What Happened at Our Meeting
on
7th May, 2003
VP. Rudy acted as the President for today and opened today's session by welcoming members who turned up diligently. He mentioned that there were no visitors for the day, but there were two Birthday boys, namely, PP. George and Rtn. John Yao. The "boys" invited their favorite singers who were PP. John Kwok and PP. Hubert to lead the Birthday songs. VP Rudy also presented the "boys" with their Birthday gifts and congratulated them for re-celebrating their youthful years again!
PE. Henry then took the rostrum and mentioned that members might be wondering, during this moment of SARS virus outbreak, what the Rotary International was going to do to contribute and help relieve the various mishaps of the Hong Kong society. He further elaborated that a task force had been formed under the leadership of DGE. Jones for this purpose, and some plans were being formulated, such as, collecting a certain sum of donation from each club for the formation of a relief fund. Further notice would be announced in the near future by the task force.
Next, PP. Tim was given the task to auction a bottle of champagne donated by Rtn. Tony. Rtn, Tony was very kind enough to ask that the proceeds of the auction be donated to the club's weekly collection. The auction started at a price of HK$300 and continued in an exciting atmosphere, until PP. John Kwok wound up the bidding with his offer of HK$1000. Big congratulation to PP. John for his successful bid, big thanks to Rtn. Tony, and certainly, great job to our auctioneer, PP. Tim! Together with the money collected from the auction, Dir. Laurence, who acted as the Sergeant-at-Arms, happily reported a handsome collection of HK$2,500 for the day - a job definitely well done!
As the highlight of today's session, VP. Rudy started introducing our featured speaker of today - Dr. Law Hing Chung. Dr. Law graduated from the University of Hong Kong with B.Sc. (Hon.) and Master of Education. He also obtained his Ph.D. from the University of London, Institute of Education. With his extensive past experience in education in Hong Kong and overseas, he was the current Principal of Pui Kiu Middle School. He had focused his academic interest in the areas of Statistics; Research Method; Education Measurement; Curriculum issues and Management of Change.
Dr. Law's featured presentation was entitled - "How to educate your children in the post-modern era?" The theme of Dr. Law's presentation was described in the following statements. Providing sound education to our children was seen by many to be the most valuable cultural capital passed on to the next generation, especially in a community dominated by knowledge economy. However, the present school system was mainly based on what should be learned in the modern, industrial society. To prepare our children to face the challenge in a future society, maybe ten or more years from now, what could we do if we did not choose home-schooling?
In his presentation, Dr. Law introduced members to the changing elements of the Hong Kong society owing to such factors as increasing connectivity, complexity, knowledge evolution and cultural diversification. He cited Finland's transformation of its society from the industrial age to the post-industrial era. The transformation revealed that traditional, repetitive forms of knowledge and business practice were insufficient and obsolete. Furthermore, experiences showed that the acknowledgement and assimilation of different cultural practices and habits became the foundations of co-existence among people of the future society.
Dr. Law further stressed upon the needs of the new era, regarding educating the next-generation of people of Hong Kong. These needs included life-long learning, where knowledge formed the mainstay of the Hong Kong's economy and that it was constantly evolving. Next, he mentioned the importance for us to understand the different systems of values, cultures and philosophies, in making such decisions as whether we wanted to have our children educated in a Chinese-culture or Western-culture environments. Dr. Law also emphasized on the importance of developing the appropriate thinking skills and systematic thinking ways for the formulation of new ideas and adoption of open-mindedness towards practical issues. As languages and social skills were integral parts of communication, Dr. Law believed that the education system should be geared towards fostering these skills for our children to learn how to collaborate in teams. Other than English and Chinese, he encouraged parents to consider other European languages, such as, German and French, for their children to learn. He also mentioned the need for the education system to develop a healthy and dynamic culture for the future of the Hong Kong society.
Last, but not least, Dr. Law highlighted some of the status-quo of the current school system in Hong Kong. He described the existing school system as a mere reflection of the industrial age. In his opinion, the existing forms of teaching placed too much emphasis on content teaching methods, together with rigid forms of assessment. These methods of teaching and assessment might, in turn, not be conducive to the future needs of the society. The current school system was also embedded with rigid forms of discipline controls together with the establishment of student monitors and prefects. According to Dr. Law, the belief that school diplomas might be of great use to one's life was becoming obsolete. This was becoming true as there were increasing number of examples of children who had succeeded in their lives, despite bad school results.
Nonetheless, Dr. Law reminded members that the school system, unlike some business practice, could not be changed overnight. He concluded by advising people to make most use of what was available from the existing school system, while the latter was gradually undergoing changes for the better. Finally, VP. Rudy thanked Dr. Law for his informative and interesting talk, and the former then ended the session by proposing a toast to the Rotary Club of HK Island East.
Rotary Centres for International Studies The Rotary Foundation has partnered with eight leading universities around the world to establish the Rotary Centres for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. Each year, Rotary will select 70 scholars to study at one of the seven Rotary Centres worldwide. The selected Rotary World Peace Scholars will begin two-year master's level degree programme in conflict resolution, peace studies, and international relations. Each Rotary district may nominate one candidate for the selection process. The inaugural Rotary Centres programme will take place during the 2002-2003 academic year (2003 academic year in the Southern Hemisphere).
Programme Objectives
The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International has established the Rotary Centres for International Studies :
a) to advance research, teaching, publication, and knowledge of issues of peace and goodwill, causes of conflict, and world understanding;
b) to provide advanced educational opportunities for a group of Rotary World Peace Scholars chosen from various countries and cultures in order to advance knowledge and world understanding among potential future leaders of government, business, education, media, and other professions;
c) to establish a programme through which The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International and the member clubs of Rotary International may become increasingly effective in promoting greater tolerance and cooperation among, peoples, leading to world peace and understanding.
The three sins From IPP Stephen. A man walking in the city was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby bum, who asked him for a couple of dollars for dinner.
The man took two dollars out of his pocket, and asked, "If I gave you this money, would you take it and buy whisky?"
"No, I stopped drinking years ago," the bum said.
"Would you really use it to gamble?" "I don't gamble - I need anything I can get just to stay alive."
"Would you use the money for greens fees at a golf course?" "Are you nuts? I haven't played golf for 20 years!"
The man said, "I'm not going to give you $2.00. Instead, I'm going to bring you to my home for a terrific dinner cooked by my wife."
The bum was astounded. "Won't your wife be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell lousy."
The man replied, "That's OK- I just want her to see what a man looks like who's given up drinking, gambling and playing golf!"
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