LettersWhy Hong Kong students must be bilingual to stay ahead
- Readers discuss the opportunities presented by China’s development and the US-China audit deal, and why it is important for kids to acquire skills outside schoolrooms
First, there is no such thing as a global education. And Hong Kong’s competitiveness is determined largely by geopolitical opportunities and the city’s ability to attract talent from around the world. So we should think about how to make our children more competitive instead.
Hong Kong’s education system is unique in that it requires young students to acquire both English and Chinese – one often seen to be among the easiest languages to learn and the other among the most difficult. Hong Kong students expend double the effort to learn languages from a young age, which is good for their future competitiveness.
The two languages are equally important on the school curriculum because Hong Kong is a bilingual city. Road signs are bilingual. Legal and financial documents are bilingual. Government officials answer questions or make announcements in both English and Chinese. In fact, an estimated third of the world’s population speak either English or Chinese, if not more. This already makes Hong Kong students more competitive compared with their counterparts in China and the United States.
Chinese has become an increasingly important language in the world because China has grown into a world economic power.