Many People Are Critical of the Hong Kong Education System, Saying That It Is Too Exam Oriented. to What Extent Do You Agree?

Many people are critical of the Hong Kong Education system, saying that it is too exam oriented. To what extent do you agree?

Hong Kong is one of the cities having the highest educational level in the world. It seems that Hong Kong have a well education system in the world. However, I agree with this statement about the educational system in Hong Kong.

To begin with, the majority of students are provided with 12 years of education as the Hong Kong government increases the years of compulsory schooling in Hong Kong. Also, the removal of fees and only one series of public exams in senior secondary school that is a welfare to make more opportunities for the children and raise the level of education in Hong Kong. Under this structure of education, students are allocated to Secondary schools through their performance in three examinations taken in Primary 5 and Primary 6. Schools are extremely competitive and parents hope their children can get a strong preference and to be allocated to a top or higher band school (the band 1 school). After achieving this goal, students in Forms 4-6 now prepare for the HKDSE to entry the university, the examinations for which are held at the end of Form 6. As well know, studying in university is most students’ dream coming true. Unfortunately, since the capacities of the universities are too small, about 30% of students can get in universities, and they will eventually attain their target provided that they perform well in public examinations. In other words, academic achievement in public examinations becomes the determining factor in distinguishing the so-called ‘’winners’’ from the ‘’loser’’. As we can see, the education system is examination-oriented and the value of education is twisted.

Apart from that, it is undeniable that certain drawbacks can be found in this system. The aim of education is to realize one’s potentials. It fosters students to contribute our society. Students who have outstanding achievement in academic aspects or non-academic fields like sports, music, performing arts and community service are highly appreciated. They are encouraged to receive further education to develop their potentials fully. However, those who just do well in non-academic areas are less fortunate to gain tertiary education based on the traditional entrance requirement-examination. Students are always cramming for examination that they are unwilling to spare much time to joining extra-curricular activities. They rather spend more time on studies for the sake of getting a great result. In this process, students only need to remember the words from text book and learn the skills for answering the examination papers. It makes the learning process boring. Students are not likely to be interested in learning and not learn other things by themselves. This lets them hard to learn working skills and accommodate the working environment and the society in the future. In addition, the learning process like this would let them lose critically thinking since they only try to familiarize the content of the text book.

Hong Kong is an international city in the world and the quality of education should be uplifted. Education is not limited to academic pursuit, but also involves personal growth. Such kind of education is what we call whole person education today, of which the importance can be emphasized.