Father chooses private education for son over Hong Kong's 'spoon-fed' school system
11-year-old Nathan Lee For-shing prefers the nontraditional and flexible curriculum of the Hong Kong Memory Association
The father of an 11-year-old boy is so frustrated with Hong Kong's education system that he has applied to the Education Bureau for his son to be exempted from enrolment in mainstream schools.
Instead, the boy, Nathan Lee For-shing, has been studying for a month at a private education centre which uses unorthodox techniques to facilitate learning.
The centre, run by the Hong Kong Memory Study Association, teaches pupils English spelling by asking them to draft stories with words given by the teacher. Unlike traditional mainstream schools, the association does not assign homework.
"He will not be able to have his potential developed [in mainstream schools]," said Michael Lee, the boy's father, adding that the education system was "spoon-fed and rigid".
Nathan came to Hong Kong from the mainland in May after he and his mother were both granted permits to move to the city. His father, 43, is a Hong Kong resident.
Soon after the younger Lee arrived in Hong Kong, his father tried to enrol his son in a mainstream school as local laws require children to go through nine years of compulsory education up until Form Three in secondary school.