My views on the Asian education model are by no means perfect...

Dr. Yuk-Ching Hon

6 October 2011

Well, I totally agree with Zhao's statement. And the situation demands urgent revamp in Chinese education and parenting. In my 20 years service in further and higher education in UK, most of the Chinese students I taught are only good at 死讀書! You can rely on the hardworking ones to achieve lots of A*s and As but you can't squeeze much independent thinking out of them. They can't think outside the box, they are only good at regurgitating.

Most of them don't read the news or what they called 閒書, have no individual opinions nor can they make any intelligent comments on world political financial affairs. It's almost impossible to get them participate in any debates on current affairs. I remember, the day after 9/11, I had all the European and Middle East students clamoring to vent their feelings about the atrocities. It was dead silence from the Chinese. None of them had anything to say, when they were pressed for their stand, the murmured responses were they were here to study, not to be involved in politics! Extraordinary immature!! I was so ashamed for them. Their world's so small, their general knowledge so poor that some days I feel terribly embarrassed for them in front of other European students.

I blame this on the hot house upbringing from their parents. It's time to free our kids out of this phantom cage, life isn't just getting As, gaining places in prestigious universities and earning loads of money. And it's not too late, go on, NMCers, you can start with your grandchildren. Talk to them as your equals even when they are young, teach them how to reason by not always offering answers to their queries. Give them opportunities to express themselves - which means not laughing at, or shouting at their silly opinions. Let them make mistakes stop mollycoddling. Encourage them to read extensively - even time -wasting 武俠小說! And this reading habit will serve as the foundation for self learning and hopefully they will grow up able to think for themselves before it's too late.

I don't think the Nobel literature prize is a good example to illustrate the 'redundancy' of higher education. First, it's a very debatable political award and we all know that having been to university doesn't provide your knowledge and skills to craft great literary works. It's life experiences, observation skills, creativity and literary expression that matter. Artist and authors are different kettle of fish from scientists. I haven't checked yet but I doubt these days whether there are any scientist who can 'win' a Nobel Prize without the backing and nurture of universities. 中國最有名的數學大師，華羅庚自學成功後，也要回清華學習和其他學者一起做研究. It's very difficult to learn in vacuum.