2015Social Issues
Many parents in Hong Kong are sending their children to other countries to complete their schooling. Write an article for your school magazine examining two reasons for this phenomenon. You should also discuss the impact of this on local schools and on children who leave to study overseas.
Is it acorrect choice for Hong Kong children to study overseas?
Seldom does a day go by without TV programmesdiscussing the helicopter parenting style in Hong Kong. Some artists sharetheir views about this recent phenomenon ---- parents tend to send their childrenoverseas to further their study. The reasons behind and impacts worth ourin-depth investigation.
One cause of this issue is attributed to Hong Kong’seducation system. As Hong Kong is a knowledge-based society, the academic qualificationsplay a vital role in job-seeking. In view of this significance ofqualifications, most schools put great effort on academic subjects but ignorethe whole-development of students. Subjects like visual art, physical educationseem to be phasing out in the recent years. In order to explore children’spotential talent, some parents choose to send their kids to other countries since the Western countries advocateto develop different aspects of kids, not just focusing on academic work. Forthose students who show poor performance on the school reports, studying abroadmay be a better way to their future because Hong Kong is strangling theircreativity.
Another cause is that many parents in theterritory, especially the younger generation, are now under the impression thatcompleting school overseas is more aristocratic. Thus, sending children toother countries is regarded as a noble behavior and their children will be moreprecious after backing Hong Kong. They mistakenly think that qualificationsfrom abroad must attract the boss’s attention and therefore a higheropportunity to hire their son or daughter in the future. They believe that theyare paving road for their kids, assisting them to create a brighter future andthat’s the reason that Hong Kong parents are sending their children to othercountries to complete their schooling.
However, such behavior may bring consequences tothe local schools. As many children are sent overseas, the number of Hong Kongstudents drop drastically. This trend will lead to under-enrollment in HongKong local schools. As a result, there is an increasing number of schoolsfacing the crisis of bankruptcy. It is a hazard of Hong Kong schoolsundoubtedly.
For those children who leave to study overseas, itbrings both positive and negative impacts to their growth. As English is aparamount language in the world, speaking a fluent English can certainly helpchildren to communicate with different types of people in future career orsomething. Children can also learn to be independent via studying alone in astrange country. But one coin has two sides, children may be discriminated orisolated by the local kids. Since Hong Kong children use Cantonese as theirmother language, they may have difficulties in communicating with people byEnglish. With different skin colours and non-fluent language, bullying iseasily found in the immature age of kids. Thus, the warped value of children isalso an essential to consider.
Is it really a good idea to send Hong Kong childrenoverseas? The answer is still controversial. Maybe it is time for Hong Kongparents and schools to rethink what is good for children’s growth and themeaning of education. The fate of our next generation depends on your choice,think twice.
