Chinese classics back on agenda

(The Standard P.16  19 Apr 2013) Compulsory Chinese classics (必修的中文科範文) will be reinstated (恢復) in the 2014-15 senior secondary curriculum at the earliest.

 

This follows a proposal by the Curriculum Development Council (課程發展議會) to reinstate "assigned (指定) classical Chinese articles" for students taking the Chinese language subject in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination.

 

Before the curriculum (改革) in 2007, there were 26 compulsory teaching articles, in both classical and modern Chinese, which students were expected to  memorize (背熟) and quote (引述).

 

But the articles were abandoned (被放棄的) after critics said they reinforced (增強) students reciting(背誦) the content from memory without clearly understanding it.

 

It is believed the latest proposal came after students performed worst in Chinese language compared with the three other core subjects, English language, mathematics and liberal studies (通識教育).

 

Curriculum Development Council chairman Kenneth Young Gong-hoi denied there has been a decline in Chinese standards shown by students in public examinations.

 

Young said more than 70percent of candidates achieved Level 2, the benchmark for a pass, or higher, in last year's HKDSE.

 

Deputy Secretary  for Education (教育局副秘書長) Catherine Chan Ka-ki said: "We hope to choose some highlighted assigned teaching articles or classical Chinese as a point of penetration (洞察力) for teaching. But we don't want to take the road back to the former position that only assessed (評估) very few compulsory articles."

 

The council will set up a working group to look into the proposal further, including how many assigned (指定) articles should be covered (適用於) in the syllabus.

 

A professor at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Education (香港大學教育學院), Tse Shek-kam, worries that the move will not improve creative thinking.

 

The chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Development Association of Chinese Language Education, Yuen Kwok-ming, hopes good classical Chinese articles (範文文章) will be taught while also keeping parts of tests that assess skills.

Education Convergence (教育評議會) vice chairman Ho Hon-kuen said it is a good move (對策).

"It does not mean people should recite (背誦) all passages without understanding," Ho said. "It is not a bad thing to recite some excellent poems or paragraphs after understanding."

 

Meanwhile, the council also proposes (建議) cutting the total class time for the three years of senior secondary education by more than one tenth to 2,600 hours, to allow for more flexibility.

 

Winnie Chong