保良局蔡繼有學校

joanneheungyy

Hi monkeymei,

My girl is studying in a private, somewhat demanding, traditional school, and now we are applying CKY P.2. I have gone through similar thought process as you do, may be we could have some sharing.

Traditional schools - due to the years of continous tests/exams and competitions, the survivors who successfully graduate from one of the top local universities are trained to be rather mature, hard working and competitive. This hard working and competitive nature is not easy to cultivate, it takes years for students to experience successes and failures in exams and competitions, and eventually, those who determined to win this game will study hard, work hard and become a successful survivor. As you said, and I also have the same experience that, hard working and determined to perform kind of attitude is usually more evident in local graduates than those mainly overseas educated. Traditional education is a difficult path, both for kids and parents, they have to work hard together to win the game, there are countless amount of sweats and tears in the process. But the beauty of it is, it usually delivers products that are hard working, competitive and determined to win. The survivors themselves know very well that in order to win, they need to have the determination and work hard. This takes years of training, and no quick path. And once a kid has experienced years of rather relaxed mode of learning (activity-based learning), it is almost impossible for them to go back to the traditional way.

Activity-based/CKY curriculum - it emphasize on bi-lingual skills, cultivate "self-learning" (kids interested in reading books and learn by themselves), have exams, but will not emphasize on marks, and therefore not much pressure, and much less competition. The learning process is more fun; will spend much time on reading, and parents need to aid/accompany them to establish a good reading habit. One CKY parent said, the time she spend on reading with her child is no less than traditional school parents' time spent on their kids homeworks/tests/exams. But the time spend together is much more relaxed and enjoyable. However, this kind of environment is not meant for training kids to be hard working, competitive and have the determination to win. On the other hand, I would imagine kids are less used to pressure, and might be less competitive and hard working. However, the language skills, presentation skills, initiative to read/learn by themselves, searching/organizing information by themselves will be unrivalled.

We parents are facing a dilemma. I don't think there is any school offers the benefits of both. We parents are greedy, but sad to say that we have to face the reality.

Which school to choose depends on what training/outcome you believe is more important. For CKY kind of school, I think it is suitable for almost every kid; all kids would love a more relaxed/enjoyable environment, and prefer reading than writing/stuffing (homeworks/exams). It is up to us, parents, determine what mode of education we want him/her to experience and what kind of family life we want over the next ten years or so.

Kid's character should also be considered. Kids who are intelligent (good at memorizing things), do not mind writing and have the initiative to sit down to do homework or to study for at least one/two hours every day, have better skill set for the traditional schools.  

For my case, my girl is active, level of intelligence is average, do not like writing and has no initiative to sit down to do homework or study. We are strugging with her everyday. I apply CKY because I treasure the language environment, cultivation of kid's self learning/reading, less pressure and therefore a more relaxed/enjoyable family life. I would rather read with her, help to search/organize information for her homework, than pushing her to write and to study all of the time. Kid's education is a determining factor for family life.

Under CKY's system, parents probably have to find additional ways to nurture their kids should they think hard working and have the determination to succeed are of crucial importance.

rhythmwawa

DEar Monkeymei,

作為家長, 如果昨晚有份出席Fund Raising Concert, 都會為師生共同付出的努力而感動的, 亦會相信discipline不一定只有傳統學校才有的.

昨晚見到學生一隊接一隊的出場表演, 各項表演有板有眼, 雖然仍有很多地方要改善, 但有份表演的小朋友, 你可以看得出他們全都是enjoy緊個過程, 而沒有半點緊張, 那份自然流露的感情, 透過音樂與表現完全能感染到每一個觀眾. 而整個排練過程中, 老師沒有給與壓力, 而我家的小孩只會告訴我真的好好玩, 沒有半句說辛苦.  

從這次大型活動中, 作為家長更能感受小朋友是在愛之下受教育的, discipline在應該有的時候, 小朋友便自然地收起活躍的一面, 認真地做好本份的事.  而且有時dicipline亦不應一面倒依賴學校去教, 家長亦有責任去教的.
    


rhythmwawa


P.S.: Voasia, 上半場最後一個表演中唱solo那位小朋友(Tiger)是否你的兒子呀?

3b

Chau444,

根據你以往的經驗, 當日有否機會與學生接觸 ?

amandalyy2002

rhythmwawa
多謝你給我們分享學校實際情況.  希望這幾天能盡快收到消息啦.

Sammymother

Dear Joanneheungyy,

I totally agree with your view on the school.  My girl is now in P1 and I really struggled last year on whether I should send her to CKY or another pretty established traditional school.  I guess we really need to understand the kid before making the decision.  While every parent would like to get the most for their beloved child, we have to acknowledge that every kid is different.  Some can excel under the current education system while some will suffer and may loose their self-esteem during the course.

Looking back, I'm glad that I have chosen CKY.  My dedication to her school work is no less, however, I have much less pressure in preparing for tests, exams and meeting teachers' requirements.  These are a bit too much for a 6 year-old kid.  I have to admit that my girl is not a brilliant kid, but she does learn a lot in a happy environment.  

Talking about the concert last night.  My husband and I were really moved to see such a high spirited occasion.  I would say that the performances were of reasonable standard since many of the performers were from lower grades.  The small MCs were also impressive.  They spoke fluent English and PTH.  May be I'm not greedy enough, but I'm grateful to see my girl joining this big family.  

joanneheungyy

Hi Sammymother,

I have seen a number of times in CKY threads that parents are emotionally moved by school occasions. I imagine this would be rather rare in traditional schools.

I wish my girl would become part of the CKY family. But our performance in 2nd interview is not good. I am waiting..., worring..., waiting... And hope that there will be miracle.

monkeymei

Hi, joanneheungyy and other CKY parents,

thanks very much for your sharings. What I learnt for your guys / gals sharings are not only helping me to pcik my girls' education path but also inspire myself in terms of my values and thinkings.
Thanks again.

Yes, agree that we need to observe our kids' character, talents, interests in order to provide the appropriate education mode to facilitate their needs of not only achieving academic goals but also their personalities and softskills.

Nevertheless, we need to provide guidances / aids to compromise with the education mode we've chosen.  yes, we're greedy and that's why we'd never deny the responsibilities of teaching our kids by ourselves.  If we think that the CKY systems might not be able to deliver "hard working and determine" students as famous traditional schools do.  then, we might need to decide how much we want our kid to carry those 'good characters" as normal HK students and what addtional ways we need to employ.

Once again, thanks for all yoru sharings.

joanneheungyy, don't worry too much on the results, there are always hopes and I do believe that your girl will be a truely happy and well-educated person in the future since she got such a caring and sophisticated mum like you.

take care and keep in touch.

monkeymei

Clementmammy

Dear All CKY parent,

May I know which BRAND of the school bag are you using for your kids?
I am planning to buy-Chiropak for my kid, but school told me that it must be whole bag in blue color. The Chiropak is blue and grey.

Am I need to buy from the uniform tailor? Is it the only way to do so. Please advice.

Thank you in advance

father_ho

Dear monkeymei,

Glad to see so many replies on this area. In fact responding to your point one, I see student do have pressure but in a different way such as they will compete with the classmate in a positive manner to see who score better(my experience is in my graduate year, one classmate deliberately tell me the wrong approach to solve a problem that make me hate him until now). My son did upset when once he score low marks in Minute Math. since he didn't practise Kumon course. To me, no big deal since it just reflect his reflex ability not mature, what I care is his Mental Math. which shows he understand the virtual one or not(if he score low then I need to think how to amend it).

Last night, they had pressure to perform well in the stage, both team and individual participation(a wonderful concert indeed and much better than most of the pop singer in considering their age. I feel Principal Lau is proofing her promise to parent that what was happened in school rather than just provide slogan). Sorry, back to the point we should think during your kids tens of years development, why should parent to hurry and let them start the tough competition so early. This will leads to selfish and self centre. Also, if we confine our objective and imposing it on them, they will just limit to compete with their classmate rather than the world. I always remind my son he should prove to himself he know the knowledge rather than to me or the teacher.

For your point two, forgive me to say you are lucky to have such kind of subordinate who still has the initiative to think. If you come across a pond of "dead fish", you will feel you are in heaven now. Take me as an example, I never want my superior to tell me how/when to do what. They just need to clearly state the goal, reason behind and time frame, the rest should be catered by me. May be I will not get the perfect way or result, but through the process, I learned and that is also the way we survive. The same apply to our younger generation, let them try and we can just act like watchdog and provide the escape door. Traditional trained kids will just follow what is the instruction, how fast or what is the easier way to complete the job but never ask why to do it. That is the difference.

Thanks,

father_ho

Dear joanneheungyy,

Please not to be so nervous, CKY is not the only one providing this model but just happened my kids engaged in it. If admitted, wonderful(may be). If failed(no harm), so long as you continue caring about her, she will have a bright development and please don't let your kid feel the atmosphere, it will seriously affect her self esteem. There many occassions we need to bear all the pressure without a sign of it(just like TVB's film) .   

father_ho

Dear parents,

One more thing to share. At one time, my son said to me he want to be a painter, imagine how will you respond? I said it may be a good idea but you need to know how to communicate with different countries artist to capture their skill so you need to read and learn more. What I want to say is never imposing our value and judgement although we feel it may not be a good choice to earn a stable living. I feel some parent although they select CKY but still they preset a rigid guide for their kids to go that I personally not feel comfortable.

Thanks,

monkeymei

Hi, father_ho,

thanks for your feedbacks, totally got your points.  yes, the CKY education mode is another way of training to the kids and they'll be bearing some competences other than those of trained by the traditional ways.  I appreciate it and also appreciate the initiatives and creative thinkings of those studied overseas in my team.  

yes, working in a cooperation, each team got different calibres and we need to manage the work and people in order to deliver and achieve.  However, some "abnormal behaviour" from one or two of them really "broaden" my "eyesight".  They simple jump to another topic in the middle of my 5 mins briefing, this is just a briefing of what the project is and that deliverables we need.  I'm not someone interested in holding subordinates' hands to work on the tasks but I do believe they need to listen carefully on the briefing and requirement, pls don't go back to the senior and ask again and again on those already told.  

Anyway, this is just some special case of my teammembers and might only due to her special characters, we do have "well-behave" overseas graduates, they do have good lateral and creative thinkings and also with beautiful minds, I mean, good personalities.

In fact, the longer I worked in a business world, the more i discovered that interpersonal skills and project / people management skills are demonstrating a much more important role.  Whilst those skills will be well-established from the active-based learning model plus appropriate guidance from parents.

thanks again and take care.
keep in touch.

monkeymei

joanneheungyy

Hi father_ho,

Thanks for your sharing and feedback time and again.

I think you mean we should be more open minded and let our child develop in their own pace/way, but keep watching them and guide them as and when appropriate. The concept I understand, but not easy to implement. We all have values, and have strong beliefs that they are good values. We love our kids and want them to have the right values. So, in our daily lives, we unavoidably will impose our own values on them.

I think it is a matter of extent, may be we should not make our values too dominant and over-riding. And open up our minds, eyes and ears when communicating with our kids, so that they are more willing to think and express, and we play a supportive role.

I agree with your other point that the training is different. Activity-based learners will have higher inclination to challenge status quo than traditionally trained individuals.

We should also think, what kind of qualities/trainings would enable our kids to have a competitive edge twenty years from now. We probably need a crystal ball to help us to be an all-round parent!!!    

monkeymei

HI, joanneheungyy and father_ho,

fully understand your feelings.
Being the parents nowsdays in Hong Kong, to certain extents, we learnt to offer some degree of freehand to the kids in order to enhance their development.  And, that's why we're interested in "activity-based learning" and we hope our kids can be benefited from this educational mode.
But, don't forget that we're still human beings and we'll try to influence or impose our kids in certain degree.  How much the level of influence or shall we be putting it into instruction, it all depends on how rational we are.

When I see those "naugthy" teenagers' behaviours in public areas like hugging and kissing, escaping from classes but staying in restaurants for just playing, specking loud with foul languages,....I'm so scared. I also walked through teenage time myself, been always object to seniors' words, just walk whatever the way I prefer, dating with boys behind my parents.  Luckily, I did not really ruined myself and still able to walk away from "naughty lifes" because some sorts of values / instructions imposed by my parents.

So, I'm still learning hard to figure out the way to guide my girl and yes, keep discussing with my hubby on the ultimate goal for my girl to achieve.  At this point, I must put it as a project and work it out rationally.  I never expect my girl to be a "perfect score" student, if she happens to be this material and could easily do it without any hardship, then, it's fine, but no need to "chase" marks just for the sick of chase marks.  I only want her to be well-educated with beautiful minds, no matter what she want to be, but fundamental knowledge must be acquired and also the way of thinking, analysis, communication, presentation and management skills.  Provided the goals set above, my hubby and myself should be the one who provide the "vehicles" to get to the goal.

Glad to know you all and chat in here.
take care.

monkeymei

joanneheungyy

Hi monkeymei,

It's nice sharing and chat with you.

Just out of curiosity, do you mind to share what year your girl is in? and what are the schools you are considering?   

monkeymei

Hi, joanneheungyy,

I think you'll definitely scold me or laugh very loudly in your office,... my girl is 13 months now,...hahaha,... but I'm very keen on the education plan for my girl, maybe due to she's my only kid and I'm such a person who always being involved and dedicated for whatever project I've committed.

Anyway, I enjoy this lesson of latest education systems in Hong Kong and how to nuture my girl accordingly. Thanks again for my "tutors".

Hope you alls won't mind in keep on chatting with me.

monkeymei :

WYmom

monkeymei,

Fully agree with what you said.  Really see a lot of secondary school students badly behaved in public area.  Heard a lot of cases that even very good kids can become very bad after going to secondary schools.  So really feel difficult to find an active approach secondary school with good conduct.  Even students of international schools have a lot of drug problems.  CKY just starts her secondary years, not sure about the conduct of their teenagers who have used to looser discipline.

Well, you are in a much better position as your kid is so small!

amandalyy2002

Hi Father-ho
Did you remember what was the volumn of homework in P2 last year?  Did he need to do a book report every week?

kyliema2006

Dear all CKY parents,

I also wonder whether the school will ask the parents to buy a new schoolbag if the child brings a school bag that's not pure blue.  Please advise.  

Clementmammy 寫道:
Dear All CKY parent,

May I know which BRAND of the school bag are you using for your kids?
I am planning to buy-Chiropak for my kid, but school told me that it must be whole bag in blue color. The Chiropak is blue and grey.

Am I need to buy from the uniform tailor? Is it the only way to do so. Please advice.

Thank you in advance