比較 瑪利諾(MCS) / St Mary / Good Hope

Happymama

Based on my experience as a past St, Marian -- I find that MCS and SMCC are similar, and Good Hope and Heep yun are similar.

GH and Heep Yun both have a more relaxed environment -- focused on a wholistic approach -- quite a well balanced approach for academics and other developmental activities like sports and music (esp GH -- I think the girls are bionic ladies) They are more open, approachable, and spontaneous.

For SMCC adn MCS, both are Catholic schools and the discipline is definitely stricter.

I remembered when I was in secondary, the discipline mistress always asked us to kneel down on the platform to measure the length of our skirt -- it shouldn't be more than 3" above your knee cap.
And this lady always told us :: you couldn't tie your hair up like this, you coudn't wear these hair accessories, if your hair touches your shoulder, you need to tie them up..............Wow.

For MCS, I think (I feel) their regulations on grooming is more loose as they all looked prettier!!

For academics, I guess both MCS and SMCC have a very strict system even for selecting their own  girls. For secondary -- they only take the top 80 rankings for sure, those out of 80 will need to fight seriously with girls from other schools. Can you imagine, the top 80 is equivalent to the top 15 in class. So competition is very keen. My friend's daughter is now studying in MCS , she really got a big headache...

For SMCC as well...they need to accept students form Holy ANgels , Canossa School -- this means that you really must be the creme of the crop to secure a place in the secondary -- so you may need to ask yourself a question -- how much confidence do you have in your kid's ability to get a place in the secondary??  If you don't want to go through the same drama again after 6 years, perhaps GH and Heep Yun are better choices!! Guess their students have much higher priorities for their secondary places.

TomBoys??? SMCC (at my time) had a lot, some girls even fought for their girlfriends, HA.  I think MCS also has, bascially its a natural phenomenon in Girls schools.
About SMCC's change in teaching methodologies -- basically its still traditional, when Sr. Virginia took over the as the headmistress (she was one of our favourite nuns and teachers as well -- she used to teach me English in the Secondary), her personality is bubbly, dares to take challenges  and revolutions, I'm not surprised to see that teh methodoligies listed has been changed to action learning. So what's the problem? Whatever the changes are, there's bound to be the traditional elements there, with standards guaranteed. I don't have doubt about that at all!

My ex-classmate's daughter is studying in SMCC now, I'll call her up and check the English standard nowadays -- to see whether it has deteriorated! But I remembered she said SMCC still uses English books that are 1 grade higher.  In fact, one of the English teachers is my ex- classmate. Will also try to call her to get some feedback.


Perhaps from another point of view to share my experience -- this comment made by the La Salle boys at my time really hit me hard ......
The comparison was made among DGS, MCS and SMCC which were the top 3 schools in Kowloon at my time.


DGS     出 才 女
MCS     出靚女
SMCC   出修女


Would you base on these comments by your daughters' potential boyfriends to select the schools for your sweethearts??

charwes

Can't agree more...

I could see a lot of pretty MCS gals walking along the Boundary Street when I studied in the boys' school nearby.

Happymama 寫道:
DGS     出 才 女
MCS     出靚女
SMCC   出修女

sxking

absolutely no bias among GH girls!
These are just my impression based on what i see. and i know quite a no. of friends/people from these schools, esp maryknoll, Good hope and DGS. Fewer from St Mary.
i don't make comment by hearing gossip. i place a comment only if i have experienced in person or based on facts (eg statistic from reliable source)
and i hope other members of BK will do that as well because a lot of members will make their decision based on what other people say here....

River2004 寫道:
Sxking:

似乎你對GH有點偏見呢！

說TB 豈止GH有，連我家附近的Band 2女校也一樣多；講snob，我接觸過的GH女生都不算特別勢利，只是較注重物質，不過，這也是時下孩子的通病。

lamba

I would say both MCS and DGS girls are more trendy than those of SMCC !

DGS girls have the greatest self-confidence among the three schools !

Ah ! are we talking about their primary schools or secondary counterparts ???

lamba

Happymama,

do you think the problem of ""LES"" is more serious in girls school ?

would a normal girl be tempted to try  "LES" by her schoolmates and finally changes to "LES" ?

If a girl studies in a girls school from primary to secondary, will the situation be even worse ?

charwes

Hi lamba,

Not sure about girls' schools, but during my 13 years in a boys' school, I really didn't see many "gays-like" classmates, there were a few sissy boys though.

lamba

Charwes,

I believe boys have much less chance to become gay because of their schoolmates !

BillyM

"LES" is not necessary a "problem".  Many girls in girls' schools will encounter such situations during their school life.  But I don't see many of them will eventually become lesbians when they grow up (in fact I don't see any problem if they really choose or are born to be one of them).  Most of them get involved in same-sex romances mainly because of curiosity, and the need to be loved during puberty.  They don't have much chance to know boys so the closest thing they can get are tomboys.

If the girl studies in a co-ed school, parents will have to worry about relationship problems between boys and girls.  That's probably even more worrisome, esp for the parents of girls.

Back to the original question.  All three schools are top schools in HK, so the question should be "which school is the best for my girl", instead of "which school is the best".

St Mary's:  The most traditional among the three. Does not put much emphasis on activities.  Tons of homework in secondary school.  Primary is reasonable.

Maryknoll: Strong tradition, strong school spirit, excellent English, gorgeous campus (but kids may prefer new millenium facilities though), students are active, and tend to be from middle-class (or even more well-off) families.

Good Hope: Students are even more active than Maryknollers, excellent English too (but I think Maryknoll is better), the school authority encourages students to take part in sports and other activities, and students have strong school spirits too.  But their exam results are probably not as good as the other two.

Pick the best for your girl.

Daisy媽咪

Dear BillyM,
According to message you left in this website, you seems have lot of information about the school in HK.  May I have your comment of Heep Yan together with those which you mentioned ?  Eg : Acamedic level, ethic, etc..

Happymama

  講明出修女咯！

lamba:
I would say both MCS and DGS girls are more trendy than those of SMCC !

Happymama

Agree with BillyM, 'LES' is different from Tomboys.
Just to supplement -- Tomboys are indeed quite common in girls schools (my school during my time) . Why?

First , girls entered into their puberty much earlier than boys , and we were curious at that time to know more. The more we're being supressed, the more we wanted to know. I remembered when I was in F.3, there was a books exhibition held in our school library. My schoolmates and I  flipped through a book about sex education for teenagers -- . We're giggling but didn't make any noise. The laser eyed discipline mistress saw me and demanded me to pick out that book and turn to the exact page that we're looking at. I got no alternatives but to show her, her commetns were: "How come you've got such a dirty mind!"  
Wow, I thought that book was meant for us to read.

So the more we're suppressed, our curiousity eroded. At that time, I guess we're (most of us) sort of horny and flirty ...and we could only turn towards one another for some kind of emotional support / relief.


Of course, we all had someone we favored , we tended to adore someone who were good at certain sports,music and wanted to be their pal / buddy (accredited by our puberty, I suppose)  .  More still, girls are in nature more troublesome than boys, we're jealous of each other, very gossipy, and wanted attention. If we could attach to a famous star or someone we really admired at school, we'd look good and feel good about it.


For some who're not so outstanding and most of the time being disadvantaged by their outlook ( those who got dressed up  in a more masculine way with their hair cut short-- their parents and our sisters thought that was great as it meant  they're good students, never thinking about boys therefore were not particular about their appearance) - they needed some kind of reassurance as well.


THis gave rise to the Tomboys-- they probably wanted some kind of recognition or acknowledgement so they started dating girls.  Some girls were interested to gang up with them probably due to some kind of perceived status they thought they had attained. Well, yes, they did make some noise and drama but the majority never bothered. Remember that I mentioned earlier that  TB 1 fought with TB 2 for a very feminine girl ? Do you know what happened after they graduated ---

TB 1 became a clinical psychologist (I don't have her contact anymore but I saw her once on TV)

TB 2 became a Flight Attendant ! Can you believe it? She has 2 sons now.

Feminine girl -- no one is interested, I suppose.

I guess acting as a TB  is just a stage of life in girls schools but never linger for long. Whatever happened would just be a good and amusing memory for all.

Lesbians, I believe is a more complicated issue. Either this characteristic was inborn or these people had really  encountered some kind of mishaps or fortunes (in another way)  that triggered this preference.

Charwes , why boys seldom have this problem at school? ----- HA , simply because boys are more innocent (a decent word for stupid!!! just joking!!)
Boys don't enter into their puberty as early as girls ... my brother still wore briefs and ran around the house when he was 12!! By the time they do, their voice changed and made them very shy to speak out (how to ascertain his sexual identity? ) When this embarassing stage is over, their HKCEE should be coming -- where's the time and how to get rid of Mom's nagging again?  

Hey, It seems that raising up boys is easier than girls?

so.san

"MCS 出靚女" 只是一個誤會罷了, 雖然出過幾個靚女明星, 但都有好多醜女, 我識得唔少, 其實間間女校都有靚女, 睇真D, DGS, SMCC, GH都唔少, 我估D男仔去boundary street都係有subjective screening, 看到靚的看不到唔靚的!

哈里波特

Dear BillyM,

St. Mary & Sarced Heart are from same Canossian group.  But I heard that Sarced Heart's girl would be much simple than St. Mary.  St. Mary's girls be more trendy & show off.

Do you have any idea on Sarced Heart?

On the other hand, most of the girls are taking "through train" from primary to secondary for GHS.  Both their primary & secondary sections need to pay school fee, I think most of them are from middle-class, do you think the GHS girls are much material?

Please give comment.

Thank you.

kissie

i think every school has both pretty and less pretty girls. maryknoll, DGS, SMCC all have produced miss hk before.... but doesn't mean that all the girls there are pretty as miss hk....

re sacred heart and SMCC-- to be honest i think it's the other way round-- st mary girls are simplier than sacred heart. trendy and show off? i know 2 sacred heart girls who are so snobbish, like to show off but not trendy. that's why my impression of sacred heart girls are not that good (of course i know one cannot make any comment just by few examples) the SMCC girls i met are ok, but not trendy.

the most snobbish student i met during my school life is from sacred heart (she got 3-4As in HKCEE and i wonder why she is so snobbish????)
on the other hand, the maryknoll and DGS girls i met were all quite friendly yet smart (as opposed by stereotype that maryknoll and DGS girls are snobs) anyway, just something to share.

BillyM

Daisy媽咪:
My job gives me the privilege to deal with students from different schools.  That's why Im lucky to know the schools from first-hand experience instead of gossips.

Unfortunately my experience with Heep Yunn students isn't as profound as other schools I have commented on.  I favor schools that can develop all-rounded students, and not just on academics.  I believe that Heep Yunn fits into that category.  But academically I don't think she is as strong as the other three schools.  I don't have solid data to back this up.  It is just a personal feeling from my experience with the students. Students tend to be more "tomboy", but on the other hand you can say they have more character.  If you compare the acedemic abilities of P.6 students from all 4 schools, Heep Yunn girls may rank last.  It may not be a disaster cuz the top three are St Mary's, Good Hope and Maryknoll.  That's like finishing fourth in a singing contest behind Alan Tam, Jacky Cheung and Hacken Lee.

If I were to rank the schools for my girl, it would be like this:
1. Maryknoll
2. Good Hope
3. Heep Yunn
4. St Mary's

This ranking is based on the criteria for myself: academics, the teaching ability of the teachers and the system, school authority's attitude towards extra-curricular activities, and the most important of all, the kids' school spirit.  That is the most accurate indicator of whether the kids are happy or not in school.

Just a side note: we're comparing schools with direct secondary school connections so I tend to evaluate both the pri sch and sec sch together.

BillyM

Happymama:
Agreed on your analysis of Les and tomboy.

I also grew up in a boys' school so I can explain why boys' schools don't have sissies or even gays.  In girls' schools, tomboy gets the most attention cuz they are often the outstanding ones.  They could be running the student council or be the captain of the swimming team.  Or some girls may do it because they want to be more "outstanding". Being a tomboy in a girls' school means having a "special status".

On the other hand a sissy in a boys' school is always the target of harassment.  The head prefect or the best sprinter in school will never be a sissy.  There is no incentive to be one of such in a boys' school as opposed to a girls' school.

BillyM

哈里波特 & Kissie:
Kissie is right.  St Mary's girls are simpler than SHCC's.  I think the sisters of St Mary's will never let her girls be too trendy.  And St Marians have way too much homework to do so they won’t have the time to go shopping with Maryknollers and Good Hopers after school.  :)

Many Maryknollers and Good Hopers are from middle-class or above families so it is inevitable to have some who like to show off their wealth (in fact that's their parents' wealth).  But it is not the norm of the schools so don't freak yourself out.  What I like about these two schools is that they can definitely teach, and their students love their schools.  They provide a good environment for a child to develop into a all-rounded teenager.

ClaudeeMa

MCS 雖然是天主教但不是嘉諾撒會架喎!