allowed to set aside no more than 15 per cent of their classes to provide extended learning activities to raise students' exposure to English.
At first glance, there is nothing wrong with these proposals. However, viewed in a bigger social context, Mr Tien is apparently trying to retain an elitist system while being politically correct in promoting the use of Chinese as a teaching medium.
After the handover, the government was eager to be politically correct by imposing a mother-tongue policy. That met strong resistance from both students and parents. As a result, officials had to compromise by retaining 120 English schools, creating tension between the two sides.