Comment on 耀中國際學校(九龍塘)

Jne_Jne

I want to seek for your comment on 耀中國際學校 which is in Kowloon Tong if you konw. Thanks a lot.

babymandy123

我都想知依間學校好嗎?

RJSM

Secondary -- a total disappointment in all aspects!

Academic standard not good; poor results in public exams.

Rapid expansion  in the last few years has led to the admission of students with poor standard and discipline problems.

Low morale among teachers. Many students have a negative feeling towards the school.

School not responsive at all to parents' feedbacks; no parent teacher association so far despite strong request from parents; strong resistance from school against forming PTA.


A note of caution: YC is opening new schools (one after one) in the various parts of China. Parents can't help feeling that the money they invest in their children's education have been channelled to China!

joenkm

sounds very negative wor, I thought it would be a highly recommend school from other parents tim.

SaBB

I hv heard lots of positive comments from parents who have their children studying in the pre-sch, kindergarten and primary section, but generally negative comments on its secondary sch. They then sent the children to other Int'l sch for secondary education instead , such as CIS and ESF.

dont really know why..

conniedodo

RJSM ,
請問你的小朋友現在讀幾年班?

你說:「Low morale (as I perceive) among teachers. Many students have a negative feeling towards the school.」
為何會這樣呢?你知道原因嗎?

THX!!

kamandaddy

我囡囡今年剛剛從local school轉到耀中(中學)讀, 初初兩個星期她的感覺還可以, 但不久以後就很抗拒上學
細問之下, 發現原來有三個原因:
1) 由於科學, 體育, 和其他雜項科目(不關重要)的都編到與別班一同上課(少數學生有這安排), 囡囡少了很多機會與自己班的同學一同上課, 更加難融入同班同學當中, 她更說連誰是自己班的同學也不知道, 感覺有點'兩頭唔頭岸'.
2) 囡囡有一次上體育課時頭暈, 及後在車上胃痛了很久, 但都沒有同學和老師發現(老師跟囡囡坐得非常接近), 下車時還不知什麼事, 其後才叫同學把囡囡帶到sick room休息.
3) 開學後來了兩個新生, 全班超額一個學生, 由於依姓氏開首排先後, 囡囡排最後, 囡囡在某些課堂時沒有位子, 常要花十數分鐘去為囡囡'特別'安排一個位子, 令囡囡好不難受.

就第三個原因我向學校反映, 結果安排囡囡轉班, 可是囡囡非常反感, 她說她不是插班生, 要她轉班是不公平, 錯不在她, 加上她又怕更難融入班中(本來學校已沒有什麼理會新生能否適應). 我對學校的安排也是感到很無奈的.
其實囡囡說整體上學校也沒什麼大問題, 只是學生程度比較參次, 在學校沒有人說英語, 和老師比較冷淡而已, 她說最誇張是有學生連'background'也不慬得串, 就算囡囡的母語不是英語, 也至少慬這個字(這是小學程度). 同時她亦告訴我她的同學經常叫她轉校, 她的同學亦似是不喜愛這學校.

WYmom

kamandaddy 寫道:
我囡囡今年剛剛從local school轉到耀中(中學)讀, 初初兩個星期她的感覺還可以, 但不久以後就很抗拒上學
細問之下, 發現原來有三個原因:
1) 由於科學, 體育, 和其他雜項科目(不關重要)的都編到與別班一同上課(少數學生有這安排), 囡囡少了很多機會與自己班的同學一同上課, 更加難融入同班同學當中, 她更說連誰是自己班的同學也不知道, 感覺有點'兩頭唔頭岸'.
2) 囡囡有一次上體育課時頭暈, 及後在車上胃痛了很久, 但都沒有同學和老師發現(老師跟囡囡坐得非常接近), 下車時還不知什麼事, 其後才叫同學把囡囡帶到sick room休息.
3) 開學後來了兩個新生, 全班超額一個學生, 由於依姓氏開首排先後, 囡囡排最後, 囡囡在某些課堂時沒有位子, 常要花十數分鐘去為囡囡'特別'安排一個位子, 令囡囡好不難受.

就第三個原因我向學校反映, 結果安排囡囡轉班, 可是囡囡非常反感, 她說她不是插班生, 要她轉班是不公平, 錯不在她, 加上她又怕更難融入班中(本來學校已沒有什麼理會新生能否適應). 我對學校的安排也是感到很無奈的.
其實囡囡說整體上學校也沒什麼大問題, 只是學生程度比較參次, 在學校沒有人說英語, 和老師比較冷淡而已, 她說最誇張是有學生連'background'也不慬得串, 就算囡囡的母語不是英語, 也至少慬這個字(這是小學程度). 同時她亦告訴我她的同學經常叫她轉校, 她的同學亦似是不喜愛這學校.

Why her classmates always ask her to change to another school?  This is very strange!

When I visited YC's secondary school sometimes ago, I also found that the students seems very boring and demotivated during their lessons.  The nos. per class is in fact very small, so the caring for each student should be very good.  Besides, they have a lot of specialists and consultants taking care of the students.  So why is the morale so low?  

baubautse

Actually, my son is studying in YC as well. Why I like to keep him in the school is that he can really establish both languages, English and Chinese. He has been in YC from kindergarten to secondary, what I find is that he is confident and communicates well in both languages and he is not shame to use Putonghua at all, it is not a problem for him to switch channels. As a parent, I really feel that is what I want.

According to my son, they have been divided into different groups in languages and mathematics and it crosses the whole grade. For example, my son is very good at Mathematics, okay is English and need to work more in Chinese. In this arrangement, he benefits from the subject that he goods at and has extra support in Chinese. He enjoys a lot no matter in big groups or small groups studies. His best friends across the whole grade, and I think this special arrangement, to mix students up in different subjects, really widen his social circle and it helps him to grow.

Being a parent, of course, I do care about his future, especially the articulation after finishing his studies in YC. So I always keep an eye in the academic results of the school, I realize that the public results of the school is not that bad. In IB, the top score student achieved this year is 44, from my knowledge, all graduates has 100% university placement.

I also look forward to have a PTA too!! Right this moment, I found that there is no difficulty to communicate with the school by using traditional ways like, writing in the diary and ring the school. For the debenture, be honest, this is out of my plan, however, I can find a balance with lower tuition fee (from $131,780 to $112,000) and I regard the debenture as a saving (well, no interest!).   

RJSM

Baubautse,

To have a better picture of the IB results, you better ask the school how many of those achieving good scores in IB are homegrown YC students ( I mean excluding those who joined YC from other schools at Yr 12).  Also ask for detailed statistics of their IGCSE results. If the school is willing to give you the figures, you will understand what I mean by " academic standard not good."  Check out how they presented their public exam results on the web --- very vague and misleading.

Regarding University placement -- it is not at all impressive; mostly second or third tier UK universities. Check out other IS e.g. CIS and HKIS. They show a very clear account of where the students go each year. YC doesn't show the statistics to that level of details. Just lump everything together.

Regarding debenture -- please do not take the school fee reduction as a big favour. The school is supposed to cut down fee to $8000 + instead of $11000+, according to the agreement with govt!



For the kind of money they charge, YC has far from delivered what they should have. I can't help thinking that the school is more skilled at making money than educating children.

biggatecrab

RJSM,
Yes...IS are very materialistic nowadays...many of them only care about making money, or very good at using your money to help them make money!

kamandaddy

她的同學明年不是說要轉往其他國際學校就是說要到外國讀書. 有些說是不想考IGCSE, 有些說是就是覺得這學校很'廢'.
囡囡大部份的同學都不喜歡學校只顧'呃錢', 覺得在這學校錢是萬能的, 老師與學生關係又冷淡. 總之都沒有太大歸屬感.

現在我都不知該怎麼樣了, 想為囡囡轉往其他國際學校又怕要求太高, 難考進, 畢竟囡囡英文方面都比不上國際學校的學生.

WYmom 寫道:

Why her classmates always ask her to change to another school?  This is very strange!

When I visited YC's secondary school sometimes ago, I also found that the students seems very boring and demotivated during their lessons.  The nos. per class is in fact very small, so the caring for each student should be very good.  Besides, they have a lot of specialists and consultants taking care of the students.  So why is the morale so low?  

conniedodo

kamandaddy,
請問妳介意說出囡囡幾年級嗎?我的囡囡現讀yr.7.
聽完學校咁多負面野,攪到我都好擔心!!
我都驚考其他IS會有難度.!!

kamandaddy

其實囡囡說7年級的學生都沒有什麼大問題, 反而相比下7年級的學生最放膽說英文, 而且都能夠和其他同學打成一片, 所以我想都不用太擔心.
反而囡囡打聽到8年級到10年級學生流失最多, 很多成績好的學生都走了, 只剩下小部份成績較好的學生, 這是比較令人擔心的. 相信你也不難發現10年級以後是越來越少學生.

至於囡囡讀幾年級, 已pm了你

conniedodo 寫道:
kamandaddy,
請問妳介意說出囡囡幾年級嗎?我的囡囡現讀yr.7.
聽完學校咁多負面野,攪到我都好擔心!!
我都驚考其他IS會有難度.!!

wongkc05

Dear all,

My child is also studying YC.  To sum up the hot discussion, no matter you feel the school is good or bad, the difference is originated from your expectation.  As school fee is expensive, naturally, you expect more from school.  You expect your children have a happy learning process or a good academic reselt.  If possible, I expect both, but the world is not so perfect.

From my opinion, the school's function should create a learning environment for the children.  I expect the child to learn how to learn.  Knowledge (its learning and its application) come from the world, not solely from the school.  If the child can be motivated in school (or at home), he should be a good learner.  From the above discussion, I realized that there may be some problems in classroom management and communication problem in YC.  That's just a lesson to teach your children (and you) to manage those "communication" problems.  Your children can learn from you how to tackle the problem.  Remember, our children stay in school about 7 hours per day and 5 days per week.  Other than school-time, our children stay with us.  It means that our children has more chance to learn from us.

Concerning the public examination result, I feel that university admission rate and result of public examination is meaningless to our clildren.  Its just a statistical result. For a school, 75% university admission rate means that there are 75 out of 100 students can admit to university.  But for our child, it is all or none rule (it is impossible to admit 75% of my child to university).  How much our children learn and how successful they are, is not solely related to examination result.  Social skill, skill to handle one's emotion, skill to communicate with others and tackle the problem is far more important for personal success.

Concerning the great difference in standard of students in the same class, it is unavoidable in very school.  Concerning curriculum,  we cannot compare the Chinese standard of YC to mainstream school.  We cannot compare IB curriculum with HKCEE or GCE curriculum.  It is unfair.  Each has its own strength and shortcoming.  If anybody can find a school that is good in every aspect and in every subjects, please let me know.

Lastly, we cannot expect too much from school, although school fee is expensive.  It should be the source of disappointment.

I hope all our children has a good learning experience, if possible, with a good result.

conniedodo

THX kamandaddy ,
為何你會說反而越低年級會越放膽說英文呢?難道不是越高年級,所學的英語會越多,越有信心講嗎?

kamandaddy

囡囡只是新生, 所以都搞不明白, 可能7年級大多數從小學部升上來吧, 但她經常都聽到是7年級的學生在校園或assembly中最踴躍以英語發言. 她又說校園內8成學生都是說廣東話的, 而且上課時以英文交流的機會並不多, 上課時同學之間都是用廣東話的, 除非對方是外國人.

conniedodo 寫道:
THX kamandaddy ,
為何你會說反而越低年級會越放膽說英文呢?難道不是越高年級,所學的英語會越多,越有信心講嗎?

Smartdaddy

What a funny theory.......If you don't want to be disappointed, simply stop query and expecting and you will be happy with what you've got from the school.  All public exam results and U entrance statistics are nonsense.........The school will love to have that kind of parents.

"Don't Say, Just Pay", perhaps that's what the school management really wants to proclaim at heart.     

wongkc05 寫道:

Lastly, we cannot expect too much from school, although school fee is expensive.  It should be the source of disappointment.

WYmom

Yes, agree with Smartdaddy.  If we can pay such high school fee of Yew Chung, there are in fact a lot of choices of higher quality IS.  How come "don't expect too much from school though school fee is expensive"???

Now ESF has opened Renaissance College and will open Discovery Bay Private Independent School soon in 2007, we can have more choices over Yew Chung which offer high quality education at a more reasonable fee.

RJSM

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