Child

While Vivian was staying home for the maternity leave, CC - her handkerchief friend (if you know what I mean) - came for a visit.

She brought a few books for my wife to kill time (mine were considered too boring). The special recommendation was Hong Kong Kids (港孩) by Wong Ming Lok.

I took the chance and read it. In fact I heard of it some weeks ago – which middle-class parent in Hong Kong didn’t ? The younger generation seems so spoiled nowadays and Wong managed to describe typical types in the first half of her book. In the subsequent pages, she outlined the problems of the new system of secondary school (notably those of liberal education) with vivid examples.

How did I find this book ?

Seriously I was slightly disappointed. Yes, it is a real vision to have the prototypes of delinquent children elegantly described. Nonetheless, we all echo with the pages exactly because we – as parents, teachers, and, more often than not, merely onlookers – have encountered similar scenarios; I am not interested to know how spoiled our children are (as a university professor, I know just too well), I want to know why.

In other words, as parents, what could we have done wrong to cultivate children who are apathetic, self centered, dependent (both physically and intellectually), and could not take care of themselves ?

PS. For those who are familiar with the Black Cylinder Experiment, I mean I could not settle with a level one understanding of the problem.