My Take | Education reform another lesson in failure
- All that talk about creativity, play-to-learn, and balanced lifestyles is just a lot of empty sloganeering when vested interests run their own shows with government cash
How can anyone dispute the findings of the government-appointed Task Force on Home-school Cooperation and Parent Education to get people to allow their children to cultivate a more balanced lifestyle besides focusing excessively on study?
Oh, other than that their basic premise is flawed!
The Education Bureau looks set to endorse its recommendation to set up a multi-year campaign to encourage a cultural change in the mindset of parents away from favouring endless drilling and rote-learning to educate their children.
Tim Lui Tim-leung, the head of the task force, said more research should be carried out to prove to parents that excessive drilling did not necessarily contribute to a child’s development.
He sounded as if many, if not most, parents didn’t already know that. Yes, there is a significant cultural aspect to traditional schooling focusing on competition and getting high grades. But it’s not just the cultural mindset – it’s the education system and the incentives it has created for pupils, teachers and parents that account for the state of our publicly funded schools.