A little argue with husband about BB's future

JarJarBin

I just have a little argue with my husband about my boy's (3 yrs old) school life in HK or Canada (we are Canadian citizen).  My husband and I studied in Canada for University and couple yrs of high school.  I would like to share with U about our different opinion.

My boy has no interest in learning academic stuffs & not concentrate when I teach him e.g. write & regconise numbers and letters.  Even it is only because he is too young,  I am also considering to let him study international school in HK.  Because I think int'l school has less pressure even for kids and parents & it can provide good training on English & habit of reading books.  But of course the school fee is expensive even in ESF schools.  I also want to enjoy living with my boy so I don't want to send him to oversea if it is possible.  If he can study in HK university, then it is perfect.  If not, at least he go to oversea for university only.  So I prefer to bear the expensive school fee to exchange for living with my boy when he is still young, enjoying seeing him to grow up and assisting him when he has any problems in this age.

My husband said my boy should go to Canada around form 3 in secondary school.  His opinion is that HK's universities is so naive and not mature and they are getting worse yr by yr.  It is no reason to stay in HK's U.  It is also good for my boy to go to Canada ealier for better English and independent.  No need to pay such expensive school fee in HK for primary and secondary school.  He should study in local school and then go to Canada when he is Form 2 or 3.

I really don't think HK's U students are so bad and Canada's are so good.  Frankly speaking, I don't think my husband and I are that good in English and maturer than HK studend when we was just graduated.  It really depends on the person himself, not the country. The U that my husband and I studied is not a very good one in Canada,  but we also has some outstanding students in this society today. Even good universties in Canada,  I also know some of the students playing all the time and got a bad result or cheating.   For HK's U graduated people, I also know some are very matured and their english are better  than me much much more.  It depends on how their parent teach them and their peers.  But my husband said I am too stubborn.  Finally I said I bear all the school fee and I make all the decisions about my boy's school life.

Do U have any comment?

Yanamami

Teenagers need their parents guidance.  It's very
important for the parents to be close to them at
that age.  They build up their value of life.  Are you
preparing to lose your kid in exchange for good
English? (of course, it's not always the case.)

On the other hand, you need to let go and let your
kid learn to be independent.  Keeping him beside
you won't do him any good.

I'd say going to Canada after he finishes F.5 is
the best time.  Only if you can go to Canada with
him, he can go earlier.  It's only my personal
opinion.  Besides, your kid is only 3 and you guys
still have time to plan for it.

原文章由 JarJarBin 於 08-1-29 01:04 發表
I just have a little argue with my husband about my boy's (3 yrs old) school life in HK or Canada (we are Canadian citizen).  My husband and I studied in Canada for University and couple yrs of high s ...

JarJarBin

thanks for your opinions.  I also agree that teenage time is very important for them to build up their value of life.  I really don't want to give up this period.  

Chinese is also one of the points to make me feel headache.  I am looking for jobs recently.   I found that most of jobs require people to have good english and chinese.  Be frankly, if the interviewer request me to write an email in english and chinese as a test, I really cannot write it well especially in chinese.  If I put my boy in int'l school,  how can he do it well.  Especially, chinese would be more important than now after 20 yrs.  Headaches.....

RSG媽媽

I am Canadian Citizen as well and I was planning on sending my daughter to school in Canada when she was little.  So I didn't really plan well on how she would progress in the local school system and as a result both my duaghter and I suffered.

For kindergarten and primary school I just sent my duaghter to the school closest to our home in the New Terrotories.  So when plans of going back to Canada changed and we are staying in Hong Kong for good.  We were in trouble.  My daugher wasn't very "bright" when it comes to academic things, she never went to tutorial school and the primary school she was in was not good at all.

When we moved out to HK Island, it was extremely difficult to get her into a decent school.  Basically, no one wanted her as the competition for good school is firece.  Finally she got into a school in the west side, which wasn't that good.  She was there for 1 semester then I put her in a private school which had a "direct" secondary school as I was really concerned about her future.  At first she had a really difficult time getting used to the school's academic level.  She was suffereing and I was angry at her for not trying hard enough.  That was a very bad time.

Thankfully my daughter really loves this school and she has gotten used to the academic level and how the school works.  She loves all the teachers and her classmates and although she is not top of the class, she really enjoys her school life.  Most important of all, I don't have to worry toomuch about getting her into a decent secondary school anymore.

My advice is, no matter what you are planning for your kid, wether to Canada or stay in HK.  You should keep your options open because plans can change.  Who knows, maybe your kid will thrive inthe local school system!  

For me, the option of sending my daugher to Secondary school/University in Canada is still open, but if she is able to do well here in HK, I definately would like to keep her close by.

JarJarBin

RSG

Thanks for your sharing!

JarJar

原文章由 RSG媽媽 於 08-1-29 10:50 發表
I am Canadian Citizen as well and I was planning on sending my daughter to school in Canada when she was little.  So I didn't really plan well on how she would progress in the local school system and  ...

erica_mom

Hi Jar JarBin,

I think if you have a chance to send your child to Canada for schooling, you should give them that opportunity, especially with you being a Canadian, you don't have to pay the hefty tuition like other overseas students.  But I would suggest at least enroll your child in the local schools for primary where he can build up his foundation for Chinese first, this way he will get the best of both worlds!

andykwan

try the local school first... as he will have chance to learn "international" in later stage...

plan next step first... i.e. KG... U stage is too far to you... and the world change so fast!

KimmyMammy

I think some thoughts must be clarified.

There has been some thoughts like that try the local first, if it does go well, go for IS.  

What I know recently, this thought would work in last five to ten years because not many Hong Kong families would send their children to IS directly.  So, there would constantly be some vacanies available for different levels.  

Nevertheless, as more and more Hong Kong would think IS being an option, the environment for jumping into IS in the mid-way will become quite tough now!.

The friend of mine wanted to let his boy to go to CIS P2 in coming year, but what he was told there has been a very long long quene, and even his company would buy him dedenture which is actually not available in the market.  

Of course, there are some people moving out from Hong Kong every year, and some places would be left.  But equally, some people moving in.  

Another example is ISF.  Previous year, the admission to ISF was not very tough, but once its campus is completed, the competition has increased significantly.  

So, "lcoal first, IS later" is not taken for granted!

原文章由 andykwan 於 08-2-2 14:19 發表
try the local school first... as he will have chance to learn "international" in later stage...

plan next step first... i.e. KG... U stage is too far to you... and the world change so fast!

peppergin

I don't want to advise what you should do. People of our age have already got very established sense of value, no need to influence each other...just want to clarify a few things:

(1)even if you study in IS in Hong Kong, there are still chances that you can get into universities in HK. There are places reserved for non JUPAS applications.

(2) your husband has quite a wrong impression about academic status of universities in HK. I think from the news, it is not difficult to finds that the ranking our universities has been rising and rising every year. My own experience is that ( I have studied both in local and overseas uni), the facilities (e.g. lab facilities, libraries) and teaching of local university is actually among the best, if you compare.

(3) Research activities are also very active and prosperous in local universities.

(4) There is always chances to go study abroad, e.g. uni student exchange programs, postgrad. studies...

emiluihk

其實無需爲呢d 咁少既而爭辯
你的小朋友只得三歳 ... 真的言之尚早
可以咁講, 你地有一個好好的後盾給你們的兒子
男孩子較女孩子遲熟, 中三對他而言可能尚要父母操心
如果我係你地, 首先可作打算是爲他將來到外國留學作好準備
至於幾時出發,當然是要視似乎再過幾年後他的情況而定

小朋友咁細, 有父母係身邊係最好的,
千萬不要說那些什麼 讓他獨立, 有父母在身邊也可培養他
獨立的, 別用這爲藉口 ...
其次, 讓他適應香港繁忙的生活節奏, 在壓力下學習,這些也可算是某程度上的磨練
再者, 仔大仔世界, 佢既意願也是重要因素呢 !

之前有位家長講得好啱, 計劃是計劃, 計劃是可隨著需求而改變的。無必要爲左未發生既事而傷和氣, 現階段和諧家庭是你們囝
囝最重要的成長元素

快過年了 順道祝大家
生活愉快,身體健康

RSG媽媽

I think the most important thing is what suits the child, wether IS or local school, or to Canada.  Each child is different so it is hard to say definately what is the best.

I do have one comment about international school, beware of those schools that have alot of students from "rich & powerful" families.  It might be unpleasant for children from average families to attend such schools.

JarJarBin

I agree that "rich & powerful" is not my cup of tea.  My cousin studied in good hope school about 30 years ago.  She has many rich friends in school.  But my cousin come from a normal family.  This situation gave her mother a lot of headaches.

原文章由 RSG媽媽 於 08-2-4 14:40 發表
I think the most important thing is what suits the child, wether IS or local school, or to Canada.  Each child is different so it is hard to say definately what is the best.

I do have one comment abo ...

BoBoCute

I am canadian citizen but I am sending my girl to local school as I think that the academic standard is higher.
Besides, it is very important to have good command of both eng and chin to get a job in HK.
After graduation, I prefer come back HK to work because of the low tax rate.  So better to let my girl learn as much Chinese as possible now.
For some IBs, people really like hiring graduates from overseas universities.  
When I did hiring before, I also prefer hiring overseas graduates.
I think you can just decide on primary education now.  Whether going back to Canada in F.3 or so, leave it till 5 or 6 years later.

JarJarBin

someone also told me that people in HK like hiring oversea U students.  Is it really true?  why?  I thought U in HK e.g The Hong Kong University's students is ranked higher than overseas.

原文章由 BoBoCute 於 08-2-5 14:11 發表
I am canadian citizen but I am sending my girl to local school as I think that the academic standard is higher.
Besides, it is very important to have good command of both eng and chin to get a job in  ...

BoBoCute

Sometimes one needs to travel to foreign countries with short notice.
Overseas graduates normally hold foreign passport, no need to apply visa, more convenient.

ratafan

I think it depends on the professions.  From my own observation, local graduates have quite different working style from overseas graduates.  For example, overseas graduates have better creativity and would give great suggestions on making improvements.  On the other hand, when it comes to technical matters, local graduates seem to have better logical thinking and plans are better thought through than people with overseas background.  So both of them have different merits.  Like my own profession (I'm a bean-counter), I find local graduates would ultimately turn out to be the technical partners of the bean-counting firms, while overseas graduates being the relationship partners!   But I personally think that the country in which you study is not really too important when you are talking about work.  Ultimately, if work experience accumulates, it really makes no difference on whether you're from a local university or from abroad.  I think if you want your kid to know Chinese, you'd better place him in a local school.  Learning Chinese is much much more difficult than Latin languages. It has to be studied from very young age.  

原文章由 JarJarBin 於 08-2-6 17:54 發表
someone also told me that people in HK like hiring oversea U students.  Is it really true?  why?  I thought U in HK e.g The Hong Kong University's students is ranked higher than overseas.