All About National Education Boycott (5B Simon Chan)

A lot of controversy has been provoked due to the implementation of the government’s national education curriculum. After the announcement of not forcing schools to adopt the curriculum, I am clearer that I am leaning towards the government’s side, opposing the boycott.

Firstly, freedom is always one of the internal values of Hong Kong. Upholding the treasurable value, we should respect every school’s decisions on implementing the curriculum or not. The participants should never ask for a total ban on the curriculum, or otherwise, they are becoming dictators like the one we are opposing.

Apart from that, the boycott brings no benefits. The boycott participants are mainly tertiary students, they should cherish their limited learning sessions. As the government has already backed down, they should know that there is no or very low possibility for it to accept student’s petition once again, especially when most of the protestors before changing their minds right after the back down. Thus, it is completely unwise of the attendants to spend their valuable time on an event which has no positive effects.

The boycott students may argue that the curriculum may become a brainwashing tool of the Chinese government. Yet, isn’t it a responsibility of people to understand more about their country? Hong Kong is not an exception. The national education curriculum aims to help HongKongers gain more knowledge about their nation. Neither the curriculum instructions nor the Education Bureau have mentioned any words related to brainwashing. Wouldn’t they be too sensitive and even let the imaginary shortcoming cover all of its benefits?

To conclude, the boycott violates Hong Kong’s freedom, brings no benefits and too sensitive to ignore the advantages of the national education curriculum. These are the points that the participants should think of.