- An interview with Mr. Chiu Tak-Wing, an Honorary Advisor of HK Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters

www.hkacmgm.org

Mr. Chiu deems the ultra-admissionrepresents that teaching quality is recognizedby parents because there might be siblings studying or parents working in the school, as such, the parents could fully understand the operation of the school and the quality of the teaching, andifthey allowtheir children to get admitted to studywhich implies they have a vote of confidence and reassures the the quality of the school. Therefore, parents may pay attention to the schools withultra-admissionwhen they choose school for their children.

But why district schools get more ultra-admissionthan traditional prestigious schools in recent years? Is it a representation of decline in teaching quality in traditional prestigious schools? Mr. Chiu believes the decreasing number of ultra-admissionin traditional prestigious schools is not a barometer of decline in teaching quality. Most parents now expectto haveboth a son and a daughter so they tendto enroll their children in co-educational schools andthat their children could enroll in a same school while the traditional prestigious schools are mostly single sex schools. This is the reason why parents now tend to prefer district schools to traditional single sex schools.

In addition, competition is so fierce in traditional prestigious schools, some parents areworried that their children could enter one of them successfully,and therefore prefer the district schools with good teaching quality and less reputation, which ultimately leads to ultra-admissionin district schools.

Parents begin to notice the district schools, but which area should they move to for a guarantee of a primary one vacancy? In the past, many parents tend to movetothe Kowloon City (41), but many "nomads" have not enrolled their children for their first choice successfully as there are too many families moved to this area. Mr. Chiu claims thatmay parents chooseLa Salle Primary School as well as Maryknoll Elementary School in Kowloon City as their first preference, but competition is too fierce because the two schoolsareaimed for by a large number of families.  In fact, there are also district schools with good teaching quality, he suggestsparents consider to choose Kowloon Tong Bishop Walsh Catholic School or Bishop Walsh PrimarySchool in the same district.

Mr. Chiu says there was a parent withthree residential unit, who can be freely movedto any district and consult Mr Chiu which area seems to be thebest for his children's further education. Mr. Chiu believes either Wan Chai (12) or Shatin (91) is better. There are many well-known primary and secondary schools in Wan Chai, while there are a lot of Band 1 schools in Shatin. Parents always pay more attention to Shatin Lui Ming Choi Primary School and Tin Wai Lui Ming Choi Primary School, or Sha Tin Wai Dr. Catherine F. Woo Memorial School. Mr. Chiu suggests that parents may also aim to The Salvation Army Tin Ka Ping School, P.L.K. Siu Hon Sum Primary School or S.K.H. Ma On Shan Holy Spirit Primary School, and children's future admission will be more guaranteed if parents move to these areas.

Mr. Chiu also says that the most important thing in studying is not a school admitted to but the interest in learning. Mr. Chiu says many schools tend to teach students abstruse contents and vocabulary which may seemingly improve the students' level but in fact it may only deteriorate children’s learning interest as they might not have much chance to practice.  During the stage of the kindergartens, children learn by using their right brains, therefore open education should be applied as childrencanlearn throughplayingand tryingmultifaceted things, learn more about things around, and ultimately it can arouse students’ interest in learning. 

Many parents arrange for their children to take many English and conversation exams, but Mr. Chiu pointed out that taking many exams when the children are young is not helpful in improving their interest in English learning. Mr. Chiu thinks that children should not be hastened until they are in primary schools.

Stepping into the primary schools, should open education or traditional oriental education be adopted? Mr. Chiu says it depends much on the student's character.  According to the result of the Programme for International Student Assessment, the top 7 are all studentswho took the oriental education mode, which reflect the advantages of the traditional oriental education. Mr. Chiu also claims that western open education tends to bemore suitable for the students who can take initiative by asking questions in an enthusiastic way, but may not be suitable for the introverted. Therefore,parents need to observe children's characteron a daily basis in order to determine whether they should apply for the traditional oriental education or western open education.