https://www.scmp.com/rss/325425/feed Los Angeles native Robert Badal is an award-winning author, teacher and consultant. He has taught in the US, Japan, Korea and China, published research, and consulted for Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong Kong primary schools. His company is Ba Lao Shi Perfect English/BLS Press. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Over a year ago, the US surgeon general warned of “growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health”. Last September, Unesco exposed the pandemic’s “ed-tech tragedy”, where an “unprecedented educational dependence on technology often resulted in unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and the elevation of learning models that place machines and profit before people”. In March, Jonathan Haidt warned, in his book The Anxious... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3268015/phones-and-education-technology-deserve-no-place-hong-kongs-classrooms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3268015/phones-and-education-technology-deserve-no-place-hong-kongs-classrooms?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2024 01:30:09 +0000 Covid-19 is wreaking havoc on many businesses in Hong Kong, notably the once-lucrative tuition centres. To help out owners and their landlords, the government is giving out HK$40,000 (US$5,160) each to the roughly 500 former gold mines. Parents in Hong Kong traditionally spend more on their children’s education than almost anywhere else in the world, with much of it flowing into tuition centres. Now, with that river of cash cut off by social distancing, tuition centre owners are getting a nice... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3081125/instead-bailing-out-hong-kongs-greedy-tuition-centres-spend-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3081125/instead-bailing-out-hong-kongs-greedy-tuition-centres-spend-more?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Apr 2020 02:30:08 +0000 Hong Kong students have been ranked third again in Asian IELTS English test scores, a measure of proficiency in the language. But what does this result actually mean? For starters, those who take the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test tend to be those planning to further their studies abroad. So, are the test scores representative of the English proficiency of the average Hong Kong student? Absolutely not. There is no average Hong Kong student because there is no average... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3042672/hold-all-hong-kong-schools-same-english-standards-or-risk-widening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3042672/hold-all-hong-kong-schools-same-english-standards-or-risk-widening?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Dec 2019 22:30:15 +0000 One of my favourite non-fiction authors, Cal Newport, has just come out with a new book, Digital Minimalism. Although this title might at first suggest an esoteric Zen approach to programming, it is actually nothing of the sort. In simple terms, it means figuring out what you want from technology before you use it. Or, as Newport has stated: “Digital minimalism is a philosophy that helps you question what digital communication tools (and behaviours surrounding these tools) add the most value to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185426/our-smartphones-arent-sparking-joy-and-we-need?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185426/our-smartphones-arent-sparking-joy-and-we-need?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Feb 2019 03:00:15 +0000 Hong Kong parents are educational spending champions. This is manifested in “delegated parenting”: sending children to tuition schools. Family time that involves shared learning experiences is rare, arguably, due to long working hours. However, they spend more than anyone else in the world, so this argument seems circular. Hong Kong’s tuition school spending is not guided by knowledge about education or parenting, only trendy marketing: last year, English drama, this year, coding classes.  The... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2147256/why-hong-kongs-coding-classes-and-tutorials-will-not-nurture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2147256/why-hong-kongs-coding-classes-and-tutorials-will-not-nurture?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000 January 2: the World Health Organisation listed “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition under its International Classification of Diseases. January 6: the California State Teacher’s Retirement System wrote to Apple demanding restrictions to children’s smartphone access and support for research, citing a range of serious mental health issues connected to smartphone use supported by clinical studies. Soon after, former Apple executive Tony Fadell, “the father of the iPod”, slammed internet... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2130139/switch-smartphones-save-children-tech-addiction?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2130139/switch-smartphones-save-children-tech-addiction?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jan 2018 08:32:43 +0000 A recent Post article cited new research showing Hong Kong is not equipping its students for the future as well as Singapore or South Korea. Sounds ominous. But what does “equipping students for the future” really mean? The knee-jerk response is “technology” – like the classic 1990s Dilbert cartoon of a ponytailed techie spouting internet buzzwords like “e-commerce”, making venture capitalists swoon. Shortly thereafter came the dotcom crash. Also, mention layoffs to anyone in a Hong Kong firm’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114222/why-hong-kong-kids-need-less-time-technology-thrive-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114222/why-hong-kong-kids-need-less-time-technology-thrive-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Oct 2017 02:16:57 +0000