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Letters

Home-room policy is good for students
I refer to Candy Yuen's letter ("Teacher room policy fails students", March 13).
Your correspondent claims that the home-room policy, where students are forced to change rooms after each subject, is disruptive and unfeasible for Hong Kong schools.
On the contrary, from my own experience in Australia, I believe home rooms would bring more benefits than Ms Yuen has first observed.
By implementing a home- room system in Hong Kong schools, this will serve to enliven students during the school day and provide them with a fresh learning environment after each single or double period.
Furthermore, educational research has proven that taking a short break in between studying improves memory and concentration.
As a secondary school teacher, I am disheartened that the culture of punctuality seems to be scarcely observed in Hong Kong schools and lethargic students are a common sight.
Moving to a new classroom for a new subject stimulates blood circulation, wakes the mind and body and encourages positive values of student responsibility and punctuality.
Of course, time must be allocated to students to allow for travel from class to class.
To achieve this purpose, five minutes between lesson times would be sufficient. This might mean losing one lesson a day overall. However, the students and teachers won't complain, and in the long term, the benefits will outweigh the cons Who knows, eventually, staircases might be seen as a delightful respite, rather than a hindrance.
Kudos to those schools which are trying something new.
Samuel Joseph Craig, Tai Kok Tsui
Fine-tuning can make system feasible
I am curious about why Candy Yuen thinks the home-room policy in schools is bad for students ("Teacher room policy fails students", March 13).
She simply says that it would be "very disruptive" for students to be "constantly on the move".
A lot depends on different factors such as the size of classes of schools adopting this policy, timetabling, the age of students and the design of the campus.
I think the home-room policy would fail if it copied the Western home-room model. What is needed is the right kind of fine-tuning by teachers and school managers and adapting to how things work in Hong Kong schools.
For example, students have around nine different subjects a day and it would be disruptive if they had to move after every lesson.
Only time will tell if the policy is feasible in Hong Kong or if it should be scrapped. But any objections should be based on strong arguments.
Po Li, Tai Po 
Interesting choice of words by head
I was most interested to read in an interview that Dr Gregg Maloberti, head teacher of the Canadian International School ("Head rejects call to quit amid furore", March 17) said that one of his staff members was not suspended, but was "on unrequested leave".
Sadly, I am to speak at the funeral of a dear friend next week. Instead of referring to his accidental death, I will instead be sure to call it "an unrequested fatality".
Paul McGuire, Mid-Levels
Storm has no link to global warming
Super Cyclone Pam has caused widespread devastation in Vanuatu.
The best explanation for the formation of this cyclone is not global warming but regional warming of a portion of the southern Pacific Ocean triggered by the eruption of a submarine volcano off Tonga since December.
Similarly, the submarine eruption of the El Hierro volcano between October 2011 and March 2012 in the Canary Islands archipelago switched on hot seawater in the North Atlantic Ocean.
This was responsible for extreme weather events including Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New York, in addition to a long succession of frontal activity storms causing severe flooding in Britain during 2012.
Policymakers serious about disaster risk reduction, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, should take it as a wake-up call that all severe weather events I have mentioned were naturally driven climatic disasters.
The UN Climate Change Conference in December, in Paris, will attempt yet again to reach agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emission, but this cannot be the solution.
Wyss Yim, Pok Fu Lam
Pros and cons of art project in alleys
I think Hong Kong has quite a vibrant arts scene. The Museum of Art has a wide range of exhibits, with historical and modern paintings and Chinese art, including calligraphy.
There is even creative graffiti which you see in some alleys in the city.
However, most citizens pay little attention to what is on offer.
A new addition to the art scene will be six sets of "damp and dark" alleys in Kwun Tong ("Back alleys to get an artistic spotlight", March 6).
They will be adorned with work including graffiti and art installations by local and foreign artists, with HK$1 million from the government.
Of course, this initiative has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the downside, this could be seen as a waste of resources as it will not be popular with tourists. They do not come for a holiday to Hong Kong to visit our back alleys.
Also, wouldn't it be better for the government to spend the HK$1 million it has allocated for the artwork in the alleys on direct help for the poor in the city, such as giving them lunch boxes or daily necessities?
I cannot see how art installations will do much to enhance these alleys.
They are neglected thoroughfares frequented by stray dogs and cats, and unhygienic. Why would anyone want to visit a place in that state?
However, supporters of the project could argue that, if done properly, the revamp can offer new recreational venues to citizens who will have attractive artwork to admire.
Also, our city is full of tall buildings and advertising billboards and there is a sense of uniformity.
It will be good to see something different with these examples of street art.
Supporters will also say that there are some tourists who will want to see these examples of local art and culture.
Christy Lam, Tseung Kwan O
Eco-tourism in HK has huge potential
Tourism is one of Hong Kong's key industries and generates substantial sums of money. As such, it helps to maintain our economy.
The most famous tourist attractions are hugely popular with large numbers of visitors, such as Ocean Park, Disneyland, The Peak and the Big Buddha, and downtown areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.
However, I think there is a need for greater diversity.
The tourist hot spots I have described reach saturation point during the high season and the government should be trying harder to attract some of our visitors to other, less popular locations.
We need to make greater use of our countryside. Hong Kong has abundant natural resources, so the administration has to work harder at promoting eco-tourism.
It does not take long to get from urban areas, where most hotels are situated, to our country parks.
We have hexagonal rock columns at East Dam, and the sedimentary rock outcrop in Tung Ping Chau, and there are many hiking trails with beautiful scenery.
We can learn from other places such as Costa Rica. Its eco-tourism generates more than US$200 million in income.
We keep creating more artificial landmarks such as the recently installed Ferris wheel at Central waterfront.
Surely it is time to think more about sustainable development of this important sector by paying more attention to eco-tourism.
Katie Lee, Ma On Shan
Search for missing flight not total failure
I could not agree more with your final paragraph in your editorial about the fate of MH370, and the need for the families of the victims to accept the unpalatable inevitable fact that their relatives are dead ("Time to accept truth of MH370", March 10).
However, I do take issue with your view that "best efforts" of the search "have nothing to show for the work".
As a responsible news organisation, the South China Morning Post should be aware of and should acknowledge that the search has much to show for its efforts, in terms of the geographic and scientific knowledge of the undersea terrain that has been gained.
Hitherto unknown parts of our planet's surface are now being mapped and revealed. Who knows how this may benefit us in the future.
It is not "nothing", as you suggest.
The search for the plane has been unsuccessful.
However, your implication that the search has been a total failure is unwarranted and unjustified.
J. A. Moffat, Ma On Shan


Letters to the Editor, March 19, 2015

Waves batter the coast of Port Vila, Vanuatu. Photo: AP

Opinion