The women were too startled to say anything.
The man called Sam began, "Ladies, I don't think it is fair to compare the English examination of the two kindergartens."
"Why?" Christy and Hilda asked, almost together.
"Because the two examinations are very different in their format," the man explained, "Our friend from the Island tests only the spoken language or, in reality, the presentation skill of their kids. Examinations of the Countryside is supervised by a panel of fully trained educationalists - including, I dare say, my humble self. Our format is comprehensive as well as scientific. We test the capability of reading, writing, recall memory, creativity, and a number of other domains. Our scoring system is fair and objective. In short, it conforms to the modern theory of elementary education."
The women listened with their mouths wide open. A good while later, Christy, who was supposed to master explicit vocabulary better, said, "Who cares about your bloody format? We are talking about the content of the examination! What good is there to have an ideal format if the content is rubbish? Bullshit remains bullshit despite being wrapped by colourful papers and a silk ribbon!"
The man looked blank. As always, educationalists could not comprehend four-letter English words or three-word Chinese phrases.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Different
(Their discussion continued.)
After a moment of silence, the Christy went on rather abruptly, “Oh, Hilda, I remember now. Your son Isaac is also studying K3 in the Island Kindergarten. What did he have for his English examination?”
“Alas, that could hardly be called an examination,” the Hilda blushed a little, “Each and every student of his class was asked to take turn and tell a short story in English in front of the whole class.”
“You see? That’s what we call a relevant examination – it is testing a meaningful aspect of their English skill!” Chirsty almost screamed.
****************
After a moment of silence, the Christy went on rather abruptly, “Oh, Hilda, I remember now. Your son Isaac is also studying K3 in the Island Kindergarten. What did he have for his English examination?”
“Alas, that could hardly be called an examination,” the Hilda blushed a little, “Each and every student of his class was asked to take turn and tell a short story in English in front of the whole class.”
“You see? That’s what we call a relevant examination – it is testing a meaningful aspect of their English skill!” Chirsty almost screamed.
****************
"Em... excuse me..." All of a sudden, a voice appeared from the back of the two women.
There stood a middle age man.
He moved forward, bowed in an exaggerated manner, and introduced himself, "Ladies, I am Sam, an educationalist - in fact, I am a teacher of the Countryside Kindergarten. May I join the discussion?"
There stood a middle age man.
He moved forward, bowed in an exaggerated manner, and introduced himself, "Ladies, I am Sam, an educationalist - in fact, I am a teacher of the Countryside Kindergarten. May I join the discussion?"
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Question
(Conversation that I overheard between two women.)
“Christy, how is your boy doing? Charles is now K3 in the Countryside Kindergarten, right?”
“Hilda, your memory is fantastic,” the woman called Christy nodded, “To tell you the truth, I am slightly disappointed with the final examination of his kindergarten.”
“Why?” That Hilda asked.
“Let me take English as the example. Charles was asked to list ten words that begin with X.”
“My god! How’s that possible? I know only xylophone. Em… X-ray may be counted as another. Oh, I think I would fail the examination!”
“I think an ordinary university student of Cambridge or Harvard would fail. However, my worry is not about how difficult the examination is, but how relevant. Excuse my language, but, what the hell is the value of knowing ten words beginning with X? They are all exotic entities that never appear in our daily use.”
“Christy, how is your boy doing? Charles is now K3 in the Countryside Kindergarten, right?”
“Hilda, your memory is fantastic,” the woman called Christy nodded, “To tell you the truth, I am slightly disappointed with the final examination of his kindergarten.”
“Why?” That Hilda asked.
“Let me take English as the example. Charles was asked to list ten words that begin with X.”
“My god! How’s that possible? I know only xylophone. Em… X-ray may be counted as another. Oh, I think I would fail the examination!”
“I think an ordinary university student of Cambridge or Harvard would fail. However, my worry is not about how difficult the examination is, but how relevant. Excuse my language, but, what the hell is the value of knowing ten words beginning with X? They are all exotic entities that never appear in our daily use.”
Friday, June 27, 2014
Anonymous
“That’s your paranoid idea.” Ada says. Her face turns dark red.
“Is it? We need to be paranoid when we are dealing with human beings.” Philo says to himself. For obvious reasons he says something different aloud, “Ladies, there is another philosophical reason for me to disagree with your plan of a bloody mantou. To put it simply, medicine should be anonymous. The patient would not know who provides the ingredients or who makes the remedy. He takes it and gets better. That’s it. However, in the scenario of mantou, there is no way to hide the source of the blood, which, in that case, could be bought or bribed.”
Sibella and Ada remain silent. They are trying to figure out what the man is getting at. However, Julia shakes her head again, “My friend, we could do very little to help our father. I know the suggestion of bloody mantou is silly and it would never be executed. All we want to do is to show our opinion and raise the concern for our father’s health.”
“In that case, are you implying that I agree to give up if I were going to agree with your suggestion?” The man says, “In that case, I beg to disagree again. I still believe there are something solid that we could do to make your daddy better. It is nothing more or less than a coward to express an opinion that would never work out and then walk away."
“Is it? We need to be paranoid when we are dealing with human beings.” Philo says to himself. For obvious reasons he says something different aloud, “Ladies, there is another philosophical reason for me to disagree with your plan of a bloody mantou. To put it simply, medicine should be anonymous. The patient would not know who provides the ingredients or who makes the remedy. He takes it and gets better. That’s it. However, in the scenario of mantou, there is no way to hide the source of the blood, which, in that case, could be bought or bribed.”
Sibella and Ada remain silent. They are trying to figure out what the man is getting at. However, Julia shakes her head again, “My friend, we could do very little to help our father. I know the suggestion of bloody mantou is silly and it would never be executed. All we want to do is to show our opinion and raise the concern for our father’s health.”
“In that case, are you implying that I agree to give up if I were going to agree with your suggestion?” The man says, “In that case, I beg to disagree again. I still believe there are something solid that we could do to make your daddy better. It is nothing more or less than a coward to express an opinion that would never work out and then walk away."
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Worry
Julia listens quietly and shakes her head, “My friend, you are too obsessive about the details. If you join us and choose one from the three, you are just putting up a gesture that you agree our daddy is ill and he needs some medicine.”
“That’s a strange statement to come from you, Julia,” Philo smiled, “As a barrister by training, you should know better than me that if I choose from your remedies, I am expressing more opinion than I am prepared to agree, and, I dare say, the actual content is something I disagree. As George Crabbe said, that was all wrong because not all was right.”
“Why are you against the idea of mantou in blood? It seems a fantastic treatment in theory. Do you have any evidence that it doesn’t work?” Siebella asks.
“No, but, on the other hand, I have no evidence that it works. Very few people had such a treatment in the past,” the middle age man says, “Well, my initial worry is a humble and tactical one. If that bloody mantou is really chosen as the treatment, each of you three will arrange your own medicinal bun for your father. That is, three in total! Not only would the old man find it difficult to tolerate, the effort against your evil brothers would be divided and whatever they decide to do would be unopposed.”
“That’s a strange statement to come from you, Julia,” Philo smiled, “As a barrister by training, you should know better than me that if I choose from your remedies, I am expressing more opinion than I am prepared to agree, and, I dare say, the actual content is something I disagree. As George Crabbe said, that was all wrong because not all was right.”
“Why are you against the idea of mantou in blood? It seems a fantastic treatment in theory. Do you have any evidence that it doesn’t work?” Siebella asks.
“No, but, on the other hand, I have no evidence that it works. Very few people had such a treatment in the past,” the middle age man says, “Well, my initial worry is a humble and tactical one. If that bloody mantou is really chosen as the treatment, each of you three will arrange your own medicinal bun for your father. That is, three in total! Not only would the old man find it difficult to tolerate, the effort against your evil brothers would be divided and whatever they decide to do would be unopposed.”
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Treatment
“But the lung problem is so obvious!” Sibella says. She is subconsciously clenching her teeth.
“I must say it is not that obvious to me,” Philo is not moved, “Well, let’s take it aside and consider the problem one level higher. That is, if your father really has an occult lung infection, is your bloody mantou a good treatment? For example, taking a good rest in a sanatorium of Davos may be a good choice.”
“No! Our daddy needs an active treatment. Medicine or injection or whatever.” Ada raises her voice further, “Staying in a sanatorium is not a treatment. It means waiting for death.”
Philo wants to say sanatorium is actually the standard treatment for occult lung infection in most of the developed countries. However, he understands this fact is not going to be welcome by the women in front of him, and he decides to change to focus slightly, “May be, or may be not, but my point is, if I choose from one of your three remedies, I imply I agree your diagnosis for Tobias is correct, and mantou with blood is the treatment of choice. But, as always, I am slightly skeptical with each of these statements.”
PS. For the true story of Davos’ sanatorium, go read The Magic Mountain of Thomas Mann.
“I must say it is not that obvious to me,” Philo is not moved, “Well, let’s take it aside and consider the problem one level higher. That is, if your father really has an occult lung infection, is your bloody mantou a good treatment? For example, taking a good rest in a sanatorium of Davos may be a good choice.”
“No! Our daddy needs an active treatment. Medicine or injection or whatever.” Ada raises her voice further, “Staying in a sanatorium is not a treatment. It means waiting for death.”
Philo wants to say sanatorium is actually the standard treatment for occult lung infection in most of the developed countries. However, he understands this fact is not going to be welcome by the women in front of him, and he decides to change to focus slightly, “May be, or may be not, but my point is, if I choose from one of your three remedies, I imply I agree your diagnosis for Tobias is correct, and mantou with blood is the treatment of choice. But, as always, I am slightly skeptical with each of these statements.”
PS. For the true story of Davos’ sanatorium, go read The Magic Mountain of Thomas Mann.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Considerations
The three girls turn silent. In no time they think Philo is inexplicable. Shortly afterwards, they make up their mind and consider the middle age man an ally of their malicious brothers.
As an expert of mind-reading, Philo could see through all these. He decides to explain himself a bit more, “Ladies, I would love to support and agree with you, but I’m afraid I can’t – unless I betray my own belief and judgement.”
“What do you mean?” Ada asks.
“My dear ladies, let’s consider the problem at hand step by step. First, your father is ill. I suppose we all agree with this, don’t we? The first question is, therefore, why is he ill?”
“It’s got to be a lung problem – an occult infection.” Sibella says at once.
“Is it the problem? Excuse me, I may have to play with words and go one step further. Is lung problem or occult infection the major problem? In fact, is it a problem? Yes, old Tobias has weak lungs, but his lungs are weak since he was a child. Is it the cause of his current illness?”
As an expert of mind-reading, Philo could see through all these. He decides to explain himself a bit more, “Ladies, I would love to support and agree with you, but I’m afraid I can’t – unless I betray my own belief and judgement.”
“What do you mean?” Ada asks.
“My dear ladies, let’s consider the problem at hand step by step. First, your father is ill. I suppose we all agree with this, don’t we? The first question is, therefore, why is he ill?”
“It’s got to be a lung problem – an occult infection.” Sibella says at once.
“Is it the problem? Excuse me, I may have to play with words and go one step further. Is lung problem or occult infection the major problem? In fact, is it a problem? Yes, old Tobias has weak lungs, but his lungs are weak since he was a child. Is it the cause of his current illness?”
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