Dear Editor,
Hong Kong’s population has been shrinking since the past decade, causing a drop in school enrolment. There is now a heated debate over the government’s implementation of small-class teaching or class reduction in schools. I, as a secondary school student, am writing to express my opinions on this issue, and I think that cutting one S.1 class from each school as the government proposed is not the best solution to solve the problem of falling rolls.
It is impractical to implement small-class teaching or class reduction in all secondary schools in Hong Kong. Not all schools have the problem of insufficient enrolment of Form 1 students, and the implementation of such policy forces good schools to cut enrolment numbers to help inferior institutes. Good schools produce better students because there is a superior learning atmosphere. These schools get more applications than they can enroll. This does not depend on class size or class number and there is no need to change the situation. However, for under-enrolled schools, the situation is completely different. They need a change in learning environment provided for students to deal with the problem of falling rolls. Implementing small-class teaching in these schools will be better than cutting class number as it really provides a change in learning atmosphere, which may hold the key to solving the enrolment problem.
Of course, the above mentioned is not the only reason to choose small-class teaching over class reduction. Although the government said that small-class teaching benefits students at primary level only, the fact is that smaller class size in secondary schools can improve students’ performance as well, as shown by Stephen Vine’s example (“A class less equal than others”. 18th September, 2010). With less students to take care of, teachers can devote their less divided attention to their pupils. This allows them to focus on the individual needs of each student, thus gaining a more complete understanding of them. As such, teachers can cater to their students’ needs, improving the quality of their teaching. With more time, teachers’ workload is reduced as well. Small-class teaching can help schools avoid the painful decision of firing part of their teaching staff too, as the number of classes will not be changed.
Sadly, education minister Mr. Suen Ming Yeung turned the proposal of small-class teaching down on the grounds that it will cost the government an arm and a leg. But, if only under-enrolled schools need to switch to small-class teaching, then Mr. Suen’s worry is unfound, for if only a limited number of schools has to be included in the policy, there will only be a slight increase in expenditure. What’s more, as more mainlanders are moving to Hong Kong, bringing their children along, the trend of falling birth rate as well as falling rolls will certainly be reversed. If only class size is reduced there is still room for addition, but for number of class to be decreased, to swell it would be harder because teachers who have joined other professions will not be available to join the ranks of teaching then.
All in all, as a secondary school student, I do believe that small-class teaching can do more good than class reduction because it will not waste resources, but give us students a better learning environment and allow room for addition of students when need be. I strongly propose the plan of introducing small-class teaching in under-enrolled schools, and I hope to gain support from the readers of SCMP.
Yours faithfully,
Jennifer Wong
Jennifer W