Hong Kong schools could learn from the US system, but copying it would be a mistake

William Pang says critics have a point about the local HKDSE exam being too rigid, but blindly adopting a system with its own inherent faults isn’t the answer

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A student sits for a paper in the HKDSE exam in April. Some traits of the US system may benefit Hong Kong. For example, akin to how the SAT, America’s standardised test for college admissions, is administered multiple times a year, so students should be able to take the DSE exam more than once a year. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 6:10pm, 14 Aug 2017Updated: 7:01pm, 14 Aug 2017

We’ve once again entered the yearly ritual where stories of students attaining top marks in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education get shared on social media, and become fodder for discussion as students aspire to become the next “DSE scholar” and earn a ticket to medical school.

As well, there are stories of students attempting to crack the exam at their third attempt, and, once again, much criticism is aimed at the DSE exams.

The DSE, dubbed the “single examination that determines your destiny”, recalls the Chinese imperial exams of old – high-stakes and brutal. Not surprisingly, many have compared it unfavourably to education systems elsewhere.

Recently, the American system received much fanfare after former Canto-pop singer and one-time rumoured education secretary candidate Agnes Chan Miling (who sent her three sons to Stanford) made headlines for calling Hong Kong’s education system too rigid.

Next education chief or not, Agnes Chan knows the system’s faults

But is the American education system that much better?

What’s worth examining are the more subjective aspects of the university admissions process, such as admissions essays and extracurricular activities. At elite universities in particular, a “holistic” approach is taken, meaning that grades are not the only barometer for admission. Potential for being the next Yo-Yo Ma or J. K. Rowling counts, too.