Paper Talk, November 16, 2013
The principal of a secondary school in Tuen Mun has washed the feet of two graduate representatives at its annual graduation day ceremony since the school held its first one a decade ago. Principal Yip Chi-sio, of the Stewards Ma Kam Ming Charitable Foundation Ma Ko Pan Memorial College, stages the ritual based on a Bible story. Vice-principal So Chun-wai said he believed the act would teach pupils humility, a virtue the school considered more important than academic achievement. Ma Ko Pan, despite being a relatively new school in a remote district, has produced graduates who have gone on to prestigious universities such as Cambridge.
Locally born pupils occupy a quarter of the places at international schools. But employers and psychologists have found that many of these English-speaking graduates have difficulty with reading and writing Cantonese. And this weakness is hindering their job prospects as English-speaking roles account for only 20 per cent of jobs in the city - such as English-language teachers or journalists. One job-hunter stuttered whenever he had to speak Cantonese in interviews and all of his job applications failed. He developed an anxiety disorder and had to take Cantonese lessons again.
More people in their 20s have quit their jobs to become full-time stock-market speculators. This has led to more people seeking help for addiction to trading shares. The Even Centre, a gambling rehabilitation centre under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, said such cases went up from less than 10 per cent in 2011 to 13 per cent last year. The centre cited the case of a man in his 20s who lost more than HK$1 million trading warrants, which he had done with financial help from his family. A social worker said young people who lacked career direction tended to turn to speculating on stocks, and were encouraged to continue trading by any early success.
Some school buses have been transferring kindergarten pupils in their care from one bus to another along their routes to cut fuel costs. Children were seen changing buses more than once during a trip; left unattended; or walking in the middle of the road to get to another school bus. The bus supervisors - some allegedly seen talking on phones instead of watching over the children - were accused of being unable to look after all of the pupils.
A photograph taken in a kindergarten has been circulating on the internet and generating a lot of talk among parents. The photo shows a whiteboard outside a playroom listing the names of stock market indices such as the Dow Jones, FTSE and Nikkei, with their last closing points. One mother asked if the kindergarten, which the did not name, was trying to nurture investment talent in children at an early age. The parent who took the picture is a former financial journalist who now works as a public relations manager. She said she was surprised to see the whiteboard when she took her daughter to the kindergarten.
Stocks of infant formula sold at dispensaries in Kwun Tong, Mong Kok and Wan Chai are running low - and prices are rising. A tin of Mead Johnson A+3, for instance, now sells for HK$280, up about 20 per cent. A shop assistant said milk suppliers were reducing their stocks, forcing the shops to find products elsewhere. He claimed hoarders were buying formula in bulk from pharmacy chains such as Mannings and Watsons, then reselling the products to dispensaries via middlemen, which was driving up retail prices.
