Don’t blame liberal studies for Hong Kong’s political crisis – taught well, the subject could actually help defuse extremism

The escalation of the extradition protests is a crisis created purely by politicians and leaders. The way forward, for both school curriculum reform and social renewal, is not to suppress controversial political knowledge but to create space for it

Henry Kwok

Published: 9:00am, 9 Jul 2019

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Last week, former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa described liberal studies as a failure, even though the reform that paved the way for the compulsory teaching of the subject in secondary schools came during his tenure.

The scapegoating of liberal studies for a political meltdown created by the ruling elite is simply barking up the wrong tree. If liberal studies can indoctrinate students into extremism, should we remove the subject of Chinese history, which covers much more political content, such as the Boxer rebellion and the 1911 revolution, which may inspire revolutionary fervour?

There is no doubt that liberal studies is fraught with challenges for both teachers and students. A recent review of the broader senior curriculum recommends clarifying the content knowledge and making the school-based project optional. If the subject survives, have we thought about what it can offer in the midst of a political crisis?

As a former liberal studies teacher and teacher trainer at university, I would argue that, more than any other subject, liberal studies provides rigorous tools for teachers and students to grapple with thorny political issues, such as the extradition bill protests and the unfortunate storming of the Legislative Council building.

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One problem with the current liberal studies syllabus is that very often, the call for “multiple perspectives” is taken for “critical thinking”. In public exams, students may not necessarily be tested on the fundamental concepts or knowledge relevant to the six modules, but are assessed only on their ability to write structured essays.

Also, we need to ask how prepared and confident liberal studies teachers feel when deliberating on controversial issues in the classroom, given that not every teacher has received solid training on the relevant content. There is also no consideration of how the subject fits in with the rest of the already crammed curriculum.

Knowledge cannot be picked up through online news alone but needs explicit and systematic instruction. The new liberal studies curriculum dumbs down complex knowledge into a list of diverse views from so-called stakeholders, with no clear empirical evidence mapping out the progression of concept learning from lower- to higher-order thinking. Put another way, students cannot appreciate a Shakespearean sonnet until they achieve an advanced command of English.

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How the teaching of knowledge is paced and how comfortable pupils feel about their progress is of utmost importance. And teachers are frustrated when students are unable to catch up to the pace set by the curriculum. When students experience academic failure on a daily basis, frustration, anger and hopelessness are the inevitable outcomes. It is not that they lack the intelligence to understand political knowledge, but that the curriculum fails them.

The way forward, for both curriculum and social renewal, is not to keep controversial knowledge at bay, dumb down the subject or go back to a pub-quiz style of rote learning. Liberal studies taught well can defuse political extremism and thus serve the regime.

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In the 1991 liberal studies syllabus for example, several provocative questions were raised about law enforcement: “How important is the role played by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in ensuring that Hong Kong remains a safe, prosperous and stable society? How is this role exercised?” And, “What powers do the police have over individuals in Hong Kong? What prevents these powers from being abused? Does Hong Kong have the potential to become a police state?”

The content also highlighted important points such as:

The importance of a police force committed to the rule of law, and the mechanisms to ensure that a sufficiently large proportion carry out duties without fear or favour in accordance to law to maintain public confidence;
The consequences for Hong Kong of a significant deterioration in law and order;
An understanding of the police role through how their time and resources are employed ordinarily and in emergencies, and what this reveals about the importance of prevention and detection;
An understanding of police powers in terms of: the right to publicly stop, search, demand identification documents, question individuals and require them to go to a police station; to enter private property for searches or arrests, and; to detain individuals before or after charging them prior to court.

These points do not slant towards or against a particular ideology and are still relevant to a post-Occupy Hong Kong. So, why are we afraid of the subject?

The scenes of protesters fighting with riot police have already run people ragged. Further condemnation of their reckless actions is of no avail to a broken society. If education fails to provide a space for proper political knowledge, more people will turn instead to other sources such as fake news on social media.

If, one day, liberal studies is removed but disturbances continue to escalate into full-scale riots, will Tung blame other subjects for the problems created by politicians?

Henry Kwok is a graduate of the Universities of Hong Kong and Cambridge, a former liberal studies teacher, and a senior lecturer at the Open University of Hong Kong. He is completing his PhD on the politics of liberal studies at Griffith University, Australia

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