11-year-old Nathan Lee For-shing prefers the nontraditional and flexible curriculum of the Hong Kong Memory Association
PHILA SIU PHILA.SIU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 23 August, 2015, 3:38pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 23 August, 2015, 3:40pm
Lam Kin-tung (left), Executive Director of the Hong Kong Memory Study Association and Nathan Lee For-shing (right), an 11-year-old student. Photo: Franki Tsang
The father of an 11-year-old boy is so frustrated with Hong Kong's education system that he has applied to the Education Bureau for his son to be exempt from enrollment in mainstream schools.
Instead, the boy, Nathan Lee For-shing, has been studying full-time at the Hong Kong Memory Study Association, a private education centre which uses unorthodox techniques to facilitate learning.
For example, the Association teaches students English spelling by asking them to draft stories with new vocabulary. Unlike other local schools, the Association also does not give homework.
"He will not be able to have his potential developed [in mainstream schools]," the boy's father Michael Lee said, adding that the education system is "spoon-fed and rigid".
The boy came to Hong Kong from the mainland in May after he and his mother were both granted one-way permits. His father, 43, is a Hong Kong resident.
Soon after the younger Lee arrived in Hong Kong, his father tried to enter his son into a mainstream school. They approached ten schools but were told that entry exams would only take place in August.
The elder Lee then heard of a free talk organised by the Memory Study Association and attended the talk with his son.
Both of them agreed that it would be preferable to attend classes at the Association thanks to its flexible curriculum.
Currently, the younger Lee studies at the assciation for six days a week, from 10am to 5pm.
He said that in the past, he endured much stress in the mainland's school system, often studying until 1am when exams approached.
"I have had a lot of fun studying here," the boy said at a Memory Study Association press conference, adding that he believed local schools were equally as stressful as the mainland's.
The elder Lee has applied to Hong Kong's Education Bureau for his son to be exempt from mainstream schools, but has yet to clearly state the boy's current enrollment at the Memory Study Association.
The Association’s chairwoman Lee Yuk-kuen denied taking advantage of the boy to promote its services. She said the press conference was organised as she wanted the public to know that learning can be fun.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1851841/father-chooses-hong-kong-memory-study-association
