Recently blogging has been a really hit topic among the main stream media in Hong Kong. Among all the report, some of them really gave me quite a shock, especially the comments on blogging by the “educators”: they claimed that blogging de-escalate students’ language skills and blogs are dangerous place where rumours and filthy ideas can spread freely.
Well, let me tell you what:
- Blogging does NOT de-escalate students’ language skills. Internet language did NOT come out from blogging - they are a legacy of instant messenger i.e. ICQ, MSN, etc. PLEASE look around yourself, none of the reputable blogs (e.g. Boing Boing, Tech Crunch) are written in the so-called UFO-language. It is only because the UFO-language was so popular since IM has arrived the planet and that it’s been influencing the student’s writing ALL THE WAY LONG. PLEASE recall your memory, students started writing in UFO-language WAY BEFORE blogging has become popular in HK.
- Oh please oh please, SCHOOLS - while the government can’t forbid their citizen’s right to blog, you certainly do NOT have the right to forbid your students from blogging, neither do you have the right to control on their blogging materials (unless the material is offensive). That is part of our freedom of speech as a HK citizen. You do NOT want to appear in your students’ eyes as a hypocrite, do you? Then don’t teach your students about freedom of speech on a EPA class, and punish your students outside the classroom just because they are posting pictures of themselves in their school uniform (which is completely morally acceptable if I haven’t been clear).
- Preventing students from blogging does NOT make you look good in any way. There is no way that teachers could stop their students from blogging. If you are arrogant enough to think “Why not? This is ridiculous, I could just make up a school rule that says ‘NO BLOGGING’.” Well, then, congrulations, you have just made to the top of the list that people I’d like to kill. Forbidding students from blogging is stupid, as blogs are all over the place. It is how people express their ideas, it is how ideas exchange and flow. If you are going to forbid your students from blogging, are you going to forbid them from reading blogs as well? If yes, you have just taken away zillions of learning opportunity from yours students. If no, please tell me how exactly will it work - the system of blogging basically relies on the blogger, and the feedback from the commentators. If either side is missed, the system will shrink. Moreover, why not take this an opportunity to educate them about responsibility instead? Setting school rule is NOT a solution. I repeat, SCHOOL RULE IS NOT A SOLUTION.
PLEASE, the so-called educators that has a tiny intention in preventing their students from blogging, make use of your remaining skills in critical thinking (which you might have developed while you were in university) before taking any action: Are you doing this for the ultimate good for your students, or just merely for some non-sense, intangible junk named ’school reputation’?
If so, I am sorry I’ve been bugging you for this blog, but I don’t give a shit about what you value.
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Hong Kong, blogging, freedom of speech, education
2 Comments
this is insane! i do think writing blog is good for everyone, so everyone have their say thru the net! I totally agreed with what 譚劍 had said in his blog– creativity and critical thinking skills will undoubtedly gone among the youngsters! I can’t even write and do my own criticism? Do i have to do whatever these teachers tell me to do withing thinking it? Is the world of grown ups always right? Haha, i don’t think so. I mean it… a critical mind is what HK young ppl need..and i do think writing and reading blogs will open their eyes to different knowledges! Blogging is good as long as people won’t write offensive stuff on their blogs. AND.. most importantly…HK students have a bad language skill has been a reality for ages, right before the invention/popularity of blogging…. So… I think the educators should think about what they could do to help these young people, but not just by saying ‘blogs are bad for you! kiddies!’
Great! This is one of the few English-language blogs from HK ppl (I mean, Chinese Hong Kongers).
I figured that quite a few of my HK friends whom I met at uni have poor English skills (although my grammatical skills aren’t that good too and I was raised in Melb) and they don’t even read blogs. Blogs on the other hand are ideal for language improvement. So why prevent it? Instead, schools should encourage students to blog and post their own creations.