Ideas can change the world

uneasy day...

2010-01-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

an uneasy day when the long expected call hasn't come and the abstracted soul leaves a void. life goes on in a lacklustre way.

waves and storms

2010-01-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

After the storm comes the clean air and the tranquil sea, and sometimes even streets beautifully strewn with fallen leaves - when they have almost dried up. Cloudy days, chilly days, blustery days, or gloomy days have set the right kind of tone for winter and afterwards one gets overjoyed when there's a brief spell of sunshine. As daylight fades away and moonlight is nowhere to be seen, the imagination of darkness sets in.

these days have seen some ups and downs. good days with lots of good fun and happy moments that somehow end on an unhappy note. storms bring disruption and turbulence and whirl away certain tiny particulates and pollutants; they leave a ravaged landscape yet confer some reawakening or refreshening power. i used to hate storms big or small, natural or man-made and resist them where i could, but at some point i began to invite and encourage them in a way... they have recurred to the point where they have become part of life as if they could come and go without raising an eyebrow, as if i had become a century-old tree that might well have a hollow heart but could still, for now or maybe much longer, stand upright enough to withstand any wind--until it gives way and collapses.

The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

2009-12-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

By the century's deathbed

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware

(written in 1900)

Independence

2009-12-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

"Size isn't everything by any means," he said aloud to the dog, as if suspecting her of entertaining high ideas. "Take my word for it, freedom is of more account than the height of a roof beam. I ought to know; mine cost me eighteen years' slavery. The man who lives on his own land is an independent man. He is his own master. If I can keep my sheep alive through the winter and can pay what has been stipulated from year to what -- then I pay what has been stipulated; and I have kept my sheep alive. No, it is freedom that we are all after, Titla. He who pays his way is a king.He who keeps his sheep alive through the winter lives in a palace."

From "Independent People" by Halldor Laxness

How true.

Ribbons

2009-12-14T05:25:00.000-08:00

'If there were ten men insured against either weath or starvation, and offered a green ribbon for five hours' work a day and a blue ribbon for ten hours' work a day, nine out of ten of them would be trying for the blue ribbon. That competitive instinct only wants a badge. If the size of their house is the badge they'll sweat their heads off for that. If it's only a blue ribbon, I damn near believe they'll work just as hard.'

'To hold a man a woman has to appeal to the worst in him.'

From "This Side of Paradise" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I like his expression.

Man

2009-12-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

"I discovered that physical courage depends to a great extent on the physical shape a man is in. I found that I was as brave as the next man--it used to worry me before."
"What else?"
"Well, the idea that men can stand anything if they get used to it and the fact that I got a high mark in the psychological examination."

From "This Side of Paradise" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A signpost

2009-12-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

A week ago there was a day I felt a surge of energy in me after having breakfast with my granny and thoughts of carpe diem kind of returned, for a moment. This term has gone in a flash. I have been busy. Haven't learnt as much as I could have but I guess I have indeed stretched my timetable enough.

For that reason I have sadly abandoned this blog so long. I know there are a few good friends who still read this from time to time, so I should keep this up, to open my world up to you.

In order to encourage myself to read up the books on my shelves I've decided to add a literary element to this blog and cite some quotes :)

Quote for today:

'Women she detested. They represented qualities that she felt and despised in herself--incipient meanness, conceit, cowardise and petty dishonesty. She once told a roomful of her mother's friends that the only excuse for women was the necessity for a disturbing element among men.'

From 'This Side of Paradise' by Scott Fitzgerald

On the move

2009-08-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm on the move again. This time I'm not moving away from HK, but only away from HK Island to Lantau Island (Mui Wo). I've finally come home, but I'm leaving home in no time at all. I guess as my friend said there's no return once the journey has started - I have after all isolated myself long enough.

It comes as a surprise to many of my friends both the fact of living out without a full-time job and moving to a rather remote place. But I have, for once, swiftly have this decision, as if the wind was taking me there. I am quite keen and sanguinely hopeful that the turning of this page will mark the beginning of a more interesting and fulfilling chapter of my life. There will be mountains to climb, trails to explore, and a breeze to awaken my soul :)

Of course a housewarming party will follow!

來到今天

2009-08-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

人没事做,就想多了.
想的就是过了这些日子,终于回到家了. 从离家的那一天开始,一直都很想回来; 到回来之后,发现虽然家人都一样疼我,但我深知自己是已经长大了,还是想起那一句我表姐赠我的: 路是自己走的,别期望其他人可以帮你.家庭担子该开始肩负, 不过负担不起. 很快我得搬离老家,回到香港这么一年将是过渡期,因为很快要搭上人生另外一条路. 回来自己荣升了成为表舅,是喜事,不过却没有原来预期的喜悦感.

读了这么多年书,来到今天, 还是得多读一年.离家已经四年,来到今天,还是得预备下一次的离开.

想的就是庆幸很多朋友都很重情,离开时依依不舍,来到今天,原来情还在,大家仍是如昨天的好朋友.就算是环境有变,大家生活的交叉点少了,可是有缘千里能相会,毕竟有心跟我聚一下,心里是很高兴的.

由一个人孤身离开香港,来到今天,有小宝作伴回归香港, 是莫大的福分.

见了一些朋友,发现过了几年,还是很有抱负,热诚,我感到很骄傲:) 自己也在审视,反思中,感觉是制造了许多借口给自己...

而且,来到今天,皮肤还是那么糟.真郁闷.

不知怎的,心里有种不安感.

人生免不了离合,家人,朋友,情人可能也是,大概来到今天也不等于是一个充分的理由去抗衡转变.来到今天,还是得去适应已发生的改变,为明天的改变去预备,

another blow...

2009-05-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

as with many of my entries i tend to write one when i have the least time to do so. i've got two more essays to write in the next couple of days... i'm fortunately still determined to get through them somehow.

today i had a bit of a blow by a tutor literally telling me off for saying 'it's nonsense' a couple of times, emphatically and how i've made an unforgivable fundamental mistake about the law. i must have worn a blank expression, and i was desperately trying to hide away. it was rather depressing to hear a comment directed at myself in a tutorial on this level--and one that was sadly, rightly deserved. I admittedly got it wrong for various reasons. the first one i read something not critically enough - taking some old instrument for its accurate reflection of the law haha, so much for my legal training... and the second one i couldn't remember the answer and made some stuff up. never pretend to know something you don't, but i never learnt that. i don't blame him because i agree with the chinese saying that insults come from others only after one has insulted himself. for the egregious errors i made i deserved nothing but a very rightful pointer.

i had and still have hard feelings indeed, and kept asking myself why my emotions would betray my rationality (i need to work and can't afford to feel sorry for myself anymore.) i just felt really ashamed of myself >< the feeling is sour and bitter. during the tutorial i told myself to be proactive, and prove myself ... all the positive things i could think of. if he thinks i'm shit i should show that i can do better... i'd like to say i couldn't care less but i really do.

and as i slowly reflected in the back of my mind i realised this whole year i'd been trying very hard to avoid the law, and made up lots of excuses not to work. i blamed everything without really looking at myself. Now i see myself through his words - it's probably been a lot of nonsense. i have only myself to blame for all this...

maybe this blow has come rather late. it came last year quite early with a friendly and kindly phrased reminder of my state of work from an eminent professor. that was definitely what pushed me to work hard. this year this 'overdue' blow has finally arrived. i'm not sure much can be done now though.

it's not really a big deal i guess. 'mistake is the mother of success'. ha ha ha. nonsense is the mother of wisdom perhaps.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

2009-04-13T04:30:00.000-07:00

Extracted from http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/travel/12outback.html

America’s Outback: Southern Utah

Kevin Moloney for The New York Times

Two hikers squeeze through Peek-a-Boo Canyon in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

By TONY PERROTTET

Published: April 12, 2009

IF the name Dry Fork Coyote Gulch doesn’t give fair warning that this is not your average hike, then the haunting drive to the trailhead will remove all doubt. The sandy Hole-in-the-Rock Road is one of the few routes that even attempt to enter the biblical expanse of desert in southern Utah called the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and when I made a pilgrimage there last summer, I didn’t pass a single car, let alone a sign of human habitation.

But my total isolation didn’t really strike home until I stepped from my 4x4 onto the edge of a mesa above Coyote Gulch, a ravine whose golden sandstone hides three gorgeous, narrow slot canyons. The lonely trailhead offered none of the familiar national park comforts like ranger huts or wooden welcome signs — certainly no dubious snack vendors. There was nothing but expanses of rock stretching toward the horizon, which at 10 a.m. were already glowing like embers under the intense Utah sun. Only a few stone cairns far below indicated that there was any hiking trail at all.

I gamely reminded myself that this was precisely what I’d been looking for — a landscape unchanged since 1872 — and set off into the piercing light.

I’d gone to southern Utah on the trail of an improbable outdoor adventurer — Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh, who at the ripe age of 18 joined the last great voyage of exploration in the Old West. This Gilded Age Hardy Boy made it through the raw desert in May and June 1872 with a group of amateur explorers who were hardly more qualified than himself. In his later years, Dellenbaugh traveled the world as an artist and writer, and helped to found, in 1904, the esteemed Explorers Club, now on 70th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

But I was fascinated by his teenage adventure, largely forgotten today, when he and his friends found the first route through southern Utah’s maze of canyons, discovering the last unknown river in the continental United States, the Escalante, and the last mountain range, the Henrys. They were the first to peer into that phantasmagoric expanse of Bryce Canyon and the first to cross what is now Capitol Reef National Park.

At one particularly tricky canyon crossroad, they tried to convince a Ute Indian to act as a guide, “for the labyrinth ahead was a puzzle,” Dellenbaugh later recalled. After the man wandered off, the group pressed on anyway, trusting to their spirit and wits.

This corner of the southern Utah has since been immortalized by the painter Maynard Dixon, the novelist Zane Grey, the photographer Ansel Adams and countless Hollywood westerns. And yet, it still qualifies as the best-kept secret in the West. While millions of travelers are drawn every year to Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks, Grand Staircase-Escalante and its surrounding area offer a seemingly endless choice of natural wonders that lie blissfully forgotten and empty. It’s America’s Outback.

SHORTLY after starting the Coyote Gulch hike, I had to wonder if I might not disappear into the desert void. Back in the town of Escalante, some rangers had given me a printout of directions to the three slot canyons.

“These are unmarked routes,” it screamed in bold print. “Hikers must pay attention to landmarks so they can find their way out.”

I had lost sight of the first stone cairns almost immediately, as I stumbled down to the dry river wash at the bottom of the ravine. (“Water is scarce,” the printout helpfully noted.) After a few false leads, I made it to Peek-a-Boo Canyon, whose hard-to-spot entrance was surrounded by what looked like a shallow pool: I took a step in and sank straight up to my thighs in thick mud. As the sun continued to climb in the sky, I wished for my own Ute guide — or at least a GPS tracking system.

Hugging the canyon wall for shade, I pressed on heroically and found Spooky Canyon, named for its otherworldly atmosphere. It was only an 18-inch-wide crack in the rock, but to me it yawned like the gateway to Shangri-La.

As I squeezed inside, the air was immediately cool and fragrant. The sky appeared to be an electric blue sliver far above, and the reflected light made the golden sandstone seem to glow from within. I remained utterly still, in a lizardlike state, knowing that I couldn’t hide in there forever.

Finally, I drank the last of my water and staggered across the rock like a sun-struck character out of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” I was parched, scratched, encrusted with mud — but triumphant. Out there in Coyote Gulch, I had a sense, however distant, of what Dellenbaugh and his companions had been up against back in 1872.

Back home in Manhattan, I had often walked past the Gothic facade of the Explorers Club and thought with more than a twinge of envy of the halcyon days of travel. The club’s founders had grown up after the Civil War, when you could hop on a train from Grand Central and plunge into the West like a character from a dime novel. They were a tough bunch who set off with little more than their hobnailed boots and a month’s supply of bread and bacon.

Frederick Dellenbaugh, fresh from high school in Buffalo in 1871, heard that John Wesley Powell was looking for men to join his second expedition down the Colorado River. Powell had become a celebrity for conquering the Grand Canyon in 1869; this time, the white-water trip would be combined with the mapping of the Colorado plateau. Hundreds volunteered, but Powell liked to pick his crews from friends and relatives, and Dellenbaugh, who was connected on Powell’s brother-in-law’s side, became the expedition’s artist.

when life is good

2009-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

The last few months were probably the best time of my years at oxford :) I had lots of fun and my life was more eventful than it had ever been here - as it slowly takes on a new meaning.

Siu-Po and I went to Paris :) which was a fantastic break and saw quite a bit of art and culture.

(that last one on the right corner was me and Van Gogh)

That was a memorable moment on a remarkable bridge.

colourful days :)

and nice walks along the meadows. I want to see the daffodils again...

and some snow ball games.

too much fun these days - saw two musicals too: the phantom of the opera and the les miserables. i'm going to see two operas: Acis and Galatea, and Dido and Aeneas at Covent Garden.

Quite a bit of swimming and squash :) I'm trying to keep fit and use some of my reserve.

Picked up reading again - the sheltering sky by Paul Bowles and the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I'm going to read some spanish classics - sound daunting. they have nice names: 'life is a dream' by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, and the Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina. Should be fun....

yes and i'm trying ** (emphasis added) to work and learn lots and lots about the law.

and i should avoid thinking too much as well. Just live in the moment ^^

《楢山節考》：生存裡的尊重

2009-04-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

轉載自http://www.wretch.cc/blog/fansss/9207703

http://hre.pro.edu.tw/zh.php?m=15&c=1222746615

文／林木材

太棒了!

《楢山節考》：生存裡的尊重

看到日本影星緒形拳病逝的消息，讓我想起他主演的《楢山節考》。
現在把文章貼上來，視為一種紀念。

日本導演今村昌平談他所拍攝的《楢山節考》時曾說道：「棄老傳說看來似不人道，但現今社會面對環境污染，人口急增的問題同樣殘酷。」

【楢山節考】原是日本文學家深澤七郎的小說作品，描寫著著日本信川山區裡某個貧窮村落中所發生的故事。而故事的性質不只有點像傳說物語，其實更像警世寓言，在某種程度上，讓我想起英國作家威廉‧高汀（William Golding）描述孩童們在孤島上展開生存鬥爭的【蒼蠅王】（The Lord of Flies），同樣有些荒謬，有點超現實，但卻也同樣殘酷真實，就彷彿真實悲劇般令人心痛和發人省思。

這篇短篇小說，先後被日本兩位大導演翻拍成電影。首先是擅長悲喜劇的木下惠介導演於1958年拍成電影《楢山節考》；接著在1983年時，由今村昌平導演再度翻拍，同名《楢山節考》，當時報名參加坎城影展時，更獲得了最佳影片金棕櫚大獎，揚名國際。而今村昌平導演的版本，也是一般市面上較能購買到的版本。本文所談論的，正是以今村昌平導演的電影版本為主。

《楢山節考》的故事並不複雜，大意可以這樣說：一個偏僻貧窮的高山村落，男女老少都為了飽食一餐而兢兢業業。糧食的不足，使得村子裡有了個不成文的規定，只要是年過70歲的長者，都必須由自己的子女背到深山裡回歸山神（自然地死去）。這就是大家在嚴苛生存條件下的共識。

《楢山節考》的開場，是一片片無涯的雪景。空拍鏡頭圍繞著白雪山頭，鏡頭以鳥瞰式的大全景包含著雪山的蒼茫和無盡，彷彿一個全知者般，暗示著一種超然的觀點。接著鏡頭才慢慢從大遠景轉換成遠景，從遠景轉換成中景，再從中景變成近景。故事劇情正以旁觀的「祂」為觀點，慢慢展開。

如果把粗略的將《楢山節考》分為上下兩個段落，那麼上半段可以視為側寫村民們的外在行為，以彰顯整體的惡劣環境；而下半段則比較著重內在的探尋，也就是年過70歲的母親即將要被兒子背上山時，彼此的心理轉折。

然而，影片中率先入鏡的竟不是這部片的主角─「人」。反而以一隻小老鼠作為開場，接下來才出現人們。動物先於人類的出現，與敘述觀點有著不可分割的曖昧關係。

今村昌平先以極度寫實的筆觸，一一刻畫著村民們的行為。不單單只是他們賣力地播種耕種、採集食物；還包括了他們為了爭奪食物（生存），而不惜偷竊、出賣自己，甚至是販賣女兒以求溫飽的貪婪（有場戲是村民捉到有人偷竊食物，因而引起公憤，整個家族被村民滅門活埋）；更涵蓋了人們於性愛的原始飢渴和發洩（還包括人獸交）。這些赤裸裸的鏡頭，在在呈現著人性最底限的慾望「食色性也」，逼得觀眾無處可躲，不得不去正視，既殘酷又真實。

但令人驚訝的是，總被人視為罪惡或淫穢的這一切，在《楢山節考》裡，卻都擁有極其自然的畫面。鏡頭不高不低，大都平視，絲毫不帶任何批判與懷疑的眼光，也沒有懼怕或害羞的擔憂，並在影片中不時穿插著動物的象徵，儼然講述著「人」之於「動物」本能上的等同。藉此，同時消弭了觀眾心中的既有的道德偏見和價值觀。

「這就是荒山村落的真實樣貌！」今村昌平彷彿藉著這一大段外在行為的鋪成，如此宣示著。然而，在嚴苛的貧窮環境下縱然生存不易，縱然有著紛爭和糾葛，卻還是有著不可泯滅的光輝和溫暖，「人性糾葛」於是成為《楢山節考》裡的真正重點。

男主角的母親已經69歲，雖然上了年紀，卻還是老當益壯，可以說是家裡最重要的依靠。當然，她曉得自己上山的時刻即將到來，也為此做了準備。除了傳授自己生存的技能給後輩之外，她更刻意撞斷自己口中兩顆堅固的門牙，好讓自己看起來更老些，以讓家人調適心情接受事實。這個令人印象深刻的橋段，好比滿是愛與犧牲的動態遺書，對比著媳婦肚裡的孩子，世代傳承的意味濃厚，也就是「必須一個人死，換一個人活」。

而這「回歸山神」的信仰無法被挑戰，一方面因為老人家地位低落（被訕笑為鬼婆），另一方面則因為糧食短缺的現實，使人不得不去信守這份習俗。外在的苦噩，對時局來說，一點改變的契機都沒有，這正是《楢山節考》最大的悲劇─「天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗。」

雖然故事悲慘，但今村昌平是位具有人道關懷意識的導演。當長子要背母親上山時，兩人皆平靜的面對事實，影片調性開始轉變，聲音沉寂了下來，僅用演員來表達情感。──長子走著走著，腳因誤踩樹枝而受傷了，母親這時貼心地遞出布巾幫忙包紮傷勢；長子走著走著，深怕母親肚子餓，拿出了事先準備的飯糰，母親卻示意要長子留著自己吃（因為自己終將死亡，不願意浪費糧食）；當母親抵達深山後，長子在回程的途中，窺見另有一對上山的父子，父親感到恐懼於是哭喊掙扎，兒子在慌亂中，則將父親推下山崖。

看到這一幕的長子相當震撼。此時，季節更迭，又再次下起了雪（所有人都增加了一歲），他回頭去找尋母親，看見母親靜坐在雪地上，雙手合十，彷彿一尊佛像，再次示意要長子回去吧！兩人眼神相互對望，一個充滿堅定，一個則依依不捨。人性親情的溫柔大愛悄悄地流洩出來，讓人充滿不忍，這場戲遂成為《楢山節考》裡最感人的一幕。

許多人認為《楢山節考》是部不折不扣的悲劇，特別是對老年長者來說，彷彿印證著著達爾文的「適者生存，不適者淘汰」理論；也有人曾提出，因為資源有限，任何族群都不能漫無限制地繁衍下去，所以必須讓年紀大的人自然死去。但，誰又有資格及權利來宣判決定誰該死？誰該活呢？

事實上，《楢山節考》的影片從冬季開始，經過春天、夏天、秋天，再次回到冬季。結束時也首尾呼應，利用鳥瞰的大遠景俯視白雪山頭。加上片尾母親安祥地回歸山神，蛇交媾的象徵（新生），似乎都說明著生命的死與生，不只是生命的必經過程，也是大自然生生不息的一部份。（人真的是萬物之靈嗎？《楢山節考》並非單純的悲劇。）

今村昌平導演的《楢山節考》有著宏觀的視野和胸襟。不妄下判斷，不給予觀眾絕對的價值定見，只是靜靜地講述故事，充分讓各個角色呈現著自己的貪念、慾望、苦衷、愛與犧牲。於是在權利和義務之間，在小愛與大愛之間，沒有絕對的優劣對錯，沒有絕對的是非善惡。這是對世間萬物難得的「尊重」（敬重）。

德國心理分析學家佛洛姆（Erich Fromm）是這麼解釋「尊重」的，他說：「尊重並不是懼怕和畏懼，它指一種能力：他人是什麼樣子，我就照他的樣子來認識他，認知他獨特的個人性。尊重的意義是我關懷另一個人，讓他依照他自己的本然去生長，去發展。因此，尊重意涵著我對他人沒有侵占剝奪的欲望。」

以人權的觀點來看，不也正是如此嗎！社會的進步取決於強勢者對待弱勢者的方式，取決於多數人看待少數人的態度。就像《楢山節考》裡長子和母親對彼此決定的尊重，就像整個村落對於生存條件（延續種族命脈）的尊重。縱然有爭議，有許多灰色的模糊地帶，但這些問題都將因立場的不同而無法擁有唯一的標準答案，只能嘗試站在理解的前提下相互尊重。這正是我看完《楢山節考》後所引發的思考。

Old age

2009-03-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Just read an article about old people on a sunday times magazine (though it's already monday night now) - a few quotes:
'We are one of the very few cultures in all the world that does not treat age as an achievement.'
'most people in this country die weepingly lonely, left in no doubt that they have overstayed their welcome. This is the greatest shame and horror of our age.'
'The cure for this youth-tormented terror is blindingly simple. Reclaim the old. Include them in our lives. The antibiotic for loneliness is company.'
'The old aren't the problem. It's the rest of us. We would rather consign them to a netherworld where they are out of mind and out of sight.'
'You really should spend an hour listening to someone who's lived twice as long as you because you'll hear something funny and clever, touching and probably astonishing.'
'We should ensure that nobody ever sits alone wishing for their own death because they know of nobody who wishes them to live.'

This is such an important issue in its own right, and more so given the aging trend in many countries. These people who have contributed to the present well-being of society get forgotten - and even abandoned.
And those 'care services' are only interested in the money.

This reminds me of the elderly's home my great grandmother was put for a couple of years before she passed away >< Its a shame. My grandmother, aunt and uncle had looked after her for a long time until it finally became very difficult. I wasn't the one caring for her so I could hardly say, but I still remember how bitterly I resented that elderly's home (a rubbish private business basically abusing its monopoly over the neighbourhood) for its inhumane treatment of the elderly and wanted to report it to East magazine, which I somehow innocently thought would be interested in these issues. That was many years ago...

lottery

2009-03-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

i have read enough about how outcomes of legal cases can be a matter of lottery - there are always certain thresholds which determine the outcome (as far as establishing causation is concerned). In a civil case, it's the balance of probabilities (more than 50% chance), whereas in a criminal case, it's proof beyond reasonable doubt. The pressure point is on that very line. if it's 49.999% it's still somewhere short of 50%, and blame the statisticians whoever are responsible for the unfortunate gap. There's occasionally some controversy about where these thresholds should be drawn. Many people say it's a matter of lottery because it all depends on a lot of circumstantial factors which could be determined completely by chance. Say the evidence that can be and has been unearthed, the nature of the incident, the reasonableness of the judgment of the judge and jury....

And it's actually so true of life in general. it's all determined by chances. The extent to which human behaviour plays out is like the number of lots you draw and which areas you draw from and whether you put in the right box, or whether you have some magic sure win ticket etc. every time we make a decision we're drawing a lot. in fact every moment of life involves drawing a lot of lots. if i were a mathematician, i would definitely work on probabilities.

maybe thats why decisions can be so important because they can change your chances to different extent. they can be life changing experiences, or they can be completely futile mundane steps to take in life..... whether guided by your autonomy they could make a world of difference, and they could also be of complete irrelevance because your lots might totally not count at all.

who has this hand on these lotteries?

how different are go-getters to laid back-ors, really?

can there be more equality of chances? hm.... food for thought.

Sunshine

2009-02-20T03:22:00.000-08:00

today the sunshine actually felt warm for the first time in a while. The sunlight shone through the windows into the lovely law bod over the staircase I was ascending. It literally 'dawned' on me (only in the sense of light, not time) that half a year has been spent. I'd like to think this means hope for brighter days to come.

This strange phenomenon of 'fifth week blues' in oxford refers to an inexplicable feeling of depression halfway through an eight-week term, assuming either a hardcore four weeks full of work and no break, and some psychological sadness called blues OR a consistent and continuous failure and procrastination that has built up to incredible stress, guilt, helplessness, and maybe despondency. Shouldn't dramatise this, but it's a very real feeling that comes in most terms. admittedly sounding a bit silly. A friend of mine described it in a very interesting way - the furthest away from two vacations. It's a fairly short term of eight weeks as people would intuitively think, but it's one thats quite intensive enough to create this feeling of prolonged mental and physical exhaustion - yes even though i didn't actually get much work done lol.

Guess what? I got an emergency chocolate for fighting fifth week blues from Lizzie! Thank you!

I'm going to WORK WORK WORK, and enjoy thinking about the law LOL.

Halfway through, and the superb The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: WARNING: SPOILERS

2009-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

So i'm halfway through today (end of 4th week and beginning of 5th week of Hilary term - second term of the year) but i'm giving myself one day of allowance as transition to prepare myself for a desperate shift back to the right course. I mean to take action to rescue my degree! I've been lazy for too long and it's seriously terrible. I have entertained myself with enough excuses and procrastinated long enough. Yeah time to work, and otherwise i'd feel like hell at the end of the year. cant really face this myself. So this is my resolution - MUST WORK HARD!!!

It's been a month ^^ the first V day was lovely. Thank you.

SP and I saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was amazing. The picture was fantastic and it would be worth going to the cinema just for that.

(one of the prettiest pics of the film - Daisy dancing in some dim light)

But the story itself is v intriguing. It raises many questions. Imagine the clock turned backwards only for you against a whole world running in a totally different direction. Thats Benjamin Button - a man who ages backwards. As I interpret it, there are three interesting themes: 1. feeling out of place ; 2. timing; 3. eternality

the young Daisy

When he was born, his mother died, and Thomas Button his dad abandoned him after a long run in desperation and confusion. He was born like an old man with a deteriorated body. Maybe it was the combination of both the horrendous aged features on Benjamin's body and the death of his wife that led the father to leave him alone on day 1. So he was born abandoned.

He was abandoned at a very kind family's door and a black lady decided to adopt him and raised him up (in fact originally motivated by the mother's failure to conceive - he was initially only a substitute in some way). He thought he was an old man for quite some time because he grew up in an elderly's home. Ironically, every part of his external appearance resembled an old man, but he was at the same time different from any other old man - he was actually a child. It was an internal contradiction coupled with this external corroborating contrast - nothing seemed to match internally or externally.

He then went on to become a seaman for a few years. He met a woman during that period, but he could only see her during the night in the hotel lobby - it was all in the dark. One day the lady however left with a note saying merely 'it was nice to have met you'.

He went back to Daisy a girl with gorgeous blue eyes he could never forget, and Daisy liked him since she was 7 despite his appearance. But Daisy had grown into a famous dancer in New York and had her own life (her own suitors and everything). He wasn't ready for her, and she was no longer available for him.

An old guy going out with a young girl - whatever love that lies within doesn't matter; it's the external incompatibility that stings. Maybe they could have worked out, but neither of them dared try. maybe they just didnt love each other enough, maybe the obstacle was insurmountable.

Benjamin learnt of Daisy's injuries in Paris, and he found her lying in bed incapacitated. She said he was perfect then - for Benjamin had grown a lot younger into the handsome Brad Pitt look, but poor Daisy had aged a lot and wrinkles started growing, and sadly the inequality was exacerbated by her injuries. She said plainly, 'I don't want to see you, and I don't want your help.' Benjamin left.

After a few years, Daisy came back to find him, and they were still passionately in love with each other. They stayed together happily for a few years - that was the only time when Benjamin's appearance matches Daisy's., and they felt right for each other.

Benjamin said, 'Nothing lasts.' Daisy replied, 'Some things last.' Maybe it would be fine from thereon.

Daisy got pregnant and gave birth to a lovely girl, Caroline, but Benjamin left them behind soon after, because he knew that he was just getting younger and couldn't be a proper father or husband - he wanted to leave before he left an indelible mark.

He started travelling again, this time on his motorbike. It looked really cool, but that belies his underlying loneliness - he has been travelling pretty much his whole life, for the reason that he felt that didn't fit in.

This feeling of not fitting in has stayed with him since his birth, and keeps him away from the people he loves.

After ten years, he came back and he was introduced to his daughter as a family friend. And Daisy was remarried to a terrific father. Though they couldn't be together again, their love for each other hadn't really dwindled. I think at that point, Daisy said to him, 'nothing lasts'.

In a way it seemed like such an irresponsible guy running away from all his responsibilities, but he did it all out of good intentions and partly compelled by his circumstances. It was probably for the better of the family that he did leave......

And later he was found in his old elderly's home, really 'an old person', but looking like a young boy gradually turning into a baby. Daisy went and started looking after him. Ironically, Daisy was like 60 or 70 but Benjamin looked like a boy - it's the contrast to the early scenes where old looking Benjamin met the young lovely Daisy.

Maybe some things really last - he found someone who could unconditionally love him finally. Benjamin also stared at her before he died as a baby - maybe he still remembered her.

How many temporal scales are there in life? We all seem to be living in the same time zone, but are we? Or is it all just apparent reality? If so does it matter?

For Benjamin and Daisy, there was only a very short period when the timing was really right for each other - how transitory. Benjamin tried to escape coz he felt he was out of place, but Daisy came back to support him when he was an old baby. Maybe that shows it doesn't matter after all, and some things do last?

There were a few really touching bits.

Benjamin's father Thomas abandoned him, and he still loved him.

Benjamin abandoned his own child, and he sent her a postcard for every birthday.

Thomas told Benjamin that he was Benjamin's father when he was almost dying.

Caroline (benjamin's daughter) was told that Benjamin was her real father when Daisy (her mother) was dying. All the cards he sent were only read after his death.

Benjamin was born abandoned at someone's doorsteps, but he died in Daisy's arms.....

無奈，委屈，自食其果，自作自受

2009-02-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

本來有朋自遠方來，很開心。本來以爲自己可以盡一點力，做一些認爲是該做的事，覺得自己很有用。今天卻體會到有時候，做好人真的會着雷劈。越是用心的去幫一個朋友，但別人可以不但不領情，更要插自己一刀，傷害得越深。自問是純粹的盡力而爲，幫他一下抱不平，居然挨駡，還要問我有沒有孩子，能不能理解家長的顧慮，被人說做成是自己不負責任，不顧後果等。她講的一切，我都已經提醒過她丈夫。很都時候，沒有兩全其美的，要求變，要換自己一個公道，要爭取合理的服務，肯定有風險和代價的。這是他們作爲家長的決定，我從沒想過要干涉，卻成爲了戰靶。心了很是不快，委屈的感覺實在是太難受了。

最近心情真得不太好，覺得很局促，快崩潰了。幸好身邊有很好的朋伴的支持，而且有牛津四周的漂亮的雪景，有減壓的效用。

http://picasaweb.google.com/paddy.wklaw

(牛津的雪景）

我更開始了花錢減壓，買了一塊壁球拍，70% off at £26.99 (discounted from £59.99) good bargain heh?

My second rant about nothing

2009-02-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry ignore this if you dont want to read about my rant.

Disclaimer: I asked for this all because I didn't work hard enough apparently to compensate my brain and physical deficiencies.

The lifestyle of 4 seminars a week was already killing me last term. this term i'm having more tutorial essays to write on top of all these. The reading list for each seminar generally consists of a few hundred pages of reading, and i usually only have a day plus a bit to do each.

The whole evening i have miraculously finished a problem question answer in three hours and a half. i should be very pleased with myself this time because i actually tried to read all the cases (sort of - i realised i missed out a big chunk as i finish it up anyway) - this shows i'm not incorrigibly terrible i guess......and that i really want to rescue my degree. the reason for my suffering: i didnt do the work last term. and this essay means i have to do the work for week 2 of last term (for one of the subjects)... and i haven't read the stuff for the other weeks either...so its going to be fun days this term lol.

okay the reason for my rant: it is actually not the essay in itself.

The last couple of hours after i changed libraries - from the faculty one to my college one at 10pm, just to finish the other half, I was thoroughly tested to the limits of my patience. As soon as I got into the law library and sat down having arranged everything (my laptop, all the books and notes i needed), just as i was about to start, the ceiling began to vibrate coz of some huge party noise right above my room. some idiots are playing loud music and this is really inconsiderate. i already had to bear with a trumpet for much of my second year, and a few days of yuck puke right in front of my room. i had to go to the library to avoid noise, and here i found myself never being able to escape from it.

after i came back, my lovely law fellow students very helpfully made a massive racket just in the room next door. they are still talking and laughing at each other's very good sense of humour in the most appropriate place - the library is for socialising apparently.

okay, guess what? i didn't scream at them. i politely asked the respective parties to do me a massive favour to keep quiet, and i even said sorry guys. The party noise has stopped. the lawyers however are still talking.

Whats worse, the fire alarm sounded four times, each time breaking the chain of thought in my head. Initially i thought it was sirens for a moment. I tried my best to withstand it all nonetheless, but it even changed its tune and I just couldn't bear it.

But I had no choice but to keep writing in the library and finish the essay up despite all this stupidity. it sounded four times. ARGH why does this always happen when i most need a moment of peace and quiet?

Actually this is quite symbolic - noise room as a way of torture. I however 'voluntarily' stayed in the library to listen to this noise. haha i find this quite funny.

My patience is really running out, and I'm sick of it. Oxford is a wonderful place, but does it actually have to drive people crazy?

I still have to read for tomorrow's seminar about subsidies and countervailing measures at 11am. I also have to print out my impressive essay and take it to my tutor's college although it's late. wahaha.

this sums up quite well. theres no choice in my life here. i can only plod on like an automaton. theres no escape. or maybe there's nothing to escape from coz i'm really ranting about nothing. i'm learning heaps (in terms of managing essay crises and controlling my urge to gag people up) and it's all because of my incompetence.

sorry i had to rant.

so here february comes: life in oxford, SNOW, iceland trip

2009-02-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

SNOW in OXFORD - a morning walk is always rewarding

Just read about the possible lawsuit by this person called Wang Zhaojun against Sina for taking his post off his blog where he criticised the most sensitive areas of chinese politics (one party rule, falun gong etc). And he said 'I am not afraid to get into trouble because I know that 95 per cent of the Chinese people agree with me.' how feisty and how sad! and i like the figure 95% - i wonder if that refers to the accurate composition of party membership in the Chinese population lol. He has all the admiration I can give, to stick his head out this way against such a controlled environment. The sad bit is how that seems to be the way chinese will continue to behave - accept all the injustices, and i wonder how that subjective agreement will ever translate into a sufficient call for revolution or some sort of political power. maybe the 20 million unemployed migrant workers can join in..... really hope it will be a better year for china after all the disasters last year.

As for myself, so here february comes. i'm still a couple of days behind even in acknowledging the turning of the wheels of time. it's been a good month, and oxford has suddenly become a lot more agreeable and lovely, happy days. (not in terms of work though which is still seriously worrying because i'm catching up with week 2 work of last term - when i started giving up one subject entirely - i feel like heavily in debt). But here i am writing this because i have a god's gift of two hours free time after a bcl seminar on competition law is thankfully cancelled. It's some relief to me.

and now it's snowing. all this white fluffy stuff beating against my face as i took a nice walk around the meadows and the city centre. it's gorgeous though the snow hasn't quite settled yet apart from some patches of white. oxford is apparently less affected by the snow storm than many other parts of the country. fortunately/unfortunately?

life's slightly different now with an amazing companion :) i'm trying to find every chance to escape from studying lol. fun days. so what have i been up to the whole time??

I went back to hk for the break (mainly to take some evil conversion law exams for qualification purposes). i really hope i passed them. fingers crossed.
I went to iceland for a really lovely trip afterwards with Siu Po. A very unique, memorable experience in the most picturesque environment. we saw the northern lights, geysirs, gulfoss waterfalls, crossed the mid-atlantic ridges (the ends of the atlantic and eurasian tetonic plates), bathed in the blue lagoon... that was very relaxing.

And then i came back and had to do turn on my turbo again right away to welcome my 8 week hilary term, and very nicely packed schedule. i'm enjoying my seminars a bit more though am still lagging behind >< nvm. saw a movie (The Reader, absolutely fabulous), had a few drinks, a nice formal dinner with my Swire family and got interrogated at an unfair trial lol, and a few squash sessions, had Annabel visiting, an extended family lunch, went to my third oxcia chinese new year party and a lot of yummy food. and i think i have been showing people my nephew Theo's photos more than anything else. missing him!

happy times.

Swire Party

OXCIA Chinese New Year Party

Siu Po (left) and Annabel (right)

and yes i can finally tie a bow tie!

ICELAND

Mid Atlantic ridge

The Waterfalls

Thats enough procrastination. have to write an essay......

Contribution of Finnish society to pursuit of interests and dreams

2009-01-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

This is the bit that I really struggled - I know too little about Finnish society to say anything meaningful perhaps, but I have still thought about some observations I had through my own eyes and other people's lenses.

Firstly, I can see the Finnish society provides the necessary foundation for the flourishing art and culture industry.

strong social welfare that removes a lot of economic and financial worries and anxiety behind innovation, which is high risk investment. The costs and disincentives of creative endeavours are reduced. This is the MOST important factor I think - people's livelihood is not threatened or undermined or prejudiced by doing what they want to do. (this is also possible only because the population is very small for a country of the size of Finland - only 5 million)
a multicultural society that already exists - this is a controversial statement, certainly not to the same extent as London, and most Finnis would seem to disagree with this, but I found the atmosphere in creative industries pervasive, for example. There are enough people to appreciate the diversity - something akin to a cultivated civil society.
equality between jobs – different occupations are respected in their own right. There is less pressure to do some kinds of jobs than in many other places. this leads to a more even distribution of manpower and financial resources.
society values the individual – respect what each individual thinks and wants to do. less family pressure or pressure from social norms.
education promotes freedom and liberty in students’ development from an early age. students have always been encouraged to think for themselves. There is a City architecture project for children, and they apparently adopted children's proposal for building a prominent city building. That sounds like incredulous confidence in children, but that says quite a lot. Regrettably I didnt manage to find out more about this when I was in helsinki.

Secondly, there is some contribution from the 'Finnish character' if there is any such thing (which I believe there is).

honest and serious worker who only wants to do the job well. It might initially sound a very plain irrelevant statement, but that actually makes a HUGE difference. I strongly get the impression most people in Finland (except the drunken) had a serious attitude to what they did as a living in respect of the SUBJECT MATTER itself, rather than treating jobs as a means to earning money.
don’t like money, just for fun - thats what someone wrote and told me before. I also got that impression from the Finnish guide who led me to wonderful tours at EXTREMELY LOW PRICES with a meagre profit )

Contribution of the education system

2009-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

The education system promotes the development of interests and pursuit of dreams in these three ways:
A. FREEDOM OF CHOICE B. EQUALITY C. FIRM, FERTILE GROUND
A. The system gives students plenty of choice in encouraging their development.

• diversity of subjects in the curriculum – broad range of choices for them to dabble in and try out. I have shown just bits of the system really, but one gets the idea that secondary school is like university - students have SO MUCH CHOICE re learning literally what they like.

• the inspiring and liberal teaching approach - "first the forest, then the trees" (see the section on 'interest development' for more details on my discovery!) – Yolanda Chen introduced this concept which I find as well a very accurate description! Basically they show the students the whole picture before going down to details and honing their skills too early.

This encourages the students to explore their own way of learning their subjects, without so much discipline and control in ensuring precision when they are getting started. Students are more likely to keep up and further develop their interests. The more advanced and rigorous training can be reserved for those who are determined and interested to go further.

• postponing the streaming, and introducing flexibility and reversibility in the decisions young people have to make. Students DON'T HAVE TO SACRIFICE AND GIVE UP THEIR INTERESTS BEFORE THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO TELL WHAT THEIR INTERESTS REALLY ARE!

• young people are encouraged to have a balanced life with lots of ‘hobbies’. They don’t consider the sports or music as rigid training purely for the sake of cultivating their abilities or ‘talents’ in those areas. Rather, they aim to help the people to enjoy and learn in a relaxed manner, and ultimately to incorporate their areas of interests as part of their lives. This turns on the purpose and attitude in pursuing their interests – it is not for the sake of standing out from others, but for the genuine love of their hobbies. (See Julius's case for instance)

• Individual fine tuning and attention – allowing students to learn at their own pace and the curriculum and learning materials are designed for individual students.

- Encourage independent learning and thinking AND ACQUISITION of knowledge and skills - Teachers don’t give them the answers, but they help them to find the answers for themselves. (don’t give them the fish, but teach them how to fish – this way the next generation of fishermen have the ability to explore uncharted waters and go to greater lengths and depths) They are more likely to find their own worlds this way in my opinion. (See independence)

• Actual subject called Student counselling which includes classes and individual sessions with students from Grades 7 to 9 (Forms 1 to 3) to tell them what sort of options are available to them, and help them work out what to do (primarily choose between high school and technical schools). There is also one week of compulsory work experience with enterprises in the real world (organised with the help of the school). This makes the options in society known to young people in time for them to make plans for themselves – options only mean something if they are known to our next generation, and they have reasonable chance of working towards it.

B. education values: equality; respect for every child and free education for all

• no child is left behind – free education for all means every child can in theory have access to good school education irrespective of their family backgrounds and financial situation. Talented children do not lag behind because of a competition at the starting point. The philosophy behind this is that the government believes they cannot afford to lose any member of the society. Teachers IN GENERAL don't seem to think there are bad students in Finland (only with one exception from my experience)

• RESPECT THE INDIVIDUAL - the individual ability, potential, thoughts, interests of each child are respected. they are encouraged to think for themselves, independently and critically from very early on. They are not meant to walk the paths already explored by the previous generations – they are meant to find out what they like themselves or their own way of going about things, and do as they wish.

• To look at this from another perspective - the philosophy of no child left behind taken further: the interests, needs and dreams of children are respected, and the society and education system try to facilitate their all-round development to the extent possible for the individuals.

• comparison is not encouraged, so students do not easily feel frustrated when they don’t initially excel or master their interests. Students are encouraged to learn at their own pace, and not rushed or pushed much when they are young. Benefits of small class teaching.

C. The education system has plenty of resources and has a firm legal basis to ensure that everyone is capable of working towards these ideals.

I certainly acknowledge the decisiveness of money as a factor.
• education expenditure occupied 6.5% of GDP. Lots of resources were devoted to the system.

• various pieces of legislation to secure the quality and rights of free education for all

• teachers’ masters qualifications (either in education or their own respective subjects). the teachers themselves set good role models for lifelong learning – always enrolled in postgraduate courses during vacation time. there is in-service training as well.

Finnish society and education --> Dreams??

2009-01-10T09:54:00.001-08:00

I already feel incredibly ashamed how i have been doing many other things all these months but write up my report and learn a bit more ... (and feeling legitimately excused because of my busy life with all the tutorials and seminars and exams lol) but since I have an opportunity now timewise and after I have unleashed my emotions, I'll write a concluding entry about my understanding after this brief investigation - that is -

my understanding of the original hypothesis I wanted to look into:

How does the Finnish education system and society help their young people to pursue their interests and dreams?

Whilst I'm afraid I still don't have a very simple and conclusive answer (which i dont think exists anyway), I have concluded my thoughts as follows. I have written a report initially which presented an overview. I by no means claim that Finland does this better than anyone else, but I just thought given how well it has done in the general tests and surveys, I wondered if it was equally good in THIS RESPECT.

Please see the following two entries: Contribution of education and Contribution of society.

是最後的一次起飛嗎？

2009-01-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

既然朋友也問我，何時寫一個比較個人的blog，而現在思潮起伏之際，就寫一下這些日子的感受。

明天早上又要在起飛了，心裏的感觸是，這將會是最後一次嗎？三年前飛往異地時，只記得自己哭成淚人，因爲要離開，放下的是太多，太多，心裏很是捨不得。慢慢變得習慣了，告訴自己，我越來越堅強了，很多事情都是可以的，都是可能的，不過不是可盼的。人要遇到一些經歷才會長大，失去過才能學會珍惜，自己還在慢慢地理解，體會箇中的道理。到了今天，原來已經過了這麽的一段時間了，明早又再囘到英國去，不知道會怎樣，只是心裏的感覺仿佛又回到最初，可能心理的恐懼沒有了，因爲覺得自己長大了，但是很不想離開香港，情緒都失控了。我想我這次是太感動了。

其實，還是有這麽一個問號，因爲我不知道這是否最後的一次，我知道就算是什麽事情，我都可以盡力，勇敢地面對，只是我老是被同樣的人生心理的矛盾所困擾，在這方面可沒怎麽成長。

這次回來就是考那一些試，我已經很厭倦這樣的生活，這樣的人生，從頭到晚都是忙忙碌碌的，天昏地暗的學習了一整年，回到香港還是要考試，我要的是這些麽？是理性與感性，任性與責任之爭，可笑吧？

是的，都是一番的胡思亂想。有位朋友說得對：是富貴病。

我根本就是超級的幸運，最好的早就得到了。身邊很好的一切，我想好好珍惜，起碼用心吧，但現在我很累，很想任性地，什麽都不管。烏雲過後，總有晴天。

我自問也是盡量去理解朋友的處境，想法，可能是壓抑了太久了，不料我在最後一天一發不可收拾，我終於忍不住了。

a new year

2009-01-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

The morning of 1st Jan was greeted with some amazing rejuvenating sunshine and a nice blue sky. I hope this signals a bright year ahead for everyone. i didn't spend new years eve in hk in the last few years and last year i was watching two movies at home. this year i hung out with my school friends after midnight for a late dessert round. and after being prompted to do a review i also quietly undertook a review of 2008 in bed.

A year can be just a number, but there are also so many memories underneath this innocent number. My friend said it was a generally good year for him, and i found myself instinctively saying my year has been a terrible one except for the graduation. I was a bit startled by my own response, a very negative one.

Maybe i can blame it on oxford again lol how this place has depressed me and crowned me with such a negative outlook. as another friend said, no one seems to understand what we've been through. i have very little faith in people understanding each other - we can only try i guess.

Worse still it was probably an unnecessary negative emotion, without reason, without even a plausible explanation. i tend to overanalyse things and think about the same questions for my whole life. dont really want to go into it but i'm glad 2008 is finally over. i have been waiting long enough.

the more important realisation my quiet reflections gave me was how incredibly lucky and annoying i am. I have a most amazing amazing amazing amazing family and loads of great great great great friends. I have really good opportunities and everything can be regarded as plain sailing for me all along i suppose. I probably have everything i can possibly need but theres still this ridiculous lingering unhappiness. I really have nothing to complain about, and must** be a better person to deserve all this great fortune. and thats my new year resolution. I should stop fretting over nothing, and I should be a 'better' man.

This is to say thank you for everyone who has been bearing with me for so long.

More thoughts on visit to SGSS

2008-12-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

A few very clever students were honest and sweet. Amongst many others, the favourite opening line of some presentations was 'I love your blog' and 'your blog is very meaningful' - which can't be more sincere - followed by a stark, powerful remark that 'your blog is boring' (with some helpful and constructive suggestions for improvement). I tried to humour them a bit and it was a lot of fun talking to them. Sorry if it is boring, i'm really very bad at cracking gags and promoting something - advertising is the one job i can never do i think.

Many of them actually engaged in the substantive issues esp cookery lessons, English education, art classes, student counselling, etc - but surprisingly nobody talked about equality which I think is the SINGULARLY MOST VALUABLE part of Finnish education. It is entirely due to the neglect and sloppiness in my organisation and presentation of the blog and only natural how they ended up getting attracted to the ones with more pictures.

I was surprised how much attention they showed to details in my blog - what an amazing ability to be able to pick up everything and describe it all accurately. It was very clear they had had a good read - thank you.

I was even more surprised when a good few of them had questions for me AND expressed their opinions about what they had read on my blog as well as their own education. I really hope this will help them to think about what kind of education they want for themselves, and GO FOR WHATEVER THEY WANT TO ACHIEVE :)

Some thoughts after a visit to my beloved SGSS

2008-12-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

So I stepped foot in my alma mater again and this time I had some really interesting interaction with students from 2B, 4D and 5D. Firstly thank you Kristina for giving me the opportunity to come back and share, on top of your support and insight all along. I came with an 'official' purpose to respond to feedback on my blog and a secret informal twofold motivation of inspiring some of my juniors in my limited capacity and seeking a personal answer that might better inform my own future.

(Yes perhaps contrary to what the students might have thought, my real aim was not to talk about finnish education at all - rather i wanted to get everyone to think about what kind of education they would like as students - and that the defects in the system can to a large extent be remedied by putting in more effort themselves and knowing where they are heading towards.)

And I left SGSS feeling impressed by the promise I saw in many students I met. As much as I am naive at heart, I wish to draw on the wisdom from naruto manga how responsibility should be entrusted to the young generations - with full trust in their ability to surpass the previous generations. I certainly feel that many of them are capable of surpassing their predecessors if they apply themselves to it.

I also saw a lot of life in the young faces - they remind me of the many different stages i have been through, and how my attitudes and beliefs have changed over time. (though my look has remained as young and annoyingly immature as ever). I long for that carefree spirit, the determination and the goal I once had.

Boys and girls, I walked out realising I had learnt a lot from talking to you. I got many interesting and sincere presentations and questions from you. I genuinely appreciate all the effort that everyone has put in and thank you all for bearing with me. And your feedback has been stimulating - I seriously struggled to answer. Quite a number of you really led me to explore further and articulate my ideas much better. Thank you :)

Lakes in Finland

2008-12-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

isn't it amazing to capture the two birds perched parallel to each other.

nice little fountain jet little flowery greeting thing which accentuated the lake just right - unlike some massive jet in G that distorts the view lol.

This is a pic i took on the night of Mid-autmn festival (+ or - one). The time for reunion, you know, and i was away. So a bit of homesickness there, and it didnt help to see a sweet sweet couple.

I just love lakes. They are purifying. Just a breeze blows away my troubles and sorrows.

In the moment

2008-12-15T09:16:00.001-08:00

I was captivated when this woman stood there watching the lake for what must have been at least 10 minutes. That seemed to represent something about the Finns. While everyone was jogging, cycling, walking quite briskly by, she stood there alone absorbed in her world, in the moment.

She reminded me of the old lady's daughter (lunatic) walking back and forth in the lobby 50 times before she would leave the entrance. They gave a very pungent smell of urine, so it was quite a nuisance. At first i only thought they were really sad and this old mother had to look after a daughter who had gone insane for some reason. And gradually I began to realise that I was not very different in many ways - how my life goes in circles and i never seem to move on.

Art and design in Finland

2008-12-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Just random snapshots of what I have seen for myself. Helsinki is a growing capital of design with a very high density of design boutiques and art galleries in a tiny place.

See for yourself how dense it all is in the map.

Chinese art gallery run by Ms. Teng Yue (Link to be attached later)

There's creativity everywhere.

There are loads of galleries:

This is really the foundation of the development of the arts and culture.

Build a strong foundation AND build on that strong foundation - English language education

2008-12-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

Another key to the success of the Finnish system is its primary education I think. The primary system there focuses on inspiring students to develop curiosity and interest in learning different subjects and getting everyone up to speed. With an inquiring mind, students are likely to go further into their interested areas and welcome more inspiration. Otherwise weaker students can easily get frustrated because they go through a poor primary education and start secondary school realising how little they know.

From my personal experience, that marks the key turning point for many students' academic paths. Some people used to tone it down by saying that would be one other transition - for those people who don't make it, they just start to fall behind, further and further.

In Hong Kong, one crucial determinant is English ability, for the EMI schools (which use English as the medium of instruction). Students who have a weak foundation in English usually struggle to catch up, and ultimately give up because all efforts prove futile and they cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. It is a massive barrier to learning when students are stuck in a world with a mysterious code that they can't decipher.

And many schools simply fail to acknowledge or take enough action to rectify this very simple but far-reaching truth. If the primary education and lower secondary education do not change with a view to helping students bridge the gap, they will continue to lose a whole bunch of students. I remembered feeling very lucky when I was in S1 because my English foundation was relatively better compared to my peers, and that was such a huge advantage. There were things I didn't understand then, but now when i come to think of it, so many students get let down SIMPLY because of this poorly coordinated language policy.

Yes - i blame it on the poor coordination of the language policy, not the language policy itself. I dont see anything inherently wrong about EMI education if it's well implemented. But if it is implemented in such a way that is detached from the reality - in the absence of an English environment and additional support for students, it is a tall order to expect all students to adapt effectively.

As the saying goes, well begun is half done. But poorly begun means the game is half lost. We're losing many students totally because they don't manage to improve their English in time.

Putting equality in perspective

2008-12-13T05:51:00.000-08:00

As I read about and saw for myself how the Finnish education and society really put equality into practice, I couldn't help instinctively buying into this realisation of an ideal view to human nature. Yet I also tried to take a questioning approach and to 'put it in perspective' though I haven’t quite formed a conclusion myself. I try to put the following questions to you.

1. What is equality?

I have been told by Mr Laukanen that equality means two things: equal opportunities and fairness. It is this attitude towards equality that leads to the willingness of the State and its people to devote so much resources to education and to creating an equal platform for everyone.

Is it a value, an ideology, a conviction, a belief, an attitude, a policy, a practice as a matter of fact, or even a truth? For me it seems to be a state of mind that pervades the Finnish mentality and society (and perhaps much of the Nordic countries as well).

On a very broad level, equality is an acknowledgement of respect for human beings for the simple fact that we are all human beings – we all deserve the same treatment. It is to go beyond the differences to see the ultimate common identity. There is some inherent difficulty in considering this question – in some way we are just discounting some differences as irrelevant.

In the context of education, I think it means a firm belief that every child is ‘teachable’ and can be a good student if given sufficient attention.

While this may sound a bit abstract, let’s try to translate the concept in more concrete terms. Equality with respect to what? Gender, disability, ethnicity, nationality, class, birth, language? A different way of asking the question is what is a legitimate basis for ‘discriminating’ between people? What is a relevant difference that justifies differential treatment?

In general we frown upon discrimination on the basis of sex, disability, ethnicity, class or birth – those aren’t relevance to the right of a child to receive education. But there are two more interesting criteria which are worth considering.

The first criterion is ability; should students with higher IQ or learning ability be given more resources ie ‘better’ education? The second criterion is nationality; should children of foreign nationality be entitled to receive free education?

2. Why equality? Why not elitism? Equality to what extent?

This blends in with the first question and questions the fundamental rationale behind it. Is equality an absolute goal? What is it that only equality can achieve? What are the circumstances where equality should be overridden by other more important objectives?

Emphasis on equality has its own drawbacks – a most salient one being the neglect over the more gifted students. When teaching time and resources are spent on lifting up the weaker students, the smarter ones are scarcely pushed and therefore not fulfilling their potential. So in some sense equality is a policy in favour of the weaker, and not entirely equally kind and effective for the more able students (in other words, there is no complete equality, and it is really a question of choice).

Countries like the UK, the US, Korea, Japan, China (including my beloved city Hong Kong) have opted for a more competitive environment that fosters elitism. The most extreme example may well be Singapore where there is a very scary streaming system that happens as early as 6 or 7 years – best students get the best teachers and resources. The fittest survive, and everyone tries to be the winner in the race. This competitive environment is more likely to fulfil the full potential of students in the sense that the best compare themselves with the people on the same caliber. And therefore many parents love public schools, Oxbridge and ivy league universities.

In Scandinavian countries, they emphasise the goal of learning is self-improvement, and it doesn’t matter who runs faster. The weaker students don’t suffer a sense of failure as easily as others in a competitive environment. More students are lifted up to a higher standard, which gives Finland a higher average standard of performance. But the brightest kids are a bit bored.

One argument I have heard before is that countries need a group of highly capable people to run the country, and that can only be nurtured through elitism by giving the right amount of resources to the right people. While we may give up a portion of the student population who do not succeed academically – for example, more than 20,000 students out of 100,000 fail all subjects in HKCEE, the upside is we get really high-skilled all-rounded labour who is each worth two persons.

The counter-argument in favour of equality is that by spending more resources on enhancing the ability of the weaker students, society actually saves by preventing a lot of social problems that can potentially arise from an enormous group of people with little or no productivity who are likely to be harbour grievances as they feel stuck in desperation. While it is true they spend a lot of money on educating everyone to a high average standard, they in turn create a generally more productive force which is less likely to pose long term social problems.

To some extent, it is a question of striking a balance between ensuring that everyone gets equal opportunities to fulfil their potential and promoting excellence in the achievement of the more gifted students—that is, if it is possible to have the cake and eat it too. Is elitism mutually exclusive with equality?

3. Is equality practicable in Hong Kong or other parts of the world?

Is society ready? Would parents complain about too slow a syllabus when their children are brighter?

Can the average standard really be raised with a mixing of the best and poorest students? Or would it be the case that the best students become adversely influenced and uninterested in studying as a result?

Are there enough resources for looking after everyone?

Does the massive population of Hong Kong mean that it can readily sacrifice a good number without compromising the future of its people? That is - is equality really necessary?

Policy of equality

2008-12-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

'A central objective of Finnish education policy is to provide all citizens with equal opportunities to receive education, irrespective of their age, domicile, financial situation, sex or native language.'

This is reflected in many ways:
1. Education from pre-primary to upper secondary levels is provided free of charge. For basic eduaction, travel to and from school and school books are free. And a healthy free school lunch (though kids tend to complain about it!)

2. The education standard is fairly uniform throughout Finland - with a less than 5% deviation in the average performance of schools. State or publicly funded schools (which account for 98%) are at least just as good as, if not better than, private schools. That means kids don't have to pay their way in for a GOOD education.

3. The fundamental belief underlying equality is that different children are simply 'different' - there is nothing amazing about high achieving students or it's no shame to learn a bit more slowly. It is only a difference in the learning ability of a student, and that should not change the fact that the child should get adequate education opportunities to develop themselves. I was really impressed when many teachers in Finnish schools share with me their philosophy, which is surprisingly consistent. They don't have a sense of hierarchy between different students, or practise favouritism! The goal of education is simply to help each child to improve. That actually reflects many ancient chinese philosophies 因材施教，有教無類 We hear these terms being bandied about from time to time, but Finnish education REALLY puts it into practice by, for example, devoting more resources to special education classes, giving more resources to children of ethnic minorities to take free extra language classes to keep and develop their native tongue.

Insights from the development history of the Finnish education system: Sharing by Mr Reijo Laukanen

2008-12-05T04:18:00.001-08:00

I was incredibly grateful to be able to interview one of the leading figures in the Finnish education reforms over the last thirty years - Mr. Reijo Laukanen, from the Finnish National Board of Education.

I think history tells us how an education system has improved so significantly in 30 years' time, and what contributed to this. I chose Finland as my investigation area partly because Hong Kong also underwent radical reforms for a similar period of time, but the results are starkly different - we are left with a fragmented, unstable system. I wonder what has gone wrong - was it the direction, the implementation method, attitude or everything?

To a certain extent, it all stemmed from a political demand by society – society demanded a better education for their future generations. In 1968, there was a student revolution that led to protests and demonstrations for a right to a better education. It was key to the successful reforms that society was willing to embrace and support a better education system which would involve certain sacrifice. Imagine Hong Kong government raising the tax and claiming that is necessary for a better education system. Finns are happy to pay the tax because they believe in education and see the effective use of such resources.

The Board also appreciated the need to gather support from the ‘soul’ of the system –teachers. Although they radically changed the curriculum and raised the qualification requirement of all primary and secondary teachers to masters level, they retained all the teachers and helped them to meet the requirement in a gradual, realistic way through the span of a decade and different transition phases of change. They provided teachers with in-service training to help them adapt to the new mode of teaching.

More importantly, he showed great respect for teachers and appreciated the need to address teachers’ concerns openly and honestly. I’d say it was this fundamental attitude of recognition and respect that made the reforms possible. Because of this belief, they considered their proposal thoroughly before any rash action – with adequate research of overseas models and consultation of community and education sector, done on a long term consistent basis – they acknowledged the need to hear what others thought and cater the reforms for the needs of the education community.

Another interesting feature is the foresight and long-term consistency in the education policy over these decades. Finnish taxpayers and government have consistently contributed 6.5% of the GDP to education so that the standard of free education can be raised and maintained. This comes with the widely shared belief among different political parties and sectors of society in equality and the importance of education – and this is carried through the civil service which makes the policy reforms.

Education can affect generations of young people in their most vulnerable times. It cannot keep changing and shifting between different policies. I really don’t understand what the HK government is thinking by antagonising teachers and this ridiculous language policy.

Reluctance, by Robert Frost

2008-12-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

This poem is fantastic - it will probably capture my feeling when I leave oxford. These days various conversations have set me thinking, and a few lines have hit me quite hard. I guess I only need a bit more courage.

Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

Robert Frost

Rant about nothing 1

2008-11-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking of setting up an anonymous blog called 'Rant'. But I might as well write them here so people can commiserate, pity or despise me. This is the sixth sunday when i feel like a Perpetual Laggard - four seminars this week + a tutorial. And I still haven't done the minimum reading for one of the seminars. I have another journal to read through, a problem to do, three chapters to read + many more cases i'm supposed to have gone through and understood. Tomorrow I'll just find out how I'm the only one who's struggling (yes ironically when I'm supposed to be the one who shouldn't be.)

It feels really annoying that I'm lagging behind and more worryingly i'm getting used to it. I just go through the motions of reading, and the past five weeks i don't feel that i've been learning much. It's sad but the past few weeks seminars haven't been very inspiring at all, and my mind still lays dormant. In competition law language, my tiny brain is having a 'quiet life', and there's little innovation capacity and motivation. (I don't mean i'm a monopolist, but i've excluded myself from the competitive world here.) I suppose i came back to want to learn something, and I thought I was ready again. Apparently I'm clearly not 'up to speed', and to say the least not really tuned in at all. My attitude so far has actually been despicable. It also felt really bad that i'm back at square one. I'm supposed to have gone through so much essay training, but my first tutorial showed how much of an idiot I remain, and my English is still so crap. why, why have i bothered to come on this path to a world I struggle so hard to survive in? this is such an amazing opportunity, but amazing for what?

Oh so much for my breakthroughs that were so well intended. I wanted to do something different in my last year, but I can't believe I'm not finding my feet at all. Things are so detached, yet familiar. I'm completely not in control of my life. It's like a hot balloon that has run out of gas and is being taken wherever by the currents of the wind (and the clouds, stars, moon, and the intimidating sun aren't exactly in a position to do anything about it). I know i'm sounding really weird.

But I know things will get better. I'll manage somehow. I don't really want to be a loser and waste all these wonderful opportunities around me. I know I am interested. It's only a matter of sitting down and doing it. Like this blog, I've been meaning to write more and more, but i've been putting it off for far too long. There's so much I meant to put up here. But having so much to rush for and the deadlines to meet doesn't quite help. i know please don't point out the truth that i'm just completely escaping from reality and procrastinating without end.

I'd like to thank though, the many amazing angels around me who have been lifting me up every now and then - the wind beneath my flagging disappearing wings.

There was one amazing coincidence this friday. It was a most romantic kind of setting, when I was about to get off the coach with a rather weary body (after a fantastic, yet brief visit to london for Annabel's bday party), I saw one of my best friends in oxford M sitting there. It was like OH MY GOD, and I felt like crying. Unnecessarily sentimental i know, but u know, people cross paths with each other and don't realise until the point of farewell that they've been together in some way. So close, yet so intangible.

I must wake up and get on with it. must i?

Student counselling classes and meetings: Helping students find their way

2008-10-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

There is a curious subject called Student Counselling in Finnish core curriculum. There are two Student Counsellors in every upper comprehensive school (Grades 7 to 9). What student counselling involves is to get students to start thinking about their future under certain guidance. In 7th grade, they learn how to learn. In 8th and 9th grades, they start considering their options for future. All ninth graders, and in some schools eighth graders also, obtain 2 weeks of work experience in some corporation, with a bit of help from schools. (I was told the community is generally very happy to cooperate in offering some unpaid internship opportunities). Each 9th grader gets to have a chat individually with the Student Counsellor and discuss his/her future path seriously.

The reason why that decision matters in Finland is after 9th grade, students split into two streams: high school VS technical school (roughly half half by statistics). High school is the general grammar stream, while technical school includes art, sports, design, hairdressing (and even plumbing I heard) etc. It's a lot harder to get into high school because they require stronger academic qualifications. But it is done on an absolute rather than competitive basis: in theory if you have demonstrated to be academically competent to handle high school and you want to do it, you will get a place. If you aren't ready yet, you can repeat a year and apply for high school again. In general only high school students can go to university.

So in many ways this is a much bigger decision than the S4 'stream division' I had to make.

This reminds me of how I made my decision to take science stream rather than arts stream in Grade 9 (ages ago). I made that choice without much thinking, but essentially for a few reasons: 1. science stream offered much wider choices in society and university subject choices; 2. the science classes were a lot better taught in my school; 3. Science subjects took less effort than arts subjects and i was quite lazy.

To a certain extent I regret that decision. While I think I only managed to come so far because I had taken science and got the grades, I would have liked arts subjects a lot more in retrospect.

The point I'm trying to make is that when young people make critical decisions in life, they rarely have the complete picture. It helps a lot to have someone go through the options and help them to make an 'informed' choice as far as possible.

On a more macroscopic level, this is essential to an efficient allocation of resources. Students are better informed about what they have to do in order to achieve their dreams. For example, if they want to be a designer, they need to take certain subjects in schools, that kind of thing. Opportunities are meaningless if they are not known and cannot be taken up by the 'right' people.

Having individual professional advice for everybody makes it more likely for students to know how to get to their desired paths of life.

I see this as a key aspect of the ability of Finnish education system to channel people into the right fields for them in society.

Self-respect: some food for thought...

2008-10-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

I had a short chat with a teacher from Moision School at the train station before heading back to Helsinki. I shared with him my frustration with the education system in Hong Kong, and how teachers don't get the same respect as in Finland. He asked me this question: 'do the teachers respect themselves in HK?'

I gather he didn't mean to make a massive criticism about teachers on no basis. I myself can testify to the significant number of very decent and respectable teachers in HK. But his remark seems to suggest all the teachers in Finland in his opinion 'really respect their job as teachers' - it's quite something to say. He raised that question in a disinterested way and wasn't trying to boast about anything. This nonetheless touches on one of the critical reasons for the success of Finnish education system - good, responsible teachers.

All teachers of primary and secondary schools in Finland are master degree holders. Also teaching is one of the professions which is most competitive - only one in ten gets to be selected into teacher training schools. From my limited experience, I could see that a lot of them were definitely 'cream' of their society. They were qualified and interested in teaching and learning.

English teaching at Moision

2008-10-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

English (grade 8) Esko Saarinen (a very bright class I was told)
Esko has done a lot to put the language into context I thought - you will see a lot of photos of different aspects relating to English culture or English speaking countries. They were stuck up all over the classroom.

An interesting thing was he played the radio in the background when students checked their work – he did not like silence. This also helped to immerse students in an English environment.

Esko's teaching approach is to teach the essential and leave the extension for the gifted to explore themselves more deeply. Students started with translation of Finnish into English, and teacher reads out the answers to the questions.

some quotes from him: ‘I don’t know if they like doing it, but that makes my life easier.’ ( I think he was being quite straightforward. This is referring to checking answers in class. It might intuitively sound boring, but if answers are checked together efficiently face to face, that can also be a quick learning process. It also saves the teacher a lot of time, which means they can spend more time on preparing lessons well. This of course works well only in environments where students are cooperative.

‘hurry up.’ (that gives me a strong impression of efficiency in finnish way of life, in eating, in checking their work, they seem to get so much done in an hour)

‘no problem.’

Esko reads aloud a passage in English, and the students read after him. then they started reading together with Esko. Esko reinforced their learning of the text by asking them to translate the finnish version of the text in short sentences into English, and playing with the text by substituting some words with others.

They also had a listening exercise of guessing the accent of the English speakers – this gives them more awareness about the world, eg Jamaica, India, new Zealand, Australian, American etc. I was amazed most of them could distinguish these different accents.

Leaving no one behind: special education and core education

2008-10-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

The success of the Finnish system is its focus on basic education and its attention to students with learning difficulties, according to many. I talked to a science and maths teacher, who believes that the key is to teach the core, essential curriculum well, and ensure that all students attain a minimum standard. For the more interested and capable students, they can explore the materials themselves on the basis of a strong foundation.

Another aspect is the special classes for helping students with learning difficulties. They are put in a smaller group, and on average, the ratio of teacher to students is about one to five.

But special help does not mean answers are fed to students. In fact, a substantially similar teaching method was applied in regard to the weaker students in the sense that they are still required to try their best to deal with the questions and materials on their own. They try, and they get to check the answers. The difference is the teacher devotes more time and individual attention to each student, but that does not mean spoonfeeding or explaining everything to the student. For certain students, if necessary, they use special materials designed to lower the level of difficulty and impart the absolute minimum of knowledge.

Art class at Moision - professional painter teacher

2008-10-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Art class (Jarmo Lepistö)

The art students of the school are a lucky group to have a professional painter teach them! Jarmo works away in France and Germany from time to time and hold exhibitions abroad. He must be a great role model for students to look up to - a teacher with his own hobbies and interests to pursue in life. It's a pity I haven't been able to see more of the way he teaches other than the basic instruction of theories and methods about graphics.

I could see that he first taught the theories, and then told them several possible methods, and showed them model products that previous students have made. He also demonstrated the technique on the blackboard very roughly by sketching the drawing.

It reminded me of ex-libris, which is what I once did for my secondary school art classes.

Jarmo has his own website where you can admire his paintings.

Music lesson at Moision Koulu: steel band shows

2008-10-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Music class (Annika Viitanen, Grade 8)

Students were making posters about their own computer music products. They had worksheets for computer music which were guidelines for them for an entire year. Basically they all sat down to do their own work, and asked the teacher when necessary. (A bit quiet for a music class I thought, but this confirms the emphasis on independent learning.)

In grade 7, music is compulsory, and students learn about rock and roll history, guitar, bass, drum, singing, and a bit of music theory. From Grade 8 onwards, music is optional.

This school has a special music oriented scheme which continues the music training for students who mostly have begun their special music scheme since grade 3, and this scheme itself will be followed up on by high schools. Students learn about music history, singing, classical music, jazz, etc.

This is only possible because the municipal government and local community give a lot of resources. The equipment for computer music production (the keyboard and computer equipment) is very costly.

The school has quite a lot of music-related activities: choir training, 10 gigs and concerts every year. Music projects are common for other subjects too eg theatre.

They have also started a steel band, and I had a chance to see their steel band show. (they had only had 4 hours of group practice together, and started learning it two weeks ago – very impressive). It is not a difficult kind of instrument apparently, and Annikka has marked the notes on the drums so students can get the hang of it more quickly.

(unfortunately the video is not working at the moment because of technical problems...)

I asked the teacher whether she valued the inspiration of interest more than the honing of skills in musical instruments. She said this was a personal choice for the teachers, and she personally tries to strike a balance between the two. There is not much individual music instruction in the school because teachers don’t have much time, but when teaching in group, the teacher cares a lot about the holistic cooperation between the group and learning together on the same level.

Their philosophy is to give students enough time to develop their interests and skills in their instruments – rather than churning out young prodigies in music.

(Reflection: This is good for the kids who can’t stand a competitive training, and reveals their policy of equality rather than elitism. For the more able and interested students, they can generally thrive if there are opportunities to go a bit further. Finland has a significant number of music institutes for additional training for such students.)

Annikka herself is a substitute teacher for a year because the school music teacher is on maternal leave for a whole year. Annikka is a cellist and she has an interest beyond music in law and politics. I asked her how she ended up with music. She said the decision was straightforward for her when she first started playing the cello – she told her mother after the first lesson that she wanted to be a cellist. Things got slightly more complicated after she has started Turku Academy training, and she is considering some other options as well. Maybe further studies in law and politics. Money is one consideration.

Biology class

2008-10-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Biology class (Anne Martin, Grade 9)

Anne taught them the function and operation of the heart in pumping blood, with the help of coloured slides of heart diagrams and an overhead projector. Students got to try using the stethoscope, mechanical blood pressure monitor, and observe microscopic slides of heart tissues. That much is pretty standard science theory teaching plus experimentation.

The interesting bit was to see students' active participation in class. They asked interesting questions such as international trade of organs, and I saw the teacher showing the world map in explaining the related geography. Another question was why a person’s vision sometimes blacks out temporarily when one stands up quickly after squatting.

Anne emphasised relating the subject to their daily life to help students remember and understand.

Moision Koulu

2008-10-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Moision Koulu is located in Salo, about 1 hour and 10 minutes away from Helsinki by train. Salo is the town of the first mobile phone factory of Nokia, and hence a fairly well off area.

It is a upper comprehensive (offering Grades 7 to 9) with approximately 443 students.

Compared to the other two schools I visited, this school has a relatively homogeneous Finnish student population, with only 25 international students mainly from Russia.

There are a few special features about the school:
1. It has a special music programme for students with more talent in music.
2. It has a special computer science programme for students more keen on computer technology. Both programmes admit students by selection.
3. It has initiated a Comenius Project with Poland and Scotland for teachers to share their teaching experience. It has just started so it's still too early to assess its effectiveness.

A further note about the school - it is fairly resourceful because of the funds provided by the municipality as they can afford expensive teaching equipment (for music, art etc) and apparently they give teachers extra subsidies (which is fairly unusual in Finland). I was told usually one vacant position from this school would attract 50 or more applications.

And a big thank you to Anneli for agreeing to and organising my visit, as well as looking after me!

Englsh teaching in Finland(illustration from Meilahden secondary school)

2008-10-17T08:24:00.001-07:00

It was a rather surreal experience meeting the English teacher, Riikka. As with other English teachers I met, they all sounded like native speakers, and had learnt their English in Finland. She only said she used to watch a lot of TV in English when she was young. (I have read and heard from various sources that the non-dubbing policy of foreign language programmes in Finland is a main reason why people's English standards are generally so high.)

But after having sat through an English class myself, I had a better idea of what it was that contributed to their success in English language teaching. As far as I can say there are a few reasons:

1. the high quality of English teachers. They learn from good examples, which is really important as imitation is always the first step in learning languages.

2. the appropriate curriculum and teaching materials: what they learn is directly applicable in daily life, thanks to the amazing publishing industry there. The authors and publishers are very enthusiastic about their work and liaise with teachers. I have read about how they could go through discussion meetings to revise the drafts by ten times.

It has very interesting topics like moving houses, pet, school, friendship like ‘what kinds of friends are you? what would you do if your friend told you a secret or you have promised your friend something?, shopping, music, sports, clothes, food, travel in the UK. I wish I had a book like that.

3. appropriate teaching method. They emphasise building a language immersion environment in primary school for kids to get used to the environment, and use it comfortably. More importantly, they adopt a communicative approach in establishing foundation by talking and listening, which makes the use of language alive. This has in fact been heavily criticised because it has been poorly implemented in many parts of the world.

Finland however does it differently in a way that strikes the right balance: they focus on grammar and groundwork in secondary schools. This suits children's general linguistic development quite well. Children first learn to use the language in daily life, and develop an interest in it. Then they learn the rules which consolidate their language skills and build a strong foundation.

Another special feature is they teach grammar with considerable Finnish. In Hong Kong, mixed code is frowned upon for fear that people can't speak either language well. (And I used to feel the same, but this trip has made me rethink!) It is a valid concern in many ways, but this begs the question - what kind of students are we catering for and what is the objective of language teaching?

Admittedly, if you want to be an amazing user of the language, you'd better learn to think in the language early on, and I agree with that completely. But not everyone needs to speak impeccably English.

I think Finland sets a realistic goal of ensuring that everyone understands the complexities within the English language. It may be too easy for some students and may interfere with one's linguistic development to a certain extent because of the use of another language. However, for many people, native tongue is the basis for learning to think and analyse. Resort to native tongue in teaching foreign languages can actually help students to grasp difficult concepts much more effectively than otherwise.

Having said that, the key is to understand the way native tongue is used in teaching foreign languages. It cannot be excessively relied on, and it shouldn't encourage any 'mixed' mumbo jumbo use of languages. I was impressed by the English teacher as she spoke each sentence exclusively in English first, and then in Finnish - as if she were playing the dual role of teaching and instantaneous self-interpreting. She hardly used any English word in a Finnish sentence and vice versa. So some food for thought!

cookery class: independent thinking and working together

2008-10-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

It initially seemed no different from the cookery classes I had been through in HK myself, but after some observation I realised there are two interesting differences.

The teacher gave instructions and explained how to make the apple pie once. The teacher refused to give any demonstration. In this way students were encouraged to think for themselves how to make it and the teacher said ‘they were here to learn to think for themselves’. Teacher was of course there to answer questions and help out in small groups. (It's a bit like reading math problems in exercise books and attempting questions, and to be fair the recipe for apple pie is not terribly complicated!)

Another amazing thing was everyone got along really well and worked in groups. They naturally went around and helped each other out in other groups, very nicely. They were like a big family together, and would see how others were gettnig on.

And they were generous kids who liked to share ;) i got to try their apple pies as well, sweet! Another plus, the Finnish teacher didn't speak English, and I used my limited German to talk to her!

Sleeping beauties and cross play - dealing with interested and uninterested students

2008-10-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

In the textile class, I had a rather interesting experience because I saw the two extremes - both interested and uninterested students.

There were a few girls who refused to participate and literally sat there for the entire period of one and a half hours. (I have to say this is the only incident i've seen, and indeed very uncommon.) I had a chat with them and they said school was really boring. I asked them about their hobbies and what they'd rather do - they said sleeping all day, and drinking. They were also checking their make up and eyelashes every now and then. Therefore I dubbed them sleeping beauties. I heard they had been playing truant, and it was getting worrying.

In fact, a couple of them had already finished the work, and were only refusing to write posters for their products. I also asked them whether there was anything at all that they liked about school. It set them thinking I thought, and one of them however said a firm no, and the rest looking rather hesitant, followed suit apparently because that's more cool. Very typical teenage rebellious attitude. It's clear that they aren't bad people at all - they are merely distracted and uninterested.

So how do Finnish schools deal with that?
I had a chat with the teachers there and realised that the law requires them to report any truancy problem to social workers because basic education is compulsory for everyone. This is usually the last resort as they'd first talk to the students and families about the problem.

It's difficult to manage these children especially in a class. The teacher really had no choice but to leave them on their own and attend to the rest of the class who actually wanted to learn. Finnish teachers stressed the importance of the student's own motivation and initiatve in learning.

Honestly that doesn't seem to be helping the children much, and 'leaving no child behind' is really an ideal. I get the impression that these kids are very rare in Finnish classroom, and teachers have traditionally had little to do with enforcing discipline.

In contrast, as soon as the lesson was over, I saw two girls waiting eagerly at the door because they wanted the teacher's help with making costume (as shown in the picture below) for a crossplay. The teacher said very shyly, 'I couldn't resist!'

A small update, and a big thank you

2008-10-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

I have now formally settled in for my final year at Oxford. Things are pretty familiar--and nostalgic. I spent the evening setting up my room rather than doing my reading. These show the amazing things and kind wishes that my family and friends have given me all these years. I thank you all for being so supportive, and walking along with me.

It helps a lot to know that I'm not alone, I think this is what kept me going for so long.

Term is finally going to start, and I'd better get on with my work as well. i'll be a fresher all over, and it is going to be a fun year working away.

A few more words about independence

2008-10-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Some Finnish people have told me that it is impossible to find plumbers and electrician in Finland. This does say something about the work or life ethos there: do it yourself. (I think this owes itself to the school training Finns have received in school: woodwork, textile and cooking etc) In the hostel, i read signs saying 'Your mom does not clean for you.' In fast food shops and school cafeterias, students always sort their rubbish and do their bit rather than leaving all the trays on the table for janitors to clean up. On the plane, I saw a Finnish couple sort of babysitting their two or three year old girl who was munching on a home made sandwich in her hands (although it was a bit clumsy). And children go to school on their own (i heard minus 20 degrees notwithstanding). Some might think they take it a bit too far when finnish girls insist on paying for their own drinks, and they are happy without ladies' night, however.

And I almost forgot, there's a Finnish joke that i'd like to share here (thanks to my Finnish summer evening guide, Maija):

'Finnish men used to be made of steel (referring to Paavo Nurmi who got 9 Olympic gold medals in three events - a 'flying Finn'), while Finnish women are still properly Finnish women.' I find that quite funny.

Textile class

2008-10-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

The students finished making their bags, and were making their reports by drawing and writing a bit about their products. I had a look at them and they all looked gorgeous in their own kinds of fabric.

My impression about textile classes is that they didn't look much different from classes in Hong Kong that I have seen (and been through myself). It is separate from cooking (while both are subsumed within Home Economics in Hong Kong).

As you can see in woodwork classes, the emphasis is on practical utility and doing what they can use in their daily lives.

Woodwork class at Meilahden yläasteen koulu (secondary)

2008-10-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

These first five photos show students making their own speaker phones.

These two students are making their own surfing boards (though the lakes in Finland are pretty calm).

You see Tuomas making a name board which would be used for his own room eventually!

The woodwork classes here are pretty free. Students can choose to do whatever they like to do, within a reasonable range of choices. Their woodwork classes are designed for producing useful things for the daily life. I can imagine it would be so cool to have one's own handmade speakerphone.

Again, the students were the main initiators - they decide what and how to do it. The teachers are only there for assistance if they need it. I see each student working on his own mini project.

Students' art works at Meilahden yläasteen koulu

2008-10-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Marida has explained four areas in teaching fine arts: self expression through different mediums, design (glasses shown), and architecture (houses), art history, visual communication (eg film, photography).

Available facilities: ceramics, pottery, printing, black room for photography, film making, sculpture.

This school also offers a special Arts programme which has its admissions tests.

I suppose they are self-explanatory.

Fine Arts class at Meilahden ylaasteen koulu (secondary)

2008-10-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Fine arts (Marida)

Marida was teaching water colour painting. She started with theories with some very colourful pictures as instruction of different steps to take. All the students were copying down the words on the slide. Some were also drawing as they copied. Teacher emphasised basic techniques. She said students wanted to learn the basic techniques and were not confident themselves. This was confirmed by the attention the students showed!

Teachers handed them copies of animals like reindeers and birds, and students chose what they liked to draw from.

Teacher asked them to do some practice in a column and most students did that in a very nice way, making a spectrum of one colour.

She intentionally gave them only three colours for each student to mix the colours and get what they liked.

In the theories bit, the teacher showed slides about sketches of the landscape before water colour painting starts. Only one Finnish girl managed to do that and oh she was so very interested in art that she would blend the colours very nicely even when cleaning up. I could tell she would have loved to keep painting and the lesson was too short for her. Her friend tidied up her things for her when they had to go!

The teacher said to them that it is meaningless to keep doing what they already know, and they should try harder. it is only through struggling that they learn. I didn't expect that! She said students give up too easily now.

Meilahden yläasteen koulu (background information)

2008-10-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

About 400 students in the school, 3 grades – it is a lower secondary school for grades 7 to 9. Number of students in every class can range from 15 to 30, but usually around 20.

Curriculum offered: Finnish literature, English language in three different levels, Maths, Biology, Geography, Health Science (including sex education, balanced diet), physics, chemistry, religion, ethics, history, social studies (for ninth graders, teaching them about civic liberties), art, music, home economics, textile, woodwork, PE.

It also provides Finnish Chinese bilingual instruction in Physics and Maths (a few classes in Grades 7 and 8) for the first year.

the lunch canteen

Developing students' independence

2008-10-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was amazed to see how independent Finnish children are. I haven't had the chance to see much of family education, but as far as school education is concerned, I did observe a few ways students are trained.

Firstly, students, as little as seven-year-olds, go to school on their own. You can see the boy on the right going home on his own. (sorry it wasn't closer - i feared i would scare him!) And their timetables vary from day to day, for example, they may start their classes at 8 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, but they may start at 9 on Wednesdays, and at 10 on Thursdays. Each student knows exactly when they have to come to school.

Secondly, students have floating classes. They go from one classroom to another after each lesson, and again since their first day in school. They are incredibly organised.

Thirdly, they have good habits of cleaning things up, say after their woodwork classes or simply after the last lesson.

The two most interesting aspects of independence to me are in learning and thinking:

Students are very self-disciplined. They do their homework and go up to the teacher's desk to check the answers themselves (without cheating). They ask the teacher questions if they don't understand why they have made a mistake. Sometimes classes can be incredibly quiet because each student is reading on his own the text and doing the questions. The teacher's role is just to supplement the student's learning; the teacher is not there to tell the students everything they need to know.

In subjects like art and woodwork, I could see a very consistent teaching approach: let the students think for themselves how they would go about their work. They learn to make judgment and rely on their own creativity in coming up with their products.

The girl below has decided to make a heart with her string of knots (which she made herself).

I personally have a very firm belief in independent learning - to me this is one of the most important things my parents taught me. You should only rely on yourself, and not your teachers or others.

English teaching at meilahden ala-aste: primary level

2008-10-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Sari was a very elegant English teacher, and spoke a perfect English accent (as did the other English teacher I met as well).

She had prepared questions in a little box for the kids to draw and ask me. It was a lot of fun and most of the students were very interested in a random guy from Hong Kong. They asked me questions about sauna, recycle, favourite food, computer games, Saturday activities (sauna day in Finland), siblings, really fun questions. I learnt that a couple of the kids were half American and half French.

It was a pity I didn't get a chance to see how a normal English lesson works in primary schools. However I had a chance to talk to her about it. I know that they adopt a communicative approach. They started by engaging in conversations and putting the language into context. It was really great that they had trained the students to be really responsive and communicative.

I think two key reasons for the high English standard in Finland are:

1. the high quality of teachers in Finland. English teachers are near native speakers, and students of course get exposure to good English. Just one native English teacher in Hong Kong is really not enough.

2. textbooks are very good: The topics are interesting and relevant to daily life, eg the first topic I saw on their textbooks for children is 'ICE CREAM ISLAND', and students practised how to order ice cream, asking each other about their favourite food, etc.

Their approach to English teaching is language immersion in primary schools. They barely teach grammar to young children, but build their foundation on the basis of speaking and listening, rather than reading and writing. They learn what they use, and they use what they learn.

In fact, this reminds me of an article I have read before, which criticises the language education in Hong Kong for starting from reading and writing - this can very well lead to a dead language. Language is for use in daily communication between people! I remember how dumb (in the literal sense) when I went to England - I felt as if I didn't speak English at all.

(Unfortunately I didn't take any photos!)

Students' works at meilahden

2008-10-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

I can see signs of creativity around the school.

This is a map of 'the Daughter of the Baltic Sea' (Finland)

art works of 5A students.

some maps

And the Beijing Olympics!

Two Finnish boys at Meilahden

2008-10-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

I had a chat with two rather very shy boys (D and M) (both in Grade 4) who were responsible for attending the door bells at the main entrance. I took that opportunity to chat with them.

They like reading playing football, baseball, tennis, reading comics, playing computer games and playstation,

Their favourite subjects are PE classes, woodwork, history and English. They both know about Dragon Ball, (they liked Sun Wu kong most) and say they don’t read books.

Their conversational English is very good for students at their age – they had only learnt English for three or four years. They could answer questions very accurately and directly. Occasionally they didn't know the English expressions, and we had to consult my Finnish English bilingual dictionary!

They had both travelled out of Finland before – in Bulgaria and Sweden respectively.

A funny thing was Daniel kept asking me, ‘Why are you asking this?’ when I asked what those trees were called. I was just having a casual chat with him!

And when I asked them if they liked the school, they said it in a very Finnish way, ‘it is very nice.’

Tero's sharing: cross subject, and student-centred teaching

2008-10-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Tero is the vice principal of Meilahden ala-aste who has shared his teaching philosophy with me and told me a lot of background information about the school.

The teaching in the primary school is theme based, rather than purely subject-based. Cross-subject connections were encouraged, for example in the art class, I could see for myself that the teacher introduced different elements of nature in the art curriculum, which led the students to observe more about how weather changes, what different animals looked like. Each subject is not quite seen as self-contained separate subjects.

They also appreciate that students learn in different ways, and there should not be one fixed method that applies across the board – it should vary depending on the needs of the students. It can be through group learning, individual learning or problem solving.

I think this is also the rationale behind small class teaching. The teaching should as far as possible respond to the needs of different children ie student-centred teaching.

In a Finnish school, I can see that these children are really 'centred'. They have their own learning schedules, and the teachers supplement them by giving them appropriate guidance when needed. You can see examples in almost all the classes - the students all learn at their own pace.

Teaching approach (Pia's sharing) - interest and equality

2008-10-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Pia has shared with me her views on the teaching approach in primary schools.

The objective of primary education is to inspire interest, teach students how to learn, help them develop the necessary skills rather than impart too much content. We have seen examples of her approach in Chinese class and the general Chinese learning activities in school. She has also given me the following example in teaching science.

Students are asked to move as if each of them was a water molecule to simulate the process of formation of rain. They would go from ocean as they evaporate, and form clouds in the sky, and then return to the mountains as rain. (You see the word 'mountain' in the photo above) There are various words ‘clouds, mountain, sea’ etc in both Finnish and Chinese in different spots of the school, for the kids to move about and learn the water flow in nature in a very hands-on way. The personal experience was meant to help them understand the theories.

She has also discussed the distinctive emphasis on equality under the Finnish system. They don’t encourage competition, and do not their children because childhood assessments would leave a very big scar on those kids who do not perform well at the start. it would lower their self esteem and hinder their later learning because it would be a frustrating experience. They only start more assessment at grade 10 (which is Form 4 in Hong Kong).

She also emphasises that every student is different. It is not a massive achievement to be able to learn maths faster than others - it is only a difference. Every student should just try to do their best and mind their own progress.

This is what ancient education philosophers used to advocate: 有教無類 (you jiao wu lei - every child should be taught).

Maths class grade 5 (small class)

2008-10-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

Math was chosen as the subject for both Finnish and Chinese instruction because there was quite a lot of text in math questions (everyone used Finnish maths textbooks), maths was the subject which had the most classes (this would give students most exposure and help in language difficulties), and there were English language materials in maths, which helped the Chinese teachers and students who could not speak Finnish.

Two teachers are employed from Beijing on a contractual basis, and they are mainly responsible for teaching Chinese and certain other subjects in Chinese.

In the classroom, Ms Chen was teaching in mandarin, and Pia would assist in Finnish. Pia also helps the weaker students who don’t speak Finnish by using Chinese occasionally.

This is an example of small class teaching. In fact there is not much teaching. Students are encouraged to read the questions themselves first, and only ask questions if they do not understand. Each student attempts the questions themselves, with the teacher around.

There were eight students in the classroom, seated in three different tables. They all had their own work at hand. One group was learning decimals and a girl was learning some logic exercise (which was an extension for the more gifted students). The group learning decimal places were counting the squares and learning to read decimal numbers in Finnish.

Students are fairly active in asking questions about what they do not understand. A girl asked why the number would be 1.30 with the zero at the very end – the question was illustrated in the form of a set of 30 filled small squares out of 100 plus a fully coloured big square.

They all checked the answers by themselves with the teacher’s book after they have finished their own attempts. They don’t cheat! This saves the teacher a lot of marking and also trains the students to look after their own work. The reason that Pia gave was they value immediate feedback on the students’ work.

Teachers can spend more time preparing for lessons, and students are independent learners.

Chinese teaching at Meilahden (reflections)

2008-10-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

I can see some boards with Chinese mooncakes drawings (one of UK national flag), Great Wall photo and description, as well as colour filling of pictures of Sun Wu Kong (of the Journey to the West), and moon, stars and sun in pictures with Chinese words. This should give you a flavour of how Finnish schools reinforce the learning of languages through different activities and media. Learning a language need not be limited to reading books and practising word drills, particularly for younger children.

This is the first year that Meilahden ala-aste, in fact the first Finnish school, that offers a bilingual education in Chinese, and school teaching in Chinese. Basically Chinese is taught at two levels - as a first language for native speakers, and as a second language for interested Finnish students. I did not observe the first language classes, but only the second language one, which you can find here: Chinese class grade 1.

A very strong first impression I got was that students were very eager to use what they have learnt, without fear at all in speaking Chinese. Just as I was walking along the corridor, I had been greeted by a few Finnish students with ‘Ni hao’ (Hello in Chinese).

The focus is immersion, inspiring an interest and emphasis on speaking.

They start by initiating conversations, singing and playing games with students in Chinese, rather than starting with han yu pin yin or learning characters. They start learning by being immersed in the language as used in daily life. They learn by imitation and talking in the language. They also begin by recognising the words, without any form of drills like we did when we were young. They don’t learn the pronunciation system in grade one because the school fears the students will confuse that with the Finnish alphabet and sound system. Writing the characters can obviously be a frustrating experience as well when kids start learning the language.

This is an encouraging development because there is in fact a growing Chinese community in Helsinki. I heard that there are about 3000 Chinese living in the city. (I've been able to see a few hundreds in a Mid-Autumn celebration party.) These overseas Chinese do have a need to keep up their Chinese, and I am glad that their native tongue is increasingly respected by the Finnish education system.

Under Section 12(2) of the Basic Education Act 628/1998, 'as mother tongue, the pupil may also be taught some language which is the pupil's native language.'

'may' can suggest it is optional for the pupil to be taught their native language, which in turn suggests an obligation on the part of the school to provide this facility. However, there are practical constraints in a city like Helsinki with lots of immigrants from different native languages. As shown by this school, the law is not just empty slogan, but really put into practice where possible.

Chinese class (Grade 1)

2008-10-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

It was a grade one class, Finnish students learning Chinese as a foreign language. Pia taught in Finnish most of the time, but the students, after having learnt for a month, could already say ‘Ni hao’(hello), ‘tai yang’(sun), ‘yue liang’(moon), ‘xing xing’(star), ‘zai jian’(goodbye), and sing songs in Chinese about numbers and greeting people. The kids kept saying ‘Ni hao’ to me, and when they left, some of them would come up to me and said ‘zai jian’ individually. One of the little girls was even wearing some pictorial language t-shirt.

They were singing songs and playing gestures with ‘tai yang yuan, yue liang wan, xiao xing xing’(the round sun, the moon crescent, little stars) - and my contribution was ‘xiao xing xing shan yi shan’ (little twinkling stars). The students loved it, and Pia reinforced these words in different ways, eg playing games, songs, and asking them to listen to it and do the gestures etc.

Pia also showed pictures of mooncakes to let the students draw a bit after a long day of school (the lesson was the last one). She used technology really well by showing pictures of mooncakes on the projector screen.

The experience was that they mainly learnt by doing and following the teacher. The policy of the school was that the grade one chinese students should not learn pin yin and too much of writing practice (for fear that this might cause confusion with their mother tongue phonetic system and be too frustrating for some students). They could pick up the language very quickly and were very keen to learn the words. Pia was rather worried that learning Chinese words would be too much at the beginning, so they only learnt the numbers and a few very simple words in Chinese. Mainly conversational Chinese, and none of them was afraid to use Chinese at all.

They sang me this Chinese song 'Our friends are here'. How amazing!

Music class at Meilahden ala-aste

2008-10-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Kasia, the music teacher, said the four most important things in music learning is: singing, playing an instrument, listening and dancing (using body expressions). And they focused on learning by doing.

I recorded these two songs:

There were two songs that I recorded:

Autumn

Finnish folk song: Kirppu ja härkä

She has shown me a song that she has composed for the school, and translated for me. A simple, yet remarkable one. Some of the lyrics read: there are many important things in life, one of which is that we are learning together. We will never forget the school.

They also sang other songs including: Souda, Souda sinisorsa (bird swimming in a lake) that is a song composed by Sibelius.; 'water drops' by Sibelius as well, and the teacher just asked the students to listen to it with their eyes closed.

The little children have sung at least 6 songs in the span of 35 minutes, a song welcoming me, a song warming up, the school anthem, the songs in the music book etc.

In the music lesson I could see how they started with the forest, and then the trees (quoting Yolanda). This is a typical feature of Finnish teaching. Kasia let the students sing along, and play the flute after her, without caring too much about precision initially. Kasia only corrected the students when the tune goes seriously wrong. This helps them to build up the confidence to keep it up!

Art (handcraft) class at Meilahden ala-aste (Grade 1)

2008-10-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

These are the art works of first graders who had only had one month of classes. The theme at the moment was autumn, and the boards showed the works that were completed in just a month, with owls, drawings of body parts, landscape pictures etc.

Susanna, the art teacher, said the general learning objective in these handcraft classes was to train them to observe more, and think and judge themselves what looks nice. She gave them a lot of freedom to do artwork in their own way.

She said the emphasis was to ‘find their own way of doing it’.

The most impressive thing was she had trained them in just a month’s time to be very orderly, and know exactly what they were doing. They had to go here and there for different materials. Say if they needed scissors, they would know where to go (There were labels on cupboards), or glue, they would pour glue for themselves. A little clumsy at times, and if glue fell on the floor, teacher had to clean it up, but in general the little boys and girls were very independent.
They had their own learning pace as well. Some finished their owls more quickly than others, and moved on to knots. They kept asking questions by shouting.
They were going to be introduced to various materials since very early, eg water colour very soon.

This tells a lot about the foundation work done at the first grade.

Woodwork class at Meilahden ala-aste

2008-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Best example of how independent kids can be in Finnish schools. The third graders have just started their woodwork classes and making pencil holders. They ran through some safety lessons and training before. What I saw was that each student was competent to handle potentially dangerous machines like drillers on their own with little supervision, though the teacher does keep an eye on them.

Tero, Vice principal of the school and one of the woodwork teachers, said the approach was to explain the objective, give a demonstration once, show the students a model of finished product, and asked how they were going to do it. He left them with a lot of freedom about how they wanted to make a pencil holder, or a clothes hanger.

Another observation was the kids had their own learning pace. Some kids who finished the pencil holder earlier went on to the clothes hangers, and seemed totally in control of what they were doing.

These are the works of the students:

They cleaned up themselves after the lesson, in a very swift and organised manner. A Chinese boy even asked me to help him by holding the rubbish tray for him to sweep the rubbish onto it.

Woodwork is one of the compulsory subjects for primary students from Grades 3 to 6, as well as secondary student in Grade 7. This forms a key part of training for Finns who are very good at DIY, girls included.

Meilahden ala-aste - Primary school (overview)

2008-10-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Meilahden ala-aste was established five years ago. This is a Finnish comprehensive school, with bilingual education offered in various languages such as Swedish (full immersion), Estonian, Russian, Chinese. Terro said it was only ‘one stream’ because everyone studied Finnish, and chose one foreign language. There are 360 students in the school. 100 students with non-Finnish ethnic backgrounds such as Palestinian, Somalian, Chinese, Indian and South African.

It started Chinese bilingual education this year. The main target students who receive Chinese teaching are those who already speak a reasonable command of Chinese. They are generally overseas Chinese or ethnically mixed children with a Chinese parent- in short those who need or prefer Chinese education.

Curriculum: Maths, Science (including geography, biology and physics, Finnish, Art, Music, Woodwork, Textile, religion, Physical Education, languages, History (from 5^th Grade onwards)

This is the school ethos: questions, fun, sunshine ...

Classes that I have observed in the school: Chinese, Mathematics, English, Art, Music, Woodwork and Science.

To jump off the cliff with a parachute: Julius's case

2008-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

I found Julius at Make up for ever, which is a top-notch make up salon in Helinki. I see him as an example of how a Finn manages to find his own interest and do what he likes. He stands very proudly as he poses for me!

He has shared with me how he has ended up in this profession. He started off working in IT communications industry, but he got fed up with his job, and had to leave it. He told me that he had started in IT industry because of his father’s influence, and economic concerns that this would be a more stable and lucrative job.

This seems to me to reflect the normal pressure that society can have on their people. Although IT wasn’t what he most wanted to do, he nonetheless followed that path initially.

However, the turning point came when he decided to change jobs and go for make up artistry. I asked him how he came to this decision. He had a very compelling way of expressing this decision: ‘jumping off the cliff, but with a parachute’.

The reasons come to this:

He had always had hobbies in theatre, and that gave him quite a lot of exposure to make up artistry.
His mom was a fashion designer.
There was nothing to lose going for a course in make up artistry because it was very short, and he could easily turn back to IT industry if he wanted to. (this was really the parachute for him)

Reflections:

He is an interesting example because he gave his ‘hobbies’ as the first reason why he could sustain his interest in what he liked that led him to ‘jump off the cliff’. Yolanda Chen has also written about this aspect of the Finnish education system, which aims to cultivate ‘hobbies’ simply for their own sake, rather than some ‘talents’ to show off in CVs. It does not matter whether they excel; what matters is they enjoy it as their hobbies, which slowly incorporate into part of the lives of individuals, and naturally the lifeblood of society. This is a key factor in developing cultural industries not only because people might develop their hobbies into their own professions, but also that a population of audience interested in art and culture is cultivated, which drives the demand for a flourishing culture.

I see this as a key aspect of how the education system and society help young people to develop their interests – keeping up their hobbies.

Another interesting aspect of this is that these industries are in no way considered to be inferior to others in a fairly egalitarian society like Finland. He is happy to be a make up artist, which is a decent job respected by everyone. The prices are quite hefty as well. It could cost 80 euros for one session with an expert. This is probably the other reason for the 'parachute' that helps people to jump off the cliff.

A society that specialises in innovation really needs a safety net that protects the people who might not make any money in their creative endeavours. In Finland, people get unemployment benefits and there are also various funds and organisations such as Sitra, Tekes, Academy of Finland, which provide funds for projects in scientific research or artistic or cultural development.

Hong Kong government seems to assume that culture can flourish on its own in an unfriendly culture. If this remains the case, our artists who don't make a commercial debut will continue to remain submerged. In London, a lot of input comes from private donors, but that's London, where the society values culture already and is ready to chip in when the state is not doing enough.

Preface

2008-10-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

I have been asked many times this question, 'why would I, as a lawyer, be interested in education and come all the way to Finnish schools?' Maybe I'm just a bit odd. My interests are not limited to law, and I am not contemplating a career exclusively in law either. This is really just a start for me to do something, and I hope that I can keep it up in some way in the future. I hope that this project can increase our understanding of the Finnish school system, as well as invite us all to rethink what education means, how it could be done better, and what our dreams and interests are.

Acknowledgement

2008-10-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

Before I begin a more detailed account of my project, I would like to thank various parties and people here:

the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Hong Kong for their grant which has been a big financial help, and made this visit to Finland possible;
Finnish National Board of Education: Mr. Reijo Laukanen for kindly giving an interview and Juha Ojanen for organising it for me in the most efficient manner;
the Finnish Consulate General of HK: Consul General Timo Rajakangas and Viivi Berghem for their helpful and quick response to my inquiries, as well as sending me a lot of useful information;
Meilahden ala-aste (Meilahden Primary School), esp Ms. Pia Nasman-Hao, Ms. Paivi Paakkanen (Principal), and Tero , and all teachers therePia

Meilahden ylaasteen koulu (Meilahden Secondary School), esp Ms. Riikka Maeda, and all teachers there
Moision Koulu (Moision Secondary School), esp Ms. Anneli Suominen, Mr. Arto Jokinen (Principal) and all teachers there, as well as Maija Pykalainen for helping me connect to the school.

Anneli

the Education Bureau of Hong Kong (Information and Public Relations Section) for sharing their experiences in Finland with me;
Mr Julius Sepponen for his interview with me
Fancy, my sister, for her supplies and my family for their understanding and support;

Kristina (my teacher) and Sue (Kristina’s friend) for their help in giving me ideas and taking an interest in my project;
my friends and advisers: Carman and Theodora for agreeing to interviews, and Ray, Kan , Weiken and Natalie for their insight and anyone else I might have missed out!

Authors I would like to thank:

Yolanda Chen陳之華and her husband, Mr. Liu for their very kind reception in Helsinki as well as her extremely helpful and informative book <沒有資優班，珍視每個孩子的芬蘭教育>

Brian Wu吳祥輝 <芬蘭驚艷：全球成長競爭力第一名的故事>

Fuyuan Xiao 蕭富元 <芬蘭教育世界第一的祕密>

These books have been incredibly helpful in my research giving me both background information and critical analysis about the Finnish education system. I hope that this little amateurish project of mine will be of some contribution to the existing literature.

Finnish education project – Keeping Dreams Alive (Overview)

2008-09-29T04:38:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to undertake this mini research project primarily because I felt dismayed by the constraints within the society and education system of Hong Kong that have stifled the development of young people and cultural industries. Few people seem to be able to keep up their interests in life or, in slightly cheesy language, hold on to their dreams. This has led to a rather narrow society excessively focused on its financial system, unnecessarily at the expense of its many cultural talents who would have provided valuable input to our economy, as we have seen a thriving world art market notwithstanding the recent financial turmoil. I believe that we need a better education to help more young people in Hong Kong to pursue their dreams and create a more diverse society, and therefore have set off to find some insights as to how this could be done.

With thanks to the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Hong Kong, I paid a visit to Finland—the ‘Daughter of the Baltic Sea’(as you can see in the map in the picture above, it does look like a maiden with one arm), a country not only strewn with 180,000 lakes and a myriad forests but also one with a cultural appeal as it has given birth to talents such as Jean Sibelius, a classical music master, Alvar Aalto, a leading architect and designer, Tove Jansson, the author of the Moomin Valley series, Lordi, a rock band with its debut ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ winning the 2006 Eurovision Song contest, the Helsinki Design District, etc. It has also come top in growth competitiveness four times in this decade, although it was one of the poorest European countries fifty years ago. Most importantly, it has one of the best education systems in the world according to the last three PISA studies (although the two recent shooting incidents have been alarming). The combination of a prospering culture and a developed education system would explain why I felt the ‘call’ of the home of Nokia. Whilst I appreciate the creative capacity of Finns largely stems from the prior flourishing culture, I believe that its education system has played an important role in generating the right people in order to maintain this continuity.

I visited three schools in Helsinki and Salo (Meilahden ala-aste, Meilahden ylaasteen koulu, and Moision Koulu) to see for myself how students learn there. I had an interview with Mr. Reijo Laukanen, an education expert who has advised the Finnish National Board of Education for three decades, and with Yolanda Chen, a Taiwanese author who has recently written book about the Finnish education system. I also found out a bit about the cultural industries in operation by talking to artists. After my research and personal experiences through these visits and interviews, I have consolidated and summarised my findings and thoughts as follows. For more details and case studies, please see the posts under category Finnish education project.

To say a few words about the Finnish education system in general, Finland has a highly developed philosophy about people and education which is commendably put into practice. The society values its every member and believes that the education should leave no child behind. There is one socio-economic reason behind this: Finland only has a population of 5 million people and its economy needs everyone. In practice, this means free education for all, including immigrants and international students, with free books and even free school lunch. This entails substantial state input which amounted to 6.5% of the GDP. More astonishingly, unlike England for example, state education is very strong and attains a very high average standard, with a deviation in school performance of less than 5% (PISA), while private education only plays a residual role. Students of different abilities are mixed in comprehensive schools without any banding system. The only streaming and entrance tests are based on the learning needs of students, for example, those with special educational needs or international students who need a different language instruction or an international curriculum. All teachers are required to be holders of masters degrees. Teaching profession is highly competitive as only one in ten applicants gets teacher training, although the pay is not very good at all. Students with poor family backgrounds can have access to good education and are just as capable of developing their potential fully. This is achieved by a firm legal basis under the Education Act.

The society of Finland helps its people to pursue their dreams in four main ways. Firstly, its culture has an established tradition in art and music which creates plenty of space for creative endeavours, and the state supports such industries. There is a Finnish Innovation Fund, Sitra set up by Parliament fifty years ago that provides funding for creative and high-tech industries, which is supplemented by Tekes, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, the Academy of Finland, the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and Finpro. Finland invests around 3.4 per cent of the GDP in research and development.

Second, the social welfare system which takes up ¼ of the GDP provides security for people. This reduces the financial worries and costs in taking risks in innovative work which is often independently undertaken with little funding and uncertain returns. Third, society values equality and generally respects each occupation in its own right. Fourth, individual is the basic unit of society, which means they generally care more about what they themselves want to do, rather than what they ought to do under family pressure, for example. This aspect is a rather widespread attitude among Western countries.

The education system facilitates the development of the interests of young people in two main ways. Firstly, the system tries to get the most out of every child. It provides free, good education for all so that children’s potential is not compromised by sub-standard education or financial problems. Another distinctive feature is that it discourages competition and ranking when students are still developing until high school, which starts at Grade 10 and encourages every child to learn at their own pace without worrying about others. If a child finishes early, he moves on to the next task; conversely, it is ok for the kids to take their time. This is possible in the classroom with small class size. The underlying philosophy is every person learns differently, and speed is only a difference which is not a cause for celebration. As a result, students who don’t learn as fast are less likely to be discouraged.

Secondly, the system facilitates the development of interests and hobbies. The curriculum itself is very diverse and has a lot of options on the table. The state also supports further education in music, art, design, architecture, theatre, film and various technical industries. The general teaching approach seeks to inspire an interest in learning. As Yolanda Chen suggests metaphorically, teachers show the students ‘first the forest, and then the trees’—meaning that when students get started they dabble in subjects such as languages, art, music, woodwork, freely with hands-on work to explore for themselves, without much emphasis on honing the skills. For example, students learn to speak foreign languages well before they start to learn the grammar and play the instrument for fun before learning the theories. So students are more likely to enjoy what they learn and develop an interest and motivation, which will naturally lead to further pursuit. Interest comes before skill.

More importantly, children develop their hobbies and keep up what they like. It does not matter whether they excel; what matters is they enjoy it as their hobbies, which slowly incorporate into part of the lives of individuals, as well as the lifeblood of society. This is a key factor in developing cultural industries not only because people might develop their hobbies into their own professions, but also that a population of audience interested in art and culture is cultivated, which drives the demand for a flourishing culture.

The implications for Hong Kong are not entirely clear because of the different social and economic conditions here. Whilst reforms are under way, what we could learn from Finland is probably something quite simple, yet fundamental: to value the education of each and every child, and do it from our heart. In Finland, I was most impressed by the attitude of almost all sectors of the system: education board, schools, teachers, students, parents, publishers, political parties—it takes a concerted effort by different parties to create and sustain an excellent education system.

Insights

2008-08-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

There have been many inspiring moments/conversations/people these days.

I was very pleased today to have a very engaging debate with the participants of my workshop (which takes place every Saturday morning at my old school). It was probably the most engaging debate of my entire time with them this year and last year - a testimony to their improvement :) It was on the motion, 'Functional constituencies should be abolished.' I was very impressed by the depth of their ideas and the quickness of their rebuttal. More importantly, their brains were set in motion and the arguments both sides put forward kept advancing as the debate went on. That was a proper exchange of views and clash of ideas - very thought-provoking indeed. ^^

It started off on a rather superficial level regarding purely the representation of the interests of the industries in the legco. But we later debated on deeper questions like how the interests should be represented (by a secure vote or other ways?) and what kind of political system Hong Kong really needed (a completely democratic system with universal suffrage or a continued dwindled role of functional constituencies) and discussed the compatibility between functional constituencies and universal suffrage. It was a very dynamic debate. I'm very proud of them They are doing what I couldn't have done when I was their age. :) They are now debating in English comfortably with some scant notes. Maybe I was being too pessimistic about the change of times and all the generation comparison prejudice. Please forgive me if I have been in any way too mean.

I joined in as well to fill the numbers and it was a lot more fun getting involved myself. I hope I gave them helpful guidance without being intimidating or too much of a bully. They inspired me to think a lot and set my mind working. I was still quite rusty but debating reminded me of my days in HKU Debate team. I realised that though I didn't fully grasp the techniques then, a lot of the good models I had seen had somewhat mellowed these few years ad I matured a bit more. It's a good feeling to see that I've made some progress these years. My thinking is slowly taking shape now. I hope I can pass it on and am helping them to improve.

Another inspiring conversation was at a very congenial dinner with a very harmonious and accommodating family after my informal and non-professional attempt of legal consultation to Mr R. W. R shares a similar background to mine and their family prepared a seven dish meal for 5 people - goodness me what a tremendous effort it must have taken his mom. I have always enjoyed seeing relatives of my friends because that helps me to see where they come from - what makes them how it is now :) His family is very intelligent and observant. I couldn't believe they could actually prompt me to make a tirade and withstand it all. And I was talking about what many people find boring eg my time in oxford and all the academic struggles, as well as my Finland project and Scandinavian systems etc. It was a very sweet time and I understand a bit more now.

I guess it left me thinking about myself and comparing this experience to my own family. We're both going after a very similar route with very similar goals. We've been feeding off our families and it's our time to contribute in return for their kindness. I wonder what it will be like in ten years' time.

A new beginning

2008-08-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

So I've finally refurbished my blog with a nicer picture that symbolises the breadth of a whole new world out there to explore.

I can feel that I'm reawakening now lol. The last few weeks since I came back to HK from oxford, and then the exams, and the trip, and a two-week void, I think I've been worn out somewhat. The previous year has indeed spent all my energy and enthusiasm, and all this is really my post-oxford syndrome. The actual workload has physically increased my headaches and the readjustment is slowly coming by now - yes i'm settling in HK again (though I'm about to leave again)... A chat with Ray has clarified this stage that i'm going through - a feeling of being constricted and stifled within the confines of HK (its lifestyle, mentality, climate, physical conditions etc). There's been pressure from different sources which I haven't had to deal with for a long time when I was abroad, and now all of it came together. In other words my excuses of being abroad and having finals to work towards (amongst others) are gone.

I am also feeling that what I have acquired and learnt, all the insights and beliefs seem to be slowly fading away - yes already in such a short time. I really don't want my passions and ideas to die away, so I must revamp this blog and recreate a new world. It doesn't have to sound so cheezy but I like this phrase, and it sounds better lol.

This blog was originally dedicated to intellectual exchange of ideas and sharing of experience. I have evidently not done enough to promote this blog, let alone having abandoned it for so long. But I agree that the internet is the way to go, and it's 21st century after all... I'm in particular interested in education (and predisposed towards ranting about my life), but anything is welcome here.

PLEASE WRITE.

Maybe life is really like that

2008-08-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine used to repeat all the time, 'life is like that.' I had thought that it is up to the person in a way - even for the darkest clouds, there's a silver lining. If you catch that chance and go for the opening, you might be able to escape from the cage. Of course experience only tells me that the chance doesn't show itself as "EXIT" or "AUSGANG"; even if it does, there are usually enough hurdles in your way and the chance disappears soon enough.

Youth has an appeal. A friend told me last night, 'your niche is your youth.' I keep wondering what i means. Maybe it's because I can start the race a bit earlier, and logic tells you that in a marathon, the earlier you take the lead, the easier it is to win the game. Maybe it's because I have the energy of a young man. Maybe it means every decision I make is not laden with the same burden that an older man in the same position would. But is that true?

I'm feeling rather annoyed because every decision I make now feels a lot heavier than before. The room for change is getting reduced, and every spare day is a luxury of time. Every decision has a much stronger impact, and the pressure against change is ever greater. Lets say I plunge into the legal profession as soon as I graduate, everyone tells me I won't ever be a teacher again. If I get married to someone now, I'll have to get divorced if I want to make love to someone else legally. Is the decision worth making? I don't really like commitments.

Maybe that's what is going wrong with the society nowadays. People fear commitments. And only commitments can produce some lasting relationships between people and things. And only lasting relationships will establish a meaningful product and a continuity of traditions.

It's a vague thought and a massive generalisation. But it may be the time to take things a bit more seriously.

Teaching

2008-08-03T05:28:00.000-07:00

We've all been taught and might have even taught others ourselves. But what exactly is teaching?

Some say teaching is about passing on knowledge, but others say it's about getting others to think in response to some sort of inspiration. The idea really is about getting the student to learn 'actively'.

I haven't tutored for three years now and I'm feeling very rusty to start again after a long break. I'm slowly getting back into it now - yes after a few rather lame and boring lessons. Teaching is meant to be interactive and I think the best teaching should be responsive to the needs of the student. Thats what I'm trying to do with my students.

When I first began teaching, I used to keep imposing my own thoughts onto my students especially when I get impatient with them. (very often I'm not very impressed by what they have to say in their writing)

But I'm making more of an effort to hold back my judgment and ask them to reflect themselves first on their own reading alound and writing, for example.

This is however nothing compared to the way the Finnish teachers apparently teach. All they do is to help the students to find the answers themselves. Their students can have their own schedules in their schooltime - any age, any level, anyone. Each student has their own agenda and quietly does their own work, at their own progress in the classroom every day. I really can't picture that in my mind.

Will write more on Finland later.

I'd better pull myself together again.

After a long break

2008-07-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last wrote here. A few things have happened.

1. finals
2. leaving ox
3. conversion exams in HK
4. graduation trip with family in ox, london, Paris and Berlin
5. got a chance to go back to ox for the BCL
6. my little education project about HK and Finland

I've come back to HK for a week now and it's probably the first real break i've had for a rather long time. All along the last couple of years, there's been quite a lot of (very normal) pressure on me regarding studies and job-hunting. In the back of my mind I knew that there was something I had to do and time was a scarcity. I have been sleeping loads these days and am feeling lazier than ever - so sluggish that I don't want to do anything, see anyone, or even the easiest things like making calls. I'm only teaching students out of necessity, and my passivity becomes dominant again. My motivation for everything has dwindled except sports, reading and teaching perhaps. Maybe it's also because I had been alone for too long - I am finding it difficult to actually get used to the lifestyle in HK and seeing my old friends again. There are always plenty of excuses. I hope this doesn't mean i've become an irritable snob who has alienated everyone. I'm just feeling a bit weird, nothing seems to interest me at all. Everythings a spot of bother.

I should describe this syndrome as mental disorder, not very creative. I think I need a proper break away from everything. I need to get away! ARGH!

I NEED TO GET BACK MY DRIVE AND MOTIVATION.

Debating achievement

2008-05-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

Amidst a lot of rather depressing news about the china earthquake, the burma cyclone... and the death of the little bird just hatched as the nest was blown apart, I just got some amazing news about the debating achievement of my high school team this year.

They made it to GRAND FINAL of the Singtao competition. I'm SO PROUD of them. That's such amazing achievement, and I'm so glad that their potential is being fulfilled.

Also, there is the new record of HKU English Debating Team's achievement at Worlds - they made it to Semi-finals :)

I'm really happy for you all high achievers. Though I dont think i can really achieve anything in debating lol, and the teams have moved on since i left. I should work harder.

Donation for Earthquake in China 地震捐款

2008-05-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

Please do what you can to help the victims of the earthquake.

Online donation to Red Cross

Online Donation to Oxfam

1. By direct payment

By direct payment. Please send the bank-in slip to Oxfam Hong Kong

HSBC bank account: A/C : 001-537000-012
Bank of China account: A/C: 012-874-0010515-7

2. By cheque

Cheque payable to “Oxfam Hong Kong” and write “Earthquake in Mainland China” at the back.

To get a donation receipt for tax deduction, please mail the original bank receipt together with your name, address and telephone no. to Oxfam Hong Kong, 17/F,China United Centre,

28 Marble Road, North

Point.

3. PPS payment

To donate by PPS payment (applicable to Hong Kong only), please click here for more details.

Disconcerted

2008-05-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to avoid thinking but I guess the point has finally come when I just couldn't help but break out of the invisible box. The last couple of months have been a fairly routine period for me with my mind singularly focused on law, and pretty much law alone for the most part. And I could only achieve that by consigning my autonomous reasoning and free emotions to a quiet corner. Everything has been plain and ordinary, to the extent that it no longer feels plain or ordinary any more because the standard of comparison is lost.

Probably I haven't quite succeeded in dispelling the distracting summons because in the back of my mind it just cant help wandering off to some random territories.

It is this little greeny boy looking at the beautiful world. As I listened to the rustling leaves and gently blowing wind, wondered about the shining moon and my guiding stars, I realised this dream was probably coming to an end soon.

Yeah I implied that law has been a prison of thought for me in many ways, and it's not entirely negative to break free from this restrictive spell--or dream.

A teacher has given me some insight about 'burdens'. What he said precisely wasn't the point, but he led me to realise that there are three reactions to 'burden'. You are (1) unable to take the burden, or (2) unable to release the burden, or (3) about to take up the burden. 不是負擔不起, 而是這個擔子我發現自己是放不低, 唯有鍛煉身體, 撐住. 我說的是未來前景的問題.

I don't like the present me at all. After finals I'll have to reexamine myself.

thats an interesting expression.

That's the sign of life - the leaves sprung out in merely a week's time.

That's by the way the view from the window of my room. I'm very grateful that there's this endearing tree just outside.

The point of studying law

2008-05-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

One of the jokes people here like to make about me is that I'm studying law because my surname is Law - fair enough, given Law is a rare surname for the English people.

As I've been spending the last four years studying law, and pretty much dedicated most of my time to it, I feel the need to justify the point of this endeavour - especially as that would give me an additional motivation for the coming exams.

To put it in hefty/idealistic/perhaps pretentious (to some)/natural lawyer's language, studying law isn't really about the professional career in itself; rather, it is the common good served by law. I still believe that legal training is very useful -

1. I can play a part in the legal services sector.
2. I can apply the wisdom of law across a broader range of fields in society.
3. I believe in the Rule of Law in the central sense.

Brilliant. I've become a massive geek and sounding as annoying as I can...

Other reasons: £? self-preservation? not exploitation of others...

Now back to the law.

With thoughts of different people, past memories and visions about the future.....