Kindergarten in Hong Kong

Do you know Hongkongers start fighting before they are 3 year-old?

No, we are not gladiators from some proud warrior races. I am talking about the competition brought by our education system. Pre-school education here, to be exact.

People are not kidding when they said “competition in Hong Kong is fierce”. If you want a successful life, you need to study in a prestigious school; if you want to study in a prestigious school, you will need to attend a good kindergarten…With this logic, everything traces back to “what you should do for your child when / before he is born”.

What is ridiculous is that people DO follow this logic. Parents have their children attend those “play groups” to learn how to socialize with others when they are only 10 month-old.

Then the kids (actually they are still babies) have to participate in those extracurricular activities like playing violin or piano, because that gives you bonus for the kindergarten interview. Some parents even have their child learn English, Mandarin and Japanese… at 3.

Then the parents enroll in the kindergarten like crazy. They don’t just enroll in 1 or 2 schools, but as many as possible. Like, 12, as suggested by some parents on the news.

It’s not over yet. When you have enrolled in that many schools, you have to prepare for and participate in all the interview. Overwhelmed by the stress and workload, some kids even refuse to speak to the interviewers, rendering everything pointless.

Poor kids… They are only 3, and this is only the beginning of their suffering.

All those work and preparation really put my job applications to shame. I guess that is why my job sucks and why I am so underpaid.