Kingspark News

Rotary Club of Kingspark
Club No. 30119. GPO Box 248 Hong Kong

Volume 12 Issue 2 - 15 August 2003

Contents

Editorial (Thou Shalt Not Speakth Chinglish) - By Francis Wann
President's Column (Attendance) - By President Peter
Excellent Organisation - By Graeme Barnes
A Moving Experience - By PP Raymond Sin
A Face Outside the Crowd? - By Michael Eyles
From the Webmaster (Silly August?) - By CP John Wan
Letters to Editor
Kingspark News Should Continue - By Harry
The Board

editorial

Thou Shalt Not Speakth Chinglish

This August is likely to be the summer of discontent for more than 90,000 HKCEE candidates who have to leave the mainstream of our education system. With about 120,000 students taking the exam and only 32,450 A Level places available, the stiff scramble for education would have left a sour note for many students who have to seek alternatives or enter the bleak job market.

This year's results are also all the more significant for they confirm some of our worst fears as the effect of the Government's language policy has come full circle. This year's candidates entered Secondary 1 five years ago either in an EMI (English as the medium of instruction) school or, as the majority did, in a CMI school.

As early as 1990 when the Education Commission produced its 4th report (then chaired by The Hon Rita Fan), the term "mixed-code' was highlighted and seen as the sole reason for unsatisfactory language performances among students. In a chapter devoted to language issues, it said that"... Unfortunately, however, the use of mixed-code is quite common in many of our classrooms. In English medium schools, while the textbooks, written work and examinations are in English, teachers often use Cantonese to explain the lesson materials to students and to conduct discussions with students... and wose still, learning (is) being reduced to rote memorisation of facts in English..." And in its final recommendation, it concluded that "it would be better if one clear medimun of instruction for teaching, textbooks and examinations were used. It follows that the use of mixed-code should be reduced as far as possible..." (Chapter 6 Language in Education 6.4 The framkework for future reforms)

Since then,we've seen the beginning of the great English-Chinese divide in our schools, and at last in 1998 the majority of schools have become de facto Chinese medium schools with the exception of 112 whiich are designated English medium schools. The implications of this policy has already been reflected in this year's Cert results, but naturally you don't need to wait five years to realise the extent of the damage it's done. At stake is not only the competence and proficiency of English standards, but the future of our students.

In MUNA 2003, we're looking at the cream of our students as they discussed the problems facing our world, but for many outside the Chambers, the problems are more immediate - unemployment and education.

Graeme Barnes of Island School whom I invited to coach the delegates in Muna, said he was once asked to assess an English medium school by the Government. All went well, but afterwards a student told him it wasn't the usual practice, and Cantonese was extensively used in the classroom.

Naturally people armed with various qualifications would not hesitate to tell our youngsters that examination results are not everything, as the Examinations Authority's Secretary Mr Choi Chee-cheong said "Excelling in the HKCEE is not the only path to success...They will succeed if they have confidence and perserverance." (SCMP 6.8.03)

Enough said.

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President's Column
By President Peter Lo

Attendance

Excellent Organisation

By Graeme Barnes

(Graeme Barnes is an educationalist with extensive teaching experience in international schools in Hong Kong - Ed)

It was an honour to be given the opportunity to speak to the three hundred students participating in MUNA 2003. I spoke to them just before they embarked on their weekend of adventure to 'solve' some of the world's major issues. Politicians and diplomats would be wise to visit MUNA or their local equivalent.

This was my first visit to MUNA though I have attended the HKMUN (Hong Kong Model United Nations) and the HMCE (Harvard Model Congress Europe) on many occasions. However, MUNA was one of the larger events I have attended and certainly the most professional in terms of organisation. All credit to the organisers who are mainly young people and students themselves.

On my only too brief visit to the debates the committee chairs impressed me greatly. They were confident, understood the rules, understood debating and most importantly guided the students in debate. MUN is most effective with excellent organisation and quality chairing. MUNA 2003 was blessed with both. The debaters came from several countries creating a more realistic MUN and providing students with a fantastic opportunity to mix with people from other backgrounds. This was the first MUN for many of them and they must have been overwhelmed, at first, with the size of MUNA and with all the rules and procedures they had to learn. Despite this the speeches I heard were extremely well researched, delivered well, and played with their specific countries position in mind. The delegates will have left MUNA more aware of world issues, more open to other view points, more confident, better debaters and better people. I hope they carry MUNA with them to their next MUN, to university, and beyond.

Well done to all who took part and helped make this an excellent MUN. If you have not already done so then put MUNA 2004 in your calendar.

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A Moving Experience

By PP Raymond Sin

(Raymond Sin was Organizing Committee Chairman of HKIMUN 2003)

Congratulations, you all have done such a marvellous job and made the HKIMUN 2003 a big success. You all deserve every moment of applause by the Delegates and visitors for the past few days, particularly the stand up salute from delegates in the Closing Ceremony.

From the depth of my heart, I sincerely thank every one of you for the timeless effort and selfless support that you put into the project. In fact, I could not sleep well every time when I remembered all of you had been working days and nights, waking up early at 7:00am and back to bed at mid-night. I am deeply moved when I think of those of you from the Program Department who need to make sure everything is in order before delegates started their days, standing on the foot bright to make sure no delegate went missing during transit, standing along the stairs as messengers inside lecture hall 9-6 pm just to pass the papers amongst the delegations and chairs; night time - arranging Opening, film show, International night and Closing Ceremony, almost everything. How can a little girl carry that heavy weighted duty? Everything turned to be as smooth as can ever be expected, well done. I am impressed when I thought of those of you from the Assembly Department having started chairing the assembly from 9-6 PM and eating your lunch in the open air outside the lecture hall because you need to prepare things before the delegates came back from lunch, and you not allowed to eat in the lecture theaters, oh! and it must have been over 30 C outside! Well done, you really performed professionally. I felt sad when I saw someone sitting at the Reception counter 9-6 pm, under heavy sun shine, just to wait for the occasional visitors. I was amazed that the MUNengy was produced on time everyday just because someone was working around the clock alone inside her room.

I am deeply moved by your experience of high and low tide, joy and tears. These moments were always on my mind. In your joy, I can see happiness and friendship amongst you. In your tears, I can see the hope in our project and the hope of our new generation. When I spoke in the Closing Ceremony " Rotary may not necessarily do project with 1st class service or 1st class organization. But Rotary and all of us are committed to serve the community with good heart, with good wish. We wish that we might change people better from what they were before. The result of the project may not be important. It is the process we treasure. It is a process to learn, to understand and to care your neighborhood. Although the project may not change the student delegates that much. But I believe that you have been changed in the process of having this project. You have became better men and women to serve and to change your community; better men and women to make this planet earth a better place to live in. You are the future of our community and Rotary. "

God Bless you.

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A Face Outside The Crowd?

By Michael Eyles

(Michael Eyles is Feature Editor and Editorial Board Secretary)

Most of you will not remember that our chief editor wrote his first editorial under the heading 'A Face in the Crowd'. He was asking us whether we were individuals first and Rotarians later.

Something has been on my mind since our lunch meeting on 24th July. The speaker Ms Michele Cheowtirakul started her presentation on Junior Achievement Hong Kong: Investing in Hong Kong's Future, by putting a slide on the screen with three headings asking us to participate, or was it to make sure we stayed awake?, by listing all the elements we could think of under each heading. There were two tables, so she gave the table I sat at the task of listing all the classroom subjects which young people in secondary school should have a good grounding in.To keep it simple, we listed the subjects we thought young people had deficiencies in. The other table had the task to list those qualities we would look for in interviewing a young person for his first job. I was slightly envious at their more challenging task, and our fellow Kingsparicans at the other table did not disappoint: enthusiasm, a knowledge about your business(have they bothered to do their homework about your company?), other worthy qualities and without fanfare the word Integrity was uttered.

It was pleasing to be reminded that when we interview someone for a job all of us probably quite without thinking do look for Integrity in choosing an employee to join the team. When we meet someone who may be suitable to join a Rotary Club, one of the qualities we look for is Integrity. Indeed it would be difficult to find any Rotarian in any part of the world who did not have Integrity. But outside this association in the crowd that is Hong Kong, how many people can we say maintain the standards of anything close to the four-way test? The pressures of unemployment, too much work for too few employees or doing business on the mainland are all examples that make one wonder whether Hong Kong people can maintain both the substance and image of doing things right. And do not get me wrong that the image of Integrity is sufficient; the image reflects the substance, and we must not hide that substance under a bushel. In this sense we are Rotarians first and individuals second.

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From the Webmaster

Silly August?

As we move into the middle of August, let us not forget that Rotary International has designated August the Membership and Extension Month. The need for membership growth and extension is obvious; and there is obvious built-in wisdom to have it early rather than later on the Rotary calendar.

We need manpower to sustain the very needy humanitarian work and service programmes worldwide. More members means more knowledge, more talent, more energy, more resources and so on. In short, as President Peter Lo has underlined in his inaugural address, membership is the key and strength of every organisation.

For a while now, the RI Board has been encouraging districts to have at least 75 clubs and 2,700 Rotarians in each district and has urged districts that have yet to reach either targets to either reach those numbers fast or merge with neighboring districts. District 3450 has never met those targets. We now have 53 clubs (including a few new ones in Mongolia) and less than 2,000 Rotarians. The economy being what it is, it would probably take someone with great vision and inexhaustible energy such as Churchill armed with the diplomacy of Kissinger to reach out to our natural hinterland - Mainland China - for more members and in the diversity we hope to see.

RI has been talking about extension into China for many years now. A number of senior Rotarians in the District have been actively involved and have offered RI wise counsel. We were close to a breakthrough for more than once, but in the past two years, the top leadership in Evanston apparently either had other plans or were otherwise preoccupied with extension to Cuba and Vietnam, all very interesting, but a lot of time not being spent wisely.

Even as you are reading this, senior Rotarians in the District are busy piecing together plans that could bring Rotary closer to the Mainland. But regardless of the outcome, Rotarians in the District should brace themselves and be prepared for extensive and colossal extension work in the Mainland at short notice. Until and unless we are mentally, corporally and institutionally ready for the task, there is little use complaining RI not moving in the right direction.

I had a senior colleague who would call August and the summer months the silly season, for during this period, the substantive post holders are often away, leaving behind a circus of actors. Not in Rotary. Rotarians would use August to consolidate and build a stronger position for membership extension. Let us do just that.

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Letters to Editor

Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response fro the latter for publication in the same issue if possible.

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Kingspark News Should Continue

By Harry

(Harry is a regular reader of Kingspark News and resides in California)

The end message or over-riding message/question in the latest issue of your bulletin was quite thought-provoking. I think the bulletin should definitely be continued, if only because it centralizes or brings a body to the words and feelings of the group; it acts as a collective grounds for ideas and community, for it is a community in the purest sense.

Publication under a rigorous time-frame is another issue. Without deadlines and a rough structure to follow, there is the tendency to be too lax and have a lack of publication, question and a haphazard way of operation it seems. So in some sense, the deadlines are mandatory, the constraints to keep proper order. However, there is the idea of what is the happy medium between production and quality.

It is quite possible that a monthly issue would better serve the purposes, for then there is plenty of time to marinate ideas and to piece out quality articles with messages and stories as opposed to perhaps, what many might feel as "canned" articles. This is not to say that they are indeed canned, however the mention in mere number of articles seems to bring to light the current difficulties.

I think quantity has never been the main message/medium of the news. The quality of the message and the community itself is the key element. A bi-weekly production is an ambitious plan indeed, one that would hold much promise. Because there appears to be some difficulty under current conditions, I would think that increasing from what now sounds like a burden (somewhat), weekly production, to monthly production would offer even more freedom and reign than a bi-weekly production, however.

Nonetheless, this is really the same thing: one is to overshoot and reign back; the other is to undershoot and to continue increasing. Goldlilocks never had it so good. In publication, there is a time where production becomes the over-riding issue as opposed to writing and the message; the luster and lure of magazine and newspaper writing could be frightening. It seems like such a promising and fulfilling option; but the pressure to produce would be so great and humbling; a great article today could mean something else tomorrow. Sometimes, it seems like one hand erases what the other writes.

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The Editors

Chief Editor : Francis Wann
Ex-officio : President Peter Lo
Features Editor and Board Secretary : Michael Eyles
Events Editor : PP Ted Ho
Reviews Editor : Joseph Chan
District Desk Editor : CP John Wan

The Board of Directors

President : Peter Lo
President-Elect : Thomas Chan
Vice-President : Dominic Ko
Secretary : Louise Chan
Treasurer : Raymond Lam
Rotary Foundation : PP Raymond Sin
Club Service Director : PP Ted Ho
Community Service Director : Clan Hung
Internal Service Director : Michael Au
Vocational Service Director : Patrick Wong
Programme Director : Joyce Mak
Sargeant-at-Arems : Feroz Sultana
Sports Captain : David Cheung
IPP : Anwer Islam

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