EDUCATION FOR LIBERATION AND TRANSFORMATION

(A critique of education in the Church and University)

Chan Wai Kit

I believe education must be centered upon the individual. This means education must create more spaces as much as possible for the intellectual, personal and spiritual growth of the students. Thus education can hasten the growth of the students by transmitting knowledge and developing their communication skills and critical thinking.

The educational system in Hong Kong is like a pyramid : the students have to study hard through their years in kindergarten, primary schools and secondary schools so that they can enter universities or other colleges and polytechnics. Post-secondary education in Hong Kong is rapidly expanding. About 18 percentage of the total population has received post-secondary education. For the 1990-1991 academic year, the Hong Kong government allocated 2.4 billion for the development of post-secondary education but the various post-secondary educational institutions have asked for about 20 billion for academic expansion. University education in Hong Kong is increasingly more research-orientated and specialised.

Post Secondary Education in Hong Kong

(1) Traditionally, Hong Kong educational system has often been criticised as an elitist institution. From 1950 to 1970, the function of the university was mainly to create colonial elite so that the overall colonial system of the Hong Kong Government could be maintained. The elitist educational system, however, began to change in the 1980's. With the continued economic development in Hong Kong, various economic sectors demanded different types of expertise and personnel. Hence, post-secondary educational opportunities also expanded in the 1980s to satisfy the needs of the national economy. The pitfall that I find in this trend is that, while the government expanded post-secondary educational opportunities it did not necessarily ensure the quality of the post-secondary students. The problem is that the government did not allocate more resources for the post secondary educational institutions. As a result, the ratio between lecturers, facilities and students became increasingly unproportional. Because of the scarcity of resources, the students could not learn so much.

(2) To examine the relative Tow quality of Hong Kong post-secondary students, we have to take the perspective of the whole educational system in Hong Kong. The problem in Hong Kong is that, while the government has expanded post-secondary educational facilities, it has not put more inputs in kindergarten, primary and secondary education. Education is a continuing process in which knowledge accumulation has to be based upon a solid foundation. One example which indicates the weakness of the foundation of the students is their language literacy. Recently, the language standard of the Hong Kong post-secondary students has been criticised. Yet the response of the government was only to improve language education. The government seems not to realise that language improvement has to begin in the primary and secondary levels. Concrete means include improving the quality of primary and secondary school teachers through on-the-job training.

(3) The third criticism of post-secondary education in Hong Kong is that it is a very technical mode of education. Almost all the subject departments in post-secondary educational institutions are to train suitable personnel to fit the requirements of the economic sectors. Therefore, business administration, engineering, law and medicine are the most favoured subjects. Few post-secondary educational institutions provide humanities subjects for the students to broaden their perspectives. This type of technical education will narrow the perspectives of the students. Since this kind of education does not raise their social consciousness, the post-secondary students are less and less interested in social concerns and student movement. Though in the university campus there are some channels for social consciousness training, the participation rate is still very low. The students would rather spend their time planning for their future career and doing leisure activities.

(4) Again the issue of students' lack of involvement in social concerns can be traced back to their secondary education. Secondary education in Hong Kong used to be a depoliticised one. This means that secondary students are seldom provided with the inputs concerning civic status, human rights and the need of social participation. This will probably make those post-secondary students even more unwilling or unprepared to make long-term commitment for social concerns. As far as I know, the development of civic education is still somewhat slow since the secondary teachers are still bound by personnel and institutional restrictions.

(5) The post-secondary students in Hong Kong also share a weak sense of national identity. This may also be traced back to their secondary education which seldom emphasised Chinese identity. This, of course has much to do with the colonial nature of the Hong Kong government which seems to encourage the educated to identify with the western values. The neglect of Chinese civilization in secondary schools is shown in its neglect of Chinese history and language

subjects. As a result, the post-secondary students are not given the chance to develop their national identity. On the other hand, cosmopolitanism and internationalism are the ideologies of the educated elites. These educated elites probably will not make a long term commitment for Hong Kong and China. They will probably think of cultivating their personal possessions as much as possible and emigrate to other countries. Then Hong Kong will lack the educated class who will have a clear vision of Hong Kong's future and develop possible ways to bring about social changes.

Church Education in Hong Kong

The church is the living body of Christ tasked with revealing Christ's presence in society. Therefore, church education is essential for the training of the disciples so they can be endowed with adequate critical thinking, solid faith foundation and personal skill in social participation. However, there are certain weaknesses in the church education in Hong Kong.

(1) One weakness is that the church seldom touches upon the social problems of Hong Kong. Most of the church's teaching mainly concerns the personal aspect of faith. This is not to deny the importance of personal and spiritual teaching in the church as it can raise the self-awareness of the disciples. Yet too much emphases upon personal teaching would deprive the disciples a chance to cultivate social consciousness. As a result, most of the disciples in Hong Kong are relatively slow in responding to social issues.

(2) Even the spiritual or biblical education in the church contains some limitations. Biblical education in Hong Kong churches usually maintains the absolute authority of the Bible - i.e. the words of the Bible are completely and literally correct. This often ignores the political, social, economic and cultural contexts behind the shaping of the Bible. This also keeps the disciples from cultivating the critical sense of challenging biblical and church authority. The disciples may equate obedience to the Lord with the obedience to the church. Church traditions then become the main element of church education. Therefore, some revolutionary implications of the Bible would be ignored and the perspectives of the disciples would be narrowed. For example, there is a relative lack of women consciousness in the churches. This is due to the mainstream male-dominated interpretations of the Bible still prevailing in the church.

(3) Most of the churches in Hong Kong are evangelistic i.e. -where spreading the gospel is very important to church ministers. As church ministers are concentrated upon gospel spreading, the church teaching therefore concentrates upon the technique of spreading the gospel or teaching techniques to protect Christianity. In church teaching, the doctrine of God's kingdom is relatively discussed less. Because of the lack of inputs about God's kingdom, the disciples in

Hong Kong lack social consciousness since the awareness of social concerns derives from the doctrines of the integrity of the whole creation which is embedded in the idea of God's kingdom. If we want to bring any significant personal changes in the church, the God's kingdom doctrine must be emphasised.

(4) The church teaching in Hong Kong also lacks the ecumenical spirit. Most of the churches in Hong Kong are very denominational. That means the churches are still concerned about their own denominations and do not try to extend their concerns to society nor engage in dialogues with other religions. The churches in Hong Kong are more concerned with their own growth more than with the outside world. This lack of ecumenical spirit naturally narrows the perspectives of the disciples.

In conclusion, the church education in Hong Kong is still in a somewhat closed system which hinders the development of critical young laypeople. In order to develop their potential, church education must be improved and so ensure a solid foundation of the church.

There are two major perspectives of education. One is the functionalist theory which stresses upon the role of education in preparing suitable people for the needs of society. Hong Kong educational system nearly belongs to this perspective. The alternative/critical approach toward education pinpoints the inherent pro-establishment stance of the former approach. It rather maintains that education should sharpen the critical consciousness of the recipients about social realities and engage them to commit to the work of social transformation. Education indeed includes not only the pure reception of new information but also developing critical judgement over the information. The relationship between teachers and students will also become critical and there will be free dialogue among themselves. This kind of education becomes a kind of pedagogy which will really develop persons to their fullest potential.

Courtesy

WORLD STUDENT NEWS No. 5-6/1988