11 Mar The Pearl Report: International School

clubmed

說那小孩子英語不好, 應歸咎他以前上的本地小學還是哈羅? 我不知道. 但在訪問片斷中讓我感覺到那小孩很乖很純, 而且他在哈羅上學得很開心.

civl_fox

Shrimpiggy 發表於 13-3-13 14:54
That's why the government should stop all kind of subvention or Subsidiary for all IS. Rich people p ...

There is no doubt the government have beenfavoring the esf over other ISs. But if you look at the demand for IS placesfrom LOCAL PARENTS, I think a responsible government should expand the esf model and make IS moreaffordable to LOCAL PARENTS? Bearing in mind those parents who send their kidsto ISs also give up the education benefit from the government. Many of them Ibelieve are not millionaires but parents who are totally disappointed with thelocal education system. I'm a advocate of the education voucher system. Thegovernment can take away all subventions, subsidies and just give the money tothe parents and let them make the choice for their kids. I wonder how many schoolsadopting the local curriculum with the traditional exam oriented teaching style will survive if that happen.

shadeslayer

原帖由 civl_fox 於 13-03-13 發表
There is no doubt the government have beenfavoring the esf over other ISs. But if you look at the de ...

The government has been making the IS model more accessible to HK residents, it is called DSS schools.

shadeslayer

原帖由 clubmed 於 13-03-13 發表
說那小孩子英語不好, 應歸咎他以前上的本地小學還是哈羅? 我不知道. 但在訪問片斷中讓我感覺到那小孩很乖很 ...

As Mighty pointed out, I don't  believe this level of English is acceptable to ESF or many other IS in HK. Meaning Harrow has NOT been very selective in their applicants and the quality of their students is called into question.  This may be a bad sample but it does not do the school any good.

Shrimpiggy

Why local parents choose IS? Most of us prefer IS curriculum than LS. It is just a simple question that if you can afford to own a car, the government should not subsidiary you, there are many public transportation here in place. BUT, if the public transportation are so inefficient and problematic, the government should improve it instead of subsidizing people to buy a car.

hkparent

回復 shadeslayer 的帖子

I think it's admission standard is not loose but too high, for we parents. It's more difficult to earn that money to gain entry to the school and sustain than training up a kid's interview performance. I don't think it will be difficult for the kid to catch up when he's immersed in that English environment.

Shrimpiggy

All new schools have to face prolong teething problem. ISF is very popular but their IB and college placements so far are disappointing my parents. I think both schools need more time to adjust in order to deliver upon their potential.十年樹林，百年樹人。

iamfine

The University and Careers Office of ISF has just released an update on university offers for its 2nd cohort.  The 20 odd students have secured some 80 offers, including conditional offers from HKU, HKUST, Durham, School of Oriental & African Studies, St.Andrew, Warwick, UCL, Bath, Edinburgh... and unconditional offers from Brown, Emory, NYU, Santa Clara Boston, Syracuse, School of Visual Art and the most prestigious design school, California College of the Arts...

Does it sound bad?

Maoku

原帖由 civl_fox 於 13-03-13 發表
There is no doubt the government have beenfavoring the esf over other ISs. But if you look at the de ...

Cannot agree more. Give us back that entitlement that each kids should have and empower the parents in making the choice through voucher.

iamfine

And of course, ISF cares about Chinese and doesn't buy the defeatist view (which sadly is too common in HK) that students have to give up Chinese to learn good English.  As an ISF parent, I for one won't sacrifice Chinese language and culture for a few IBDP points.  Last year, over 80% of ISF's students graduated with a bilingual diploma.  Name another school that manages to get a result close to that.

Shrimpiggy

I can't see how voucher system will benefit us. If we all have voucher in hand, it will make the schools go to two extremes. High end one will only rise their tuition fee to offset the voucher as those are paying the old fee do not matter with the adjustment. However, there will be another extreme of schools those deliver so called IS but charging just an affordable marginally higher than the voucher that parents willing to pay the extra. And the poverty can't afford the above two tier of school will stay in the problematic LS system which might have even lower budget to survive....

iamfine

I for one tend to think that ISF is in a way more open than some international schools.   At ISF, the school will give full support to students who want to do a group six subject (music, visual art, theatrical art).  Some schools (you know who they are) will ask their students to choose another humanity/science subject, to play safe for better IB scores.  Some schools (again, you know who they are) will strongly advise their 100% local Chinese students not to choose Chinese language A, for fear that they may bring down the overall IB scores.  Not at ISF - students' own preference always comes first.

And, what is "international"?  Is an open-minded Chinese who swims in the sea of cultures any less "international" than someone who for his own ignorance chooses to rule out Chinese culture as part of international culture?

shadeslayer

原帖由 iamfine 於 13-03-13 發表
本帖最後由 iamfine 於 13-3-13 19:22 編輯

I for one tend to think that ISF is in a way more open t ...

Secondary schools have to prepare students for Universities, grades do count.

Of course Chinese is important but does it have to be the overriding criterion?  Chinese should not be more important than all other factors of the schools, right?

Give new schools time to prove themselves, Harrow and ISF included. Ten or 15 years is not a lot of time in the development of a school.   

By the way, Bilingual diploma is a good personal challenge, but they do not have any advantage in competing for a good university place.

shadeslayer

原帖由 iamfine 於 13-03-13 發表
本帖最後由 iamfine 於 13-3-13 19:22 編輯

I for one tend to think that ISF is in a way more open t ...

Apart from Harrow, DBIS and Kellet, which IS in HK can be described as "ruling out" Chinese?  I might have implied that Harrow, DBIS and Kellet can be called ruling out Chinese, but fact is I am not sure. They seem to put less emphasis on Chinese but can we call them ruling out Chinese?

poonseelai

shadeslayer 發表於 13-3-13 20:33
Secondary schools have to prepare students for Universities, grades do count.

Of course Chinese is ...

With more and more students taking Chinese subject, some universities become skeptical about a Chinese student taking Chinese B, which is supposed to be the 2nd language, as a "tactic " to boost the overall IB grade.  I heard a case where a HK student was specifically being asked by a university in HK during the interview why he took Chinese B instead of A.  That's why my daughters' school plans to have all students take Chinese A, standard level.  Taking Chinese A, high level would be too hard for most students and it also means that one will be competing with Mainland Chinese students.

poonseelai

poonseelai 發表於 13-3-13 20:55
With more and more students taking Chinese subject, some universities become skeptical about a Chin ...

I mean plans to take at lease Chinese A, standard level.  No doubt some students are capable to do the high level one.

tingtingting

Probably that's why a few students at my son's school are considering Latin at ab initio level. I guess Chinese A is too difficult for them and they don't want to be labelled as one of those who take the easy way out.

HKTHK

Agree with WYMom.  HK need to find a solution for English speaking families.  Chinese families can always go to local schools.  It may not be their preference but at least they have that options.  It really is unfair to expat families that they cannot find a spot in an IS.

Shrimpiggy

Just curious how UK, US treat the expat's kids. is it because English is widely accepted, and the expat to work in those countries must have good standard of english, no one complains about the language barrier for their kids adapt to those countries LS. Why the expat come to work in hk, surely we welcome them but why they choose HK not Oz, nz, or Latin America ? Hk is problematic in Cost of living, pollution, language barrier, yes, all these factors matters when they should have considered before they come to HK!

Shrimpiggy

Also, local parents also have the right to choose IS if the kids are fluent in English and financially capable.....especially if the government provides our land and uses tax to subsidize these school.