英基7子 全球最高分
晴報
3/27/2014
英基7子 全球最高分
英基屬下英皇佐治五世學校五位學生，在劍橋IGCSE試奪佳績；其中Narumi Wong獲附加數學全球最高分。
【晴報專訊】劍橋大學國際考試委員會公布了去年劍橋IGCSE考試（國際普通中學教育文憑）得獎名單，英基學校協會有七位學生考獲「全球最高分」，成為尖子中的尖子，秘訣是了解出題趨勢，再為自己定下高目標，而先決條件是對科目有興趣。
在附加數學一科考滿分而獲得「全球最高分」的學生Narumi Wong，現年十六歲，就讀英皇佐治五世學校，在該考試中亦獲得十一個A*的成績。
秘訣：目標要高 興趣為先
她形容，讀書需要有決心、堅忍，加上努力，才能成功，「我為自己定下非常高的標準，無論要下多少苦功也要達到這些目標！同樣地，要考取好成績，先決條件是要有學習動力及對科目有興趣。」
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另一位十六歲滿分數理尖子羅永彥，就讀西島中學，去年考試在國際數學科獲「全球最高分」。他說，小學時數學成績差，父母因此安排每周一次補習以「惡補」數學，然後每日做半小時至一小時的額外數學練習，風雨不改，因而慢慢愛上了該科，升中後數學成績突飛猛進，年年排名全級首三位，毋須再補習。
堪稱校內數一數二的數學尖子，被問到同學有否向他偷師時，他笑言沒有，形容自己作風低調。他考試的備戰方法，是做過去五年的考試試題，「我認為要在考試中突圍而出，必需要準確了解出題趨勢及答題要求。」
尖子：都滿足 但無驚喜
他又說，今次取得滿分「都滿足，但無驚喜」，因為去年也取得滿分的師兄曾說滿分不難獲取。
羅永彥在附加數學一科，亦取得94分的佳績，未來目標是修讀數學及經濟，他暫時最心儀港大或中大，其次是前往加拿大或英國升大學。
英基去年約有一千名學生參加八千多場GCSE/IGCSE考試，包括三十六個科目。其中56％考試場次取得了A*或A等級的成績，百分之94％取得A*至C等級。
形式如會考 港生數理科佔優
現代海外升學營運總監梁惠冰指，IGCSE考試形式與本港舊學制的中學會考（HKCEE）大致相同，課程內容稍較HKCEE容易，過往不少本港名校及國際學校學生均會報考，而港生在數理科、會計科等一向較外國學生有優勢。
英孚教育大中華區升學總監黃旭俊表示，考IGCSE最重要熟讀課程綱要，並做歷年試卷，熟習考題形式及掌握出題範圍，由於當局問題形式近年有所變化，故建議做近五年試卷便可。
黃續指，近年IGCSE的歷史科、地理科等社會科學試卷，較多開放式題目，考生作答時應以課程理論作基礎，再加上自己的見解，會較易獲取好成績。他亦稱，港生在數理等科目，一向有優勢，港生報考時可作考慮。
Senate House Education總監倫穎豪指，香港學生過往在IGCSE亦屢有佳績，主要源於IGCSE考試形式較着重背誦，與本港制度相近，這對港生會較有利。他指雖然IGCSE最低要求只需報六、七科，然而，有志報讀牛津、劍橋等名校的學生，宜報考八至十科。
Legal loophole opens up chance for homeschooling
Mainland parents who want alternative to rigid education take advantage of 'official oversight'
7 January, 2014
Karen Lee
Should parents be allowed to educate their children at home?
A legal loophole has opened the way for an increasing number of mainland parents who are disillusioned with the education system, amid more and more reports of child abuse in schools, to follow a controversial overseas practice.
Subject to regulations, homeschooling is legal not only in many Western countries including Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States, but also in Asian nations such as India and Indonesia as an alternative to the conventional school system.
Chinese law does not allow for homeschooling. The Compulsory Education Law, promulgated in 1986, mandates nine years of education for all children at registered schools, whether public or private.
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Homeschooling beyond kindergarten is, in theory, illegal. But official oversight has allowed more parents to teach their children at home or send them to home schools run by like-minded parents or private tutors.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, a Beijing-based research institute found in a recent survey that, of the 18,000 parents who had expressed interest in homeschooling, about 2,000 had already begun the practice. The majority cited dissatisfaction with the rigid pedagogy of traditional schools as the main reason, followed by a slow pace of lessons, lack of respect for children, their aversion to school life, and religious factors.
Homeschooling might also be fuelled by a lack of legal protection of minors. In addition to a string of recent revelations of sexual abuse in schools, a culture of corporal punishment among teachers has prompted more parents to consider alternative schooling. In 2012, several high-profile cases of "eye-pulling" and other incidents in kindergartens across Hubei , Zhejiang and Shanxi provinces triggered a public outcry and heightened calls for tougher laws.
At present, child abuse is not an offence under the mainland Criminal Law. The offence of "abuse" applies only to family members without specific provisions for children. Hence, teachers found to have abused their pupils might instead be charged with "provoking a disturbance", an offence punishable with up to five years in prison.
Alternatively, one may stand trial for "harming one's dignity and reputation through violence or other means", which carries a prison term of up to three years. But it requires the victims to first file a lawsuit.
More controversially, child-sex offenders are often charged with "soliciting sex from under-age girls" instead of the far more serious charge of rape.
For now, more than 48 per cent of the parents surveyed were optimistic about the prospect of homeschooling on the mainland. But whether this can go beyond a fad remains a question. For example, homeschooled children are unable to acquire certificates issued by registered schools - a must for those preparing to sit national university entrance examinations, or the gaokao.
It is also uncertain whether homeschooling will be tolerated for long. On December 23, the Communist Party's Central Committee gave its latest instructions on ideological education. According to the guidelines, "core socialist values" should be incorporated into the national curriculum and "cover all schools and those receiving education".
If the education law is enforced seriously amid a tightened ideological climate, the days when children can learn in the comfort of their own homes may be numbered.
Dr Karen Lee is an assistant professor with the Hong Kong Institute of Education's Department of Social Sciences
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Legal loophole opens up chance for homeschooling
最女人 - 香港教育死路一條
2013-11-23
王迪詩 頭條日報
我最怕跟一大班同事食lunch，那班阿媽圍起來談的都是湊仔經，我聽着幾乎都要悶死！但長年跟師奶們太疏離，又好像顯得我Daisy曲高和寡，睇人唔起，而且師奶最八卦，偶爾還得從她們那裏收收風，所以我每年還是會跟大夥兒吃午飯數次。
那天一班同事去飲茶，Catherine才剛坐下便滔滔不絕地訴說兒子的入學記。「我不過報了六間幼稚園罷了，在我認識的朋友中已是最少，但個衰仔居然扭計唔肯去面試！」
我低頭默默喝茶，心都寒。做人真有必要這麼辛苦嗎？怪不得早前新聞說有個孩子五歲就有抑鬱症。Jesus，幾時才捱到四十歲？才三歲就要去六間幼稚園面試，唉……不，痛苦的人生其實由未夠一歲已經開始。十個月大就報playgroup，play甚麼？鬥快爬，以刺激嬰兒的競爭心。
Vivian說：「我個女讀playgroup，導師說我個女是資優！」
「十個月就知道是資優？導師怎發現的？」我很好奇。
「導師說，我們發現你的女兒在鬥快爬的時候，對爬得慢的嬰兒陰笑，那顯示她看不起那些比她能力低的孩子，而這是遠遠超越她年齡的心態。」
Okay，十個月大已經成熟到識得陰笑，而這被表揚為「資優」，這個世界是否瘋了！
沒有一秒享受人生
「那一定要入playgroup嗎？」我天真地問。
「一定要！」在場四個阿媽同時搶答。Vivian解釋：「不入playgroup就考不進名牌幼稚園，入不到名牌幼稚園就考不進名牌小學，讀不到名牌小學就考不進名牌中學，接着是名牌大學……」
之後呢？不用問都知道畢業後做investmentbanker，搵大錢，三十歲退休。那三十歲後做甚麼？等死。死之前從來沒有一秒鐘享受過人生。
我向來頂唔順香港人同仔女講英文。聽着他們那些港式發音，你自己不覺得難受，我也替你的孩子難堪。孩子從小聽父母的港式英文，以後再也無法改正過來。好心啦，何必剝奪子女學習純正英語的權利？
Pauline的女兒三歲，學普通話、英語和法語。「趁女兒還小，有時間就盡量學多幾種語言，她升了小學後功課多就沒那種閒暇了。」
不知自己在講甚麼
我又低頭喝茶，同時想起早前新聞報道有父母讓兒子從兩歲開始學日文、英文和普通話，結果他五歲仍講不出一句完整句子，最終要接受語言治療。那當然，因為這孩子基本上不知自己在講甚麼。到底兩歲為甚麼要識日文？
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「其實我本來也不是太緊張，我也希望讓孩子自由發展，但當我看見身邊所有朋友全都為子女鋪路，我擔心自己個女唔學就會好蝕底！」Pauline說。
又是怕蝕底的典型香港人心理。結果孩子像倒模一樣大量生產出來的機器，沒個性、沒主見，拚命死記背誦，腦部在幼年已開始退化，也不敢創新突破。他們會講英文和普通話，卻十幾歲洗衫不知要落洗衣粉，因為那是菲傭的工作。是的，也許這些孩子長大後能賺錢，但他們卻是那麼平庸，甚至在某些方面有點弱能，人生沒有甚麼真正痛快精采的事。
這些父母以為自己好醒，其實愚不可及，他們親手奪走了孩子與生俱來最寶貴的東西──想像力和創造力。為了讓孩子愉快學習，台灣正提倡立例規定未滿六歲的幼兒，只能上有助於幼兒身體律動、藝術才能學習的課程，禁止英語、作文、珠心算、圍棋、大腦開發等強調記憶背誦或嚴謹思考的課程。德國也有類似的做法，孩子在六歲前不能學習任何學術性的知識，因為那會局限他們的心智發展，變成只懂因循模仿，失去創造力。香港走的不正正是相反的死路一條？
