Letters | Teach Hong Kong students the art of debate, too, not just patriotism

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Hong Kong students take part in a flag-bearing competition in May. Patriotic values aside, Hong Kong should not overlook the importance of whole-person education. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 11:30am, 1 Dec 2023

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Recent proposed changes to the school curriculum emphasised the need to develop a sense of national pride and patriotism as well as an understanding of the Basic Law and the national security law. I believe that on top of these, the importance of whole-person education must not be overlooked.

In the past, the emphasis of whole-person education focused on the development of attributes and life skills, but past social unrest suggests that the art of communication should be given priority. Warren Chan Chee-hoi (retired QC and SC) believed that we must understand the views of both sides to resolve differences and establish a dialogue.

Dialogue must be based on mutual respect and the desire to communicate. Otherwise each side is just making a statement repeatedly and trying to reinforce his position with whatever available justifications.

Learning the skills of debate is important, since you never know which side (for or against) you might be assigned in a debate contest. It will therefore be desirable to introduce more debate components into the school curriculum, supported by parents and teachers who will act as good role models.

Students can benefit from developing communication skills through debate in the school curriculum, the mission of whole-person education will be better achieved and unnecessary misunderstanding will be avoided through meaningful dialogue. This is an ambitious but needed strategy – nurturing our students towards minimising confrontation, developing trust and respect, and better mutual understanding through dialogue.