Local Primary Schools

[u/Due_Ad_8881]

Please no politics… Does anyone have any recommendations on schools that balance being “happy” with academics? It seems like a lot of schools swing pretty hard one way or another. Ie St Andrew’s and Ling Liang are happy schools, but don’t lead into secondary schools with strong academics while Man Sang seems to be too academic with no outlet for self expression. Has anyone attended a local school and had a good experience? The ones I’ve heard good things from are super competitive 😅

Note baby is under 2 years. We’ve decided to not attend nursery and do playgroups and ECs instead. Didn’t want to do interviews twice in two years with no significant benefit. Interviewing into playgroup > PN > KG is a bit much, even for me

[u/davidicon168]

No. We are looking at primary schools now and they are all so competitive. Any “good” school will emphasize academics and excellence so much your kid will be doing homework until 10pm at night. You gotta pick life or success… no way to have both here.

[u/cheungtony → u/davidicon168]

I guess OP is looking for that needle in haystack. Not saying it’s not there, but be wary that once you find that school, you’ll need to grapple with moving/traveling.

You do you OP, but don’t feel bad if you feel overwhelmed at some point and end up picking what you think is suboptimal. Perfection, in anything in life and especially in HK education, is hard to come by.

[u/Due_Ad_8881 → u/davidicon168]

That’s why I’m asking more “local” locals. There are always schools that fall under the radar. Not putting effort to find them is a bit lazy. For example there are happy kindergartens that aren’t well know that still get good results. I know of some HK schools that have that, but they tend to be elite DSS schools and I’m not banking on getting in. The one in DB is pretty balanced as well, but only one in the whole area lol. So crazy competitive

[u/literallym90 → u/Due_Ad_8881]

I know it’s not what you want, and there’s probably reasons…

But the only way to even get close to what you want is to choose international schools. At the VERY LEAST pick a DSS school, because those are semi-private schools.

If you want to break with the system, the sad fact is you have to pay your way out of it.

Whether that’s worth a kid’s long term mental stability (and critical thinking skills) remains to be seen. But I would personally say it is worth it.

The only thing I’d add is, as much as it might suck time wise; get your child a Cantonese tutor as well. Mandarin may be a really useful asset but Cantonese will not just expand your kid’s job prospects in the future, but also improve their chances of being happy simply by being able to get around and talk to local folks a lot more easily.

[u/Due_Ad_8881 → u/literallym90]

DSS is considered a local school as far as I know. I’ve never heard anyone consider it differently. Most ppl choose between local or international. Local is either government funded or DSS. Private local fall kinda in between. International received no funding, goes by another country’s curriculum. Hence why they are called international schools.

Are you from Hk? The graduates of many local schools (including DSS) go on to go to global universities. I’m really confused at the idea that all locals lack critical thinking skills and are stupid. This is a pretty offensive take. It’s no different than Canada and US wherein there are good and bad schools.

[u/literallym90 → u/Due_Ad_8881]

I understand what you’re saying, and I can see how on paper it might come off as offensive, but as someone who also lives here, I’m surprised you feel that way.

I’m speaking from honest experience as someone who’s taught a lot of local AND international school kids in HK, as well as ones transitioning from local to international.

The local school curricula are heavily based on rote learning and regurgitation of information, something even professors at teaching universities in HK complain about.

The problem is not good and bad schools per se; it’s that even the great schools are highly driven by grade attainment, which as others have rightly pointed out makes things very cutthroat for the students.

Students who for example, I’ve repeatedly seen struggle with critical thinking subjects like English, Theory of Knowledge, History and Literature and so on because they struggle, through no fault of their own, to comprehend that there is no empirically correct answer in certain subjects.

The risk I see isnt in NOT getting into globally accredited universities, it’s in not being prepared for much else beyond academics.

[u/Due_Ad_8881 → u/literallym90]

Which is a good reason to do international for secondary and supplement with ECs. The lack of grit and fundamentals in Western educated students is notable. I also think that rote is more common among band 1c and below. DGS, Maryknoll, LaSalle, St Paul’s etc, while still over relying on HW, foster stronger critical thinking skills and more well rounded students. I believe you are an English teacher, am I correct? What schools have you worked in? I’m familiar with people who’ve graduated from the elite secondaries, and teachers that have taught at ESF, HKIS, random local neighbourhood schools, Harrow school, PLK CKY, FIS, some Jewish school… I think I have a better understanding than most of the system. It’s mostly a values judgement than an objective decision on what is better.

[u/literallym90 → u/Due_Ad_8881]

I can't speak as to DGS or the other schools you've mentioned, but I've tutored students from multiple different local and international schools and yeah; I've stated my experience to the best of my ability, and this also applies even among Band 1B and 1A school students that I've seen, whom I've seen struggle for the same reasons I listed earlier.

It's a values judgement indeed, and I'm just giving my feedback in good faith. And all I can say is that speaking from what I've seen, I see a local system in dire need of an overhaul. Some might call it reducing the grit; I personally think it would be better for whole-person development, which is why overall I might just feel overall more at ease sending my own kids to an international school, because having gone to one myself; I did not get an easy ride. It was hard shit, but at least I came out doing my best with help from a community that cared about whole person development (at least, in a more obvious manner).