Ok, marriage is damn serious. Why get involved with it?

I had found that the metaphor of a dance for family or marriage is quite appropriate, from a book a read many years ago (家庭舞蹈 李維榕著)

How can you dance with a partner if you just concentrate on his steps (not even a move)? How can you dance with a partner who has never seen a great dance or enjoyed before? Tell me how, to dance with a partner who simply does not pick up the rhythm?

There is beauty in compromising, for the betterment in the futuuuuuuuure. But where is the future heading to? If this cannot be answered, all I see is two persons sacrificing their lifestyle, the way they wish to live their life, which is ultimately a humble amount of freedom left for oneself.

However I was a bit confused with the teaching in another subject. The reading list has not direct relations with the class we attended. The class activity is very much like secondary school with a worksheet to work on in groups followed by an oral report. The tutor does not provide guidance to link the teaching/ discussion in class with the reading material. For example, the reading for the first lesson is “complexity theory”; the class hardly cover any thing in this theory. In the forth lesson, the tutor asked if we have any difficulty in understanding the readings. A students raised the question about how he could relate the theory into current practice/ issue. The tutor told us that complexity theory is very complex. And if he can explain to us, complexity theory will no longer be a complexity theory. What a tautology!

Studying is always personal and subjective. I would suggest to take a progressive approach in study and expect the least from the bundle.

This week has a lot of reading to catch up. In order to contribute to the discussion next week, I research into various consultation papers by education department and education commission. This is much like going through the history of education in Hong Kong. A report called A Perspective on Education in Hong Kong by a group of visiting panel, is still affecting the education reform in Hong Kong after 28 years. This visiting panel was formed by 4 scholars from the west: U.K., Canada, Australia and West Germany. Their thinking in the 80s were so advanced that HK is still in the progress to realizing their suggestions.

The Wednesday class is called Managing Change in School. Prof. Pang loves to ask us to work on the worksheet then discussed in groups/ pairs. The latest worksheet is an interesting exercise – we are asked to list those idioms, adjectives, slang, or text we used in every day life or festive seasons about the theme ‘change’. A brilliant way to introduce the type of change he would like to discuss in the next lesson, though it is very retro compared to the 21st century teaching (using e-book, or possibly i-slate in the very near future)

What I’d like to share from last lesson is the list of competencies shared by those outliners in the high-value added industry for instance, I.T. and probably design.

1/ 主動性
2/ 合作性
3/ 能在團體中工作
4/ 朋輩間培訓
5/ 檢討
6/ 推理
7/ 解決問題
8/ 做決定
9/ 獲取和使用資料　
10/ 計劃
11/ 學習能力
12/ 掌握多元文化的能力　

（Levin 1997）

So how many do you get?

Most of the peers are school teachers (over 95%) which means I am the only one or two students who is not teaching in the full time job. I met a counseling officer in class which makes me so glad (forming a so-called 特別鉗). But having said that, the overall impression of the quality of faculty, curriculum design and peer exceeds my expectation. The latent benefit of being the minority in class is that I have much to learn from others and becoming more aware of the social and educational issues in Hong Kong.

Professional experience plus academic qualification equals to the credential of being a faculty member in tertiary education. Inevitably in the FED you would impose a higher expectation – they are teachers of the teachers. In Ed. Admin and Policy, the subject is divided into two parts, Policy (macro-level) and Administration (mirco-level) and is organized to be conducted by two faculty members. The subject coordinator, Dr. Lam is articulate and had organized the subject in a clear and easy-to-understand structure. She is precise in her teaching and eager to understand students’ underlying concerns everytime when they are raising a question. This makes a difference when one is delivering his/her teaching material one way versus in an interactive and engaging manner. I learn and at the same time feel the energy in the classroom.

Another faculty is a principal of 23 years, Dr. Cheung. Unlike many other senior management, he is intellectual and updated. He is willing to share his experience as the administrator in school and as a committee member of working groups/ task force. And you know a lot of key changes happened in the past 10 years, for instance, medium of instruction, school-based management & incorporated management committee, new senior secondary, small class teaching, inclusive education, teacher development, etc. which makes it utterly critical in education reforms in Hong Kong. Being in the roles that he is serving, he knows first-hand about the process of policy implementation to school level. At the same time he is able to relate the practice to theories which is an excellent fit to co-teach in this subject.

I took a message home by Dr. Cheung: Capacity, does not only refer to the credentials possessed by an individual, i.e. those qualification and professional experience one puts down in his/her CV, but attitude as well. I got a similar message from Howard Behar delivered in this book It’s Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks. Some people work for their CV, instead of serving the company, community, or their own values. I was thinking we are over emphasizing the magic of CV. A right attitude is more difficult to acquire.

I got admitted and start the first semester in spring (not many programmes has a second intake in the academic year). Not long ago, I have had my orientation with the teachers and fellow students. And very soon, I will be attending the first lesson.

There is no better time than now going back to school now: 10 years after my tertiary education and the marketing budget has been frozen until further notice. Once I have made the decision and execute it, I can find myself justifying it with multiple reasons to support my right doing. Despite the desire to pursue excellent in academics, I can’t help to compare and contrast the practice and teaching of the two institutes that I am acquainted with: a traditional and reputable university in Hong Kong and a applied research university.

From now on, I’d like to dedicate some entries of this blog to document the learning experience.

大機構可以如此涼薄.
同事之間的守望相助不再是必然.

今個晚上特別寧靜。

下午四時多回到家裡作最後的收拾，和家務助理吃晚飯。八時多在看了BOSTON LEGAL 第一季第一集後，時間尚早，再收掇收掇。重看以前留下的報紙、雜誌剪報，也有旅行時收集的印刷品。

想記下一些事情。

搬進來是小四。之前一直在灣仔與呀婆呀姨同住。生活環境改善了，有時也會懷念狹小斗室與家人關係的親密，那是我唯一做過的女皇，家裡的小霸王率性而為，跟回到母親的家是兩碼子的事。這裡是有discipline的。經過自由的生活後，我開始約束自己，電視機有開放的時間，作息時間也有指示。這是母親的一種教導方法：不是特別苛刻，不是過份寬鬆，對是中庸，像置富，像現在的我，母親定是用她認為最好的價值把我塑造。只有時間可以證明這是否最好。

母親是主內的，家裡的佈置是出於她的眼光和美術指導，滿有她的影子。父親主外，確保家庭的經濟穩定、風平浪靜。他所付出的是不容易給子女察覺，就如空氣於人，如水於魚，如造物者於人們一樣。

快會有自己的家，有不一樣的自由。重踏父母年青時的路，未來會有那些體會。我期待著。