Post date: Dec 22, 2015 3:7:42 AM
Parents are proud of the academic achievements of their children. Hong Kong score high marks in Mathematics and Science along with China, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Japan in the International Student Assessment Program (PISA) participated by OECD and its partnering countries. Some of our brightest and smartest would go on to become medical doctors, engineers or investment bankers, or they will be scooped up by the government being groomed for top jobs in the public sector. All of us think, with such beautiful brains in the city, we should be able to manage our public finances well and make it hum like a well-oiled machine. Not so. Quoting figures published by the South China Morning Post in the Focus Report ( "BUDGET BUSTERS", December 2, 2015), all three major infrastructure projects have exceeded their original budgets by 30 per cent to over 100 per cent causing heavy bleedings in the public coffer, now estimated to be over $100 billion dollars ! How could the West Kowloon Cultural District project be out by 118% in budget terms, and facing a possible five year delay ?
Year after year Hong Kong is ranked at the top in Math and Science subjects in international studies beating school children in western countries hands down. An obvious disconnect here, isn't it ?
I presented a slide at Small Talks Circles recently showing pictures of certain modern-day conveniences, all of which have to do with deep sciences and high Math (picture). Very unfortunately none of these was invented by the Chinese, Japanese or Koreans. Asians collectively have been falling asleep at the switch thousands of years ago to let the West surpass us and come up with remarkable scientific discoveries and cool inventions.
We put hopes on our current and future generations to right the wrong, to stem the negative flow. To achieve this we ought to put financial success way down on the wish list for our children so that they can perform their best in all the right places.
Philip S. K. Leung