S. Chiu hit the nail on the head when she questioned the mentality of the education authority in her letter ("Let children learn to enjoy education", May 24).
I can only guess at the mentality of education officials.
Vanity over high standards of academic achievement could be a reason. Usually, comparing results with other cities relates to the top percentile of each city. The rest of the student population becomes collateral damage.
The majority of parents I know still equate exam results with learning. Unfortunately, the Education Bureau holds the same view. This helps to exacerbate paranoia, which puts more pressure on children.
I wonder if this is due to ignorance. I agree with radio talk host To Kit's claim that policies in local schools are not guided by principles of psychology. It is cruel to give a nine-year-old 11 assignments.
When officials consider education policies, do they take into consideration that children are not born the same?
Late bloomers have little chance to survive the system. By the time they have reached their potential, the chances are they will have already lost interest in school. This is a common phenomenon in non-band-one schools.