Editorial | More doors open for top scorers in exams
- Although sights may be set on traditional careers in medicine, law and finance, well-paid opportunities also await in new industries driven by technology
Scaling the heights of Hong Kong’s highly competitive schooling system is a mammoth achievement and the record 12 students who scored top marks in university entrance examinations are to be heartily congratulated. They, their parents and teachers have worked hard for this accomplishment and can be justly proud. Understandably, the cream of the crop have their sights set on further studies towards careers that society considers the most prestigious, in medicine, law and finance. They have every right to make such choices, but as with the more than 54,000 others who received their results yesterday, conventional and traditional thinking is not necessarily the best or most satisfying vocational path.
Hong Kong certainly needs doctors and, professionally, there is no more gratifying way to help the community. The legal and financial sectors are equally important, particularly given our role in the Greater Bay Area. Culturally, such needs fit neatly into what parents with academically gifted children most want them to study at university. But the future is being driven by technology and a vista of opportunities have opened that, while not as well known, are as emotionally fulfilling and financially rewarding.
Among such jobs in the booming tech industry are ones with unfamiliar titles such as computer and information research scientist, software and application developer and information security analyst. All involve what Hong Kong needs at so important a juncture in its development: research, innovation and creative thought. The top scorers in the Diploma of Secondary Education exams certainly showed such flair, expressing opinions on a wide range of issues, including the controversial extradition bill. There is no need in our fast-changing technological environment to be wedded to convention.
Those who seek to break with tradition could well face parental pressure. But a shift in the economy is taking place and surveys increasingly show a mismatch between the skills of graduates and the jobs available to them. Higher education institutions need to better tailor their courses to community needs. But equally, society needs to be less traditional about the way it thinks.