Life after death. Not a delusion. Not a narrative fallacy. One can really exist after death. One's whole life can live on forever as memory in someone else's mind. Now one's whole life can live on physically everywhere with a presence to everyone. BBC carried an article in December on this subject. If you want to know the secret. Try read this link.
It started with a box of photographs. The author received it as a legacy from a dead member of the family. By going through the photographs, the whole life of the dead came alive in vivid memory. In the last ten years, photographs have completely gone digital. Now, instead of photo albums, we have a collection of digital images. Many advanced devices have emerged in the market for the entire collection of images of the life of a person to be archived and displayed in various ways.
We used to think of digital archives as something physical being stored in CD, DVD and harddisk. Such physical limitation is fading away as people are more reliant on the cloud to store information. The pace of the advance of such technology may be faster than you know. Take Facebook for example. Many people are uploading their daily activities with images and comments. You may not be aware that such data will remain in the cloud forever. In a few decades, when the present Facebook crowd die, their life will remain there for their friends to click on.
Many people are now gathering their life information digitally. Besides all the email your wrote, messages answered, comments made on anything, like clicked on everything, people are collecting what they hear by recording everything and what see by video imaging everything. All these actual construct of life are preserved in the cloud, backed up and duplicated many times over. With intelligent software, a personal profile from any angle can be constructed through data mining.
With such immortal life, there comes an issue of personal data privacy. Personal data privacy legislation at present does not cover dead persons. Even national secrets are open to the public after several decades of cooling period. So we can expect our life after death could be more transparent than our life while alive. Just imagine your surviving family members inherited your entire life together with all the secrets you kept from them. There are now talks on how to safeguard your data after death, which is an arrangement equally important to a will. Instead of the distribution of estate, digital information may be shared by everyone. So, if one wants to maintain a decent life after death, it may be necessary to start early and clean up your life record in the cloud. It will not be a easy task, because in IT term, deleting just means hiding temporarily.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
高危的聖誕節
在網上讀到一篇龔教授的文章，提出一個很有趣的問題，就是政府為什麼要警告大家聖誕節很高危。大人們苦口婆心，勸告大家在聖誕假期飲酒後不要開車、少女要小心意外懷孕、不要試食毒品等等；但在其他假期，主要的宣傳集中對付酒後駕駛。聖誕節究竟有什麼魔力，可以使更多人墮落？如果你想聽宗教解釋，可以到龔教授的網誌看看，問題竟然追源到約翰一書的條文。
聖誕節現時已差不多是全球假期，不論是教徒或是非教徒都會慶祝。聖誕節的起源是宗教節日，但現時宗教意味已大大減弱。剛看到管業處搞慶祝聖誕的節目，由早到晚，有遊戲、表演、小食、抽獎、拍照，有人唱平安夜已是最宗教的一環。聖誕節的主角現在是聖誕老人，不是耶蘇。昨晚電臺節目問如何渡過 聖誕，有教徒聽眾說當然是子夜彌撒。主持卻問他是否有教徒朋友聖誕假期選擇出外旅遊，他支吾以對，又說長假期難得，教徒在遊山玩水時都可能會找個教堂做聖誕彌撒卦。
面對非教徒慶祝聖誕，究竟應採取什麼態度呢？以宗教角度來看，應該是求之不得。世人需要教贖，能請人入教就無限積福。第一步當然就是宣揚聖經故事，但在十字架受死的情節有點驚嚇，而可愛的小耶穌就容易令人接受，所以聖誕節應是吸收教友最佳時機。但現時有另一說法，就是聖誕節其實是一個陰謀，是異教徒處心積慮對付基督教的行動。龔教授指出約翰在生的時代，即約公元七十年，羅馬人以暴力鎮壓人們慶祝聖誕。這並不準確，因為當時仍未有 聖誕節，而基督教是非法組織，任何集會都被鎮壓。公元七十年，猶太教起義，羅馬人將猶太聖殿連同整個耶路撒冷摧毀。現時的聖誕節理論是又有一股勢力要鎮壓聖誕，方 法是使宗教節日變為消費節日，其副作用是使人墜落。
不論你是否堅持要做彌撒，或是要消費買禮物美食和朋友慶祝，但是聖誕節的高危卻是真實的。慶祝聖誕真是達到一個瘋狂的程度，所有酒店餐廳酒吧都爆滿，很多青年都在搞私人派對，而子夜彌撒就是夜歸最佳藉口。這些場所都不足以容納瘋狂的人群；蘭桂坊就有二萬人站在街頭等運到，維港兩岸有二十萬人在流連，而當晚並沒有煙花可欣賞。我在聖誕前夕有音樂會，散場出來整個尖沙嘴都是年青人，他們站在街上閒聊，幾個小時無所事事。我有一個印象是大家都在等待有些事情發生，是好事或壞事都不重要。如果說城市論壇是交友平臺，聖誕節就是超級交友平臺，不論是新舊朋友或是好壞朋友。
聖誕節現時已差不多是全球假期，不論是教徒或是非教徒都會慶祝。聖誕節的起源是宗教節日，但現時宗教意味已大大減弱。剛看到管業處搞慶祝聖誕的節目，由早到晚，有遊戲、表演、小食、抽獎、拍照，有人唱平安夜已是最宗教的一環。聖誕節的主角現在是聖誕老人，不是耶蘇。昨晚電臺節目問如何渡過 聖誕，有教徒聽眾說當然是子夜彌撒。主持卻問他是否有教徒朋友聖誕假期選擇出外旅遊，他支吾以對，又說長假期難得，教徒在遊山玩水時都可能會找個教堂做聖誕彌撒卦。
面對非教徒慶祝聖誕，究竟應採取什麼態度呢？以宗教角度來看，應該是求之不得。世人需要教贖，能請人入教就無限積福。第一步當然就是宣揚聖經故事，但在十字架受死的情節有點驚嚇，而可愛的小耶穌就容易令人接受，所以聖誕節應是吸收教友最佳時機。但現時有另一說法，就是聖誕節其實是一個陰謀，是異教徒處心積慮對付基督教的行動。龔教授指出約翰在生的時代，即約公元七十年，羅馬人以暴力鎮壓人們慶祝聖誕。這並不準確，因為當時仍未有 聖誕節，而基督教是非法組織，任何集會都被鎮壓。公元七十年，猶太教起義，羅馬人將猶太聖殿連同整個耶路撒冷摧毀。現時的聖誕節理論是又有一股勢力要鎮壓聖誕，方 法是使宗教節日變為消費節日，其副作用是使人墜落。
不論你是否堅持要做彌撒，或是要消費買禮物美食和朋友慶祝，但是聖誕節的高危卻是真實的。慶祝聖誕真是達到一個瘋狂的程度，所有酒店餐廳酒吧都爆滿，很多青年都在搞私人派對，而子夜彌撒就是夜歸最佳藉口。這些場所都不足以容納瘋狂的人群；蘭桂坊就有二萬人站在街頭等運到，維港兩岸有二十萬人在流連，而當晚並沒有煙花可欣賞。我在聖誕前夕有音樂會，散場出來整個尖沙嘴都是年青人，他們站在街上閒聊，幾個小時無所事事。我有一個印象是大家都在等待有些事情發生，是好事或壞事都不重要。如果說城市論壇是交友平臺，聖誕節就是超級交友平臺，不論是新舊朋友或是好壞朋友。
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
直資危機
直資事件，昨日PAC開到第四堂聆訊，議員們繼續胡言亂語，問到不知所謂，為求上鏡只是拉布。以另一個角度看，直資事件是一個危機，而危機處理是管理學一個非常重要的課題。
衡工量值核數報告對直資學校來說不是危機。其中一些違規指控只是會計和技術性問題，可以即改即無事。但在教育局來說這個事件卻是危機，起碼要面對PAC和媒體指責。孫明揚統領大軍應戰，他非常老練，避重就輕。我覺得這是一個危機處理經典個案。
事件一揭開序幕，傳媒就大肆報導直資學校是魔鬼，無惡不作。教育局評估損害時，卻認清問題之所在、優次和輕重。直資學校是其天使寵兒，跟隨輿論讓直資學校分擔壓力和責任並非上策。一來如果和直資學校鬧僵對推行教育政策並無好處；二來就算直資學校被批，亦無助減輕教育局的壓力，反而背面受敵，壓力會加倍。
就我看來，教育局早已決定策略部署，在執行上亦做出理想效果。第一個考慮是衡工量值核數報告已充分曝光，應有的應對在和核數署交手時已完全準備妥當。核數報告通常在社會都有很大迴響，任何爭辯只是火上添油。PAC充分倚賴核數報告來作質詢，但核數報告亦是其唯一彈藥。所以我們看到孫明揚在 PAC聆訊的應對，是對核數報告的批評全部接受，認錯又承諾改善；但對任何核數報告以外的問題，所有教育局官員口徑一致，就是不清楚或沒有資料。這一個策略將危機範圍收縮到最少。
第二個策略是棄局保校。當各議員磨拳擦掌，希望將直資學校碎屍萬段時，孫明揚不止一次提醒各人核數報告的重點是教育局監管不力，而不是直資學校個別違規事件。換而言之，箭靶是教育局，而學校違規只是表徵。他直是邀請議員們向其發箭，當然教育局是政府一部分，百毒不侵，PAC報告譴責到最後 都是不了了之。反之違規學校沒有受到太大衝擊卻要感謝孫明揚。教育局對直資學校無牙力，但經此一役牙力就增加了不少。
第三個策略是要保衛整個直資界的聲譽，亦即是直資教育政策的完整性。經傳媒誇大報導，直資這個名字初期令人震驚。雖然有金漆招牌令家長嚮往，而金錢亦不是問題，但如果涉及欺詐就聲譽受損。教育局的策略是要孤立違規事件。每一次孫明揚對違規行為作出應對時，都必會加一句溫馨提示：就是核數報告只提及六間學校違規，但直資學校超過七十間，所以大部份直資學校都信譽良好，教育水平高，提供優質教育供家長選擇。
PAC聆訊已告一段落，相信塵埃很快落定，教育局辛苦了幾天，汗水是值得的，亦給大家上了一課有效的危機管理。市民是善忘的，直資學校會如常運作，當官津校都要縮班時，相信直資學校學位卻仍會供不應求，使更多學生可以接受優質教育。直資學校會公佈一向都有的學費減免計劃，但以學校聲譽和 學位緊張的情況看來，學費減免數目仍會供過於求，除非如議員建議降低申請要求，家長月入十萬都可以申請。
衡工量值核數報告對直資學校來說不是危機。其中一些違規指控只是會計和技術性問題，可以即改即無事。但在教育局來說這個事件卻是危機，起碼要面對PAC和媒體指責。孫明揚統領大軍應戰，他非常老練，避重就輕。我覺得這是一個危機處理經典個案。
事件一揭開序幕，傳媒就大肆報導直資學校是魔鬼，無惡不作。教育局評估損害時，卻認清問題之所在、優次和輕重。直資學校是其天使寵兒，跟隨輿論讓直資學校分擔壓力和責任並非上策。一來如果和直資學校鬧僵對推行教育政策並無好處；二來就算直資學校被批，亦無助減輕教育局的壓力，反而背面受敵，壓力會加倍。
就我看來，教育局早已決定策略部署，在執行上亦做出理想效果。第一個考慮是衡工量值核數報告已充分曝光，應有的應對在和核數署交手時已完全準備妥當。核數報告通常在社會都有很大迴響，任何爭辯只是火上添油。PAC充分倚賴核數報告來作質詢，但核數報告亦是其唯一彈藥。所以我們看到孫明揚在 PAC聆訊的應對，是對核數報告的批評全部接受，認錯又承諾改善；但對任何核數報告以外的問題，所有教育局官員口徑一致，就是不清楚或沒有資料。這一個策略將危機範圍收縮到最少。
第二個策略是棄局保校。當各議員磨拳擦掌，希望將直資學校碎屍萬段時，孫明揚不止一次提醒各人核數報告的重點是教育局監管不力，而不是直資學校個別違規事件。換而言之，箭靶是教育局，而學校違規只是表徵。他直是邀請議員們向其發箭，當然教育局是政府一部分，百毒不侵，PAC報告譴責到最後 都是不了了之。反之違規學校沒有受到太大衝擊卻要感謝孫明揚。教育局對直資學校無牙力，但經此一役牙力就增加了不少。
第三個策略是要保衛整個直資界的聲譽，亦即是直資教育政策的完整性。經傳媒誇大報導，直資這個名字初期令人震驚。雖然有金漆招牌令家長嚮往，而金錢亦不是問題，但如果涉及欺詐就聲譽受損。教育局的策略是要孤立違規事件。每一次孫明揚對違規行為作出應對時，都必會加一句溫馨提示：就是核數報告只提及六間學校違規，但直資學校超過七十間，所以大部份直資學校都信譽良好，教育水平高，提供優質教育供家長選擇。
PAC聆訊已告一段落，相信塵埃很快落定，教育局辛苦了幾天，汗水是值得的，亦給大家上了一課有效的危機管理。市民是善忘的，直資學校會如常運作，當官津校都要縮班時，相信直資學校學位卻仍會供不應求，使更多學生可以接受優質教育。直資學校會公佈一向都有的學費減免計劃，但以學校聲譽和 學位緊張的情況看來，學費減免數目仍會供過於求，除非如議員建議降低申請要求，家長月入十萬都可以申請。
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Cemetery Craze: A Christmas Carol
At this time of the cemetery craze, I re-visited Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and found a new version. Mr Scrooge was a wealthy man in the cemetery business. He was very mean in charging a high fee for a place in his cemetery. Poor dead people could not afford it and had to go to the sea. Rich dead people got to wait in long line, with their remains temporarily deposited in shelters. All these thanks to the ineffective city officials being unable to offer public cemetery. People everywhere objected to the land next to their home to be used as cemetery. In this small city, there was no land not next to anyone's home. Mr Scrooge was in good business with the limited and controlled tomb slots.
The night before Christmas, a spirit came to visit Mr Scrooge. He was the Ghost of the Christmas Past. It was never known whether this spirit was an angle or the devil, but he had miraculous power of time travel. He took Mr Scrooge back in time where the cemetery business was just a hole in the ground with or without a head stone. Dead people were buried and remembered for a while and were forgotten after a few generations. Cemetery places were reused over and over again, very ofter opened up for farming for food.
It was Mr Scrooge's great great great grandfather who started the cemetery business. Tombs were then decorated with fancy masonry work and expensive statues. If the families were rich and famous, the dead person could have a personal angel, or even a Saint as companion. Mr Scrooge wondered if the First Commandment forbade the worship of idols. The Ghost said the First Commandment was changed by the church. One needed to go to the original scripture to find out the real commandments. People now only read a simplified version of the Ten Commandments. Looking at the tombs of the past, Mr Scrooge now knew he was misled by his great-great, and that his cemetery business and the entire culture of burial was a reflection of manipulated religion.
The spirit changed face and became the Ghost of the Christmas Present. Mr Scrooge got to appreciate his successful business. Beautiful and expensive tombs were his most welcome product. However, this business was in a decline because cemetery land was getting scarce. Looking back, Mr Scrooge could not help stop admiring his own talent. Just like the expensive shop space, merchants were opening up smaller shops. Some professions had partners sharing one shop. The most clever merchants even demarcated their shops into several hundred boxes of show windows each selling different product. The ingenious Mr Scrooge did the same. He started the columbarium business where ashes of human remains were stored in small compartments. The business did not start lucrative as a small space could not sell much. But volume could compensate the small price. A small columbarium with a large number of spaces added up to good numbers. Then there was the columbarium implosion. No more land space was available for open burial, and also no more land space was available for columbarium. Mr Scrooge was on the good end of the implosion. His columbarium had suddenly become a monopoly. With elaborate decoration to suit all sorts of religions, an one square foot space could now sell for over one hundred thousand dollars.
The spirit took Mr Scrooge for a reality check. It was simple mathematics. People were dying everyday. Tomb space supply was cut almost completely. Public columbarium spaces were in short supply. Mr Scrooge's business could only serve a few rich dead people. So the big questions was, "Where have all the dead people gone?" Mr Scrooge went through the city to look for them. He saw hundreds and thousands of sacks of ashes of human remains lying on open-shelves of funeral parlors, shops, temples, quasi temples. He said to himself that this could be a gold mine for his business. But for the sheer number, it was actually an elephant that a small snake could never be able to swallow. He asked why people could not just take the ashes back home or just throw them to the sea. The spirit giggled. It was your faithful partners in the religion business who spread sacred and scary information that such things should never be done.
The spirit changed again into the Ghost of the Christmas Future. Mr Scrooge asked who were your actually. The spirit said had you not heard of the trinity. I was the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future, three was one. It was the future of the cemetery business that Mr Scrooge should take notice. First a projection to the future. There was a cemetery or columbarium crisis already. Dead people were not buried. Some rich dead people were fighting for a small number of spaces. For the people alive, or not dead yet, there were seven million in the city. They would all be dead in a few decades. If the current practice of keeping dead people around was not changed, at least in the next two generations, there would be twenty one million dead people before the end of the century. We would need a lot more columbaria all over the city. The government was trying to find space in all eighteen districts. It was a very small effort which could not solve the problem in the long term. It was just a political move trying to defuse the pressure from the districts.
The sky turned dark and Mr Scrooge was shown the worst scenario. Districts could not come to an agreement and all refused to accept a columbarium in the neighbourhood. People were stacking the remains of their ancestors at any shop available. The situation was out of control. The government had to declare martial law and confiscate a building at every street corner to be converted into a columbarium. This was met with severe opposition. People took to the street and riots were everywhere. Mr Scrooge asked one angry demonstrator, did you have the remains of your ancestor unburied? He answered, yes, but never in my neighbourhood.
The spirit said to Mr Scrooge, this might not happen if I could give you a messiah and save you from this disaster. He was a powerful person and people would listen to him. It was easy to accommodate these dead people if they were all packed into columbaria. Instead of offending everybody in all districts. He could declare the entire West Kowloon Cultural District to be the columbarium district. It aptly fitted the meaning of culture and the place could be put to an appropriate use, stopping all the quarrels in the arts community. Thirty different columbaria would be built for every religion imaginable. There would be an international contest of columbarium design. The finest architects of the world would be invited. The location of the West Kowloon Cultural District could be a solution in itself to the traffic problem. It could be accessed by road system, public transport, mass transit system as well as ferries. A centralized burning area could help the treatment of smoke. The whole place can be rounded up as a columbarium park. A cultural tour could be arranged for tourists. The fees collected could help maintain the park. If all were done well, it would be qualified to be declared an UN Cultural Heritage site.
Just when Mr Scrooge was thinking who else could be better than him to be the Chairman managing this invaluable park, the face of the spirit turned blue and revealed the devilish side. Not so fast, he said. No one in Hong Kong would allow that to happen and no messiah could help in any way. The columbarium crisis would go on. Not just the number of dead people was piling up, the population of Hong Kong would also keep on growing in the next few decades; until one day a catastrophe triggered by a small event caused the population to collapse. Then, everyone would care for his own live and no one would take notice of the dead people anymore. This day would occur well before the last judgment.
The night before Christmas, a spirit came to visit Mr Scrooge. He was the Ghost of the Christmas Past. It was never known whether this spirit was an angle or the devil, but he had miraculous power of time travel. He took Mr Scrooge back in time where the cemetery business was just a hole in the ground with or without a head stone. Dead people were buried and remembered for a while and were forgotten after a few generations. Cemetery places were reused over and over again, very ofter opened up for farming for food.
It was Mr Scrooge's great great great grandfather who started the cemetery business. Tombs were then decorated with fancy masonry work and expensive statues. If the families were rich and famous, the dead person could have a personal angel, or even a Saint as companion. Mr Scrooge wondered if the First Commandment forbade the worship of idols. The Ghost said the First Commandment was changed by the church. One needed to go to the original scripture to find out the real commandments. People now only read a simplified version of the Ten Commandments. Looking at the tombs of the past, Mr Scrooge now knew he was misled by his great-great, and that his cemetery business and the entire culture of burial was a reflection of manipulated religion.The spirit changed face and became the Ghost of the Christmas Present. Mr Scrooge got to appreciate his successful business. Beautiful and expensive tombs were his most welcome product. However, this business was in a decline because cemetery land was getting scarce. Looking back, Mr Scrooge could not help stop admiring his own talent. Just like the expensive shop space, merchants were opening up smaller shops. Some professions had partners sharing one shop. The most clever merchants even demarcated their shops into several hundred boxes of show windows each selling different product. The ingenious Mr Scrooge did the same. He started the columbarium business where ashes of human remains were stored in small compartments. The business did not start lucrative as a small space could not sell much. But volume could compensate the small price. A small columbarium with a large number of spaces added up to good numbers. Then there was the columbarium implosion. No more land space was available for open burial, and also no more land space was available for columbarium. Mr Scrooge was on the good end of the implosion. His columbarium had suddenly become a monopoly. With elaborate decoration to suit all sorts of religions, an one square foot space could now sell for over one hundred thousand dollars.
The spirit took Mr Scrooge for a reality check. It was simple mathematics. People were dying everyday. Tomb space supply was cut almost completely. Public columbarium spaces were in short supply. Mr Scrooge's business could only serve a few rich dead people. So the big questions was, "Where have all the dead people gone?" Mr Scrooge went through the city to look for them. He saw hundreds and thousands of sacks of ashes of human remains lying on open-shelves of funeral parlors, shops, temples, quasi temples. He said to himself that this could be a gold mine for his business. But for the sheer number, it was actually an elephant that a small snake could never be able to swallow. He asked why people could not just take the ashes back home or just throw them to the sea. The spirit giggled. It was your faithful partners in the religion business who spread sacred and scary information that such things should never be done.The spirit changed again into the Ghost of the Christmas Future. Mr Scrooge asked who were your actually. The spirit said had you not heard of the trinity. I was the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future, three was one. It was the future of the cemetery business that Mr Scrooge should take notice. First a projection to the future. There was a cemetery or columbarium crisis already. Dead people were not buried. Some rich dead people were fighting for a small number of spaces. For the people alive, or not dead yet, there were seven million in the city. They would all be dead in a few decades. If the current practice of keeping dead people around was not changed, at least in the next two generations, there would be twenty one million dead people before the end of the century. We would need a lot more columbaria all over the city. The government was trying to find space in all eighteen districts. It was a very small effort which could not solve the problem in the long term. It was just a political move trying to defuse the pressure from the districts.
The sky turned dark and Mr Scrooge was shown the worst scenario. Districts could not come to an agreement and all refused to accept a columbarium in the neighbourhood. People were stacking the remains of their ancestors at any shop available. The situation was out of control. The government had to declare martial law and confiscate a building at every street corner to be converted into a columbarium. This was met with severe opposition. People took to the street and riots were everywhere. Mr Scrooge asked one angry demonstrator, did you have the remains of your ancestor unburied? He answered, yes, but never in my neighbourhood.
The spirit said to Mr Scrooge, this might not happen if I could give you a messiah and save you from this disaster. He was a powerful person and people would listen to him. It was easy to accommodate these dead people if they were all packed into columbaria. Instead of offending everybody in all districts. He could declare the entire West Kowloon Cultural District to be the columbarium district. It aptly fitted the meaning of culture and the place could be put to an appropriate use, stopping all the quarrels in the arts community. Thirty different columbaria would be built for every religion imaginable. There would be an international contest of columbarium design. The finest architects of the world would be invited. The location of the West Kowloon Cultural District could be a solution in itself to the traffic problem. It could be accessed by road system, public transport, mass transit system as well as ferries. A centralized burning area could help the treatment of smoke. The whole place can be rounded up as a columbarium park. A cultural tour could be arranged for tourists. The fees collected could help maintain the park. If all were done well, it would be qualified to be declared an UN Cultural Heritage site.Just when Mr Scrooge was thinking who else could be better than him to be the Chairman managing this invaluable park, the face of the spirit turned blue and revealed the devilish side. Not so fast, he said. No one in Hong Kong would allow that to happen and no messiah could help in any way. The columbarium crisis would go on. Not just the number of dead people was piling up, the population of Hong Kong would also keep on growing in the next few decades; until one day a catastrophe triggered by a small event caused the population to collapse. Then, everyone would care for his own live and no one would take notice of the dead people anymore. This day would occur well before the last judgment.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
直資天使
直資這個兩面神，二位一體，左看是魔鬼，右看是天使。天才通常都有魔鬼性格，放任不覊，自把自為，不過天才有才華有貢獻，自然有人擁戴。天使因循守規矩，令人景仰，最符合官僚制度要求：開支合符守則，不濫收費用，尊敬監管行為，操行一百分。
直資是教育撥款制度，不是教育本體。直資學校是魔鬼還是天使，最終都是學生品質。家長以子女教育福祉為本，教育質素學業成績壓倒一切，學費不是問題，學校的名聲地位更重要，那怕政府額外的撥款管理如何，直資直情就是天使。
下面左丁山心水清，可以撥開傳媒嘩眾取寵的煙幕，直達直資和家長的核心價值。現實和真相說明一切。儘管議員們在鏡頭面前咬牙切齒，家長們對直資仍是趨之若鶩。要解決教育撥款的憂慮，學劵制可能又要翻出來再檢視。如果教育界的紳士都不能被信任，不如將錢交由學生發落，自由選擇學校以使用政府資助，學校們就只以辦學成績競爭，亦是一個教育新局面。
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家長愛直資
2010年12月09日
審計署痛批直資學校，令好多人認為直資學校管理一塌糊塗，浪費公帑，人人得以誅之。評論員盧子健嘅立場素來中間偏左，認為直資學校理念係右傾思想之延伸，應該重新檢視。傾左思想人物之所謂檢討、檢視，離不了加強監管又監管，盲目迷信政府監管能力，更誤以為得把口嘅議員可以指導教育運作。實則教育局官員已經有太多監管工作要做。例如管教改、管課程、管教師校長升遷、管學校維修、掌控課本審核大權，仲要管埋課本售價（表面不理，背後施壓），總之全港學校嘅事情，不分大小，教育局都有權管，就因為管得太多，如趙丹所言：「管得太死沒希望」，前教育局雙星李國章與羅范椒芬先至推行直資學校，希望為管得太死嘅社會主義辦學政策，稍為鬆綁，給香港教育帶來新希望。
審計署批評直資學校之要點，大都並非原則性，而是行政技術問題。除咗真道書院竟可委託校長買樓作教師宿舍，比較離譜之外，其他審計署眼中之缺失，係好容易改正嘅啫，如果因此而提到盧子健眼中之「右傾思想之延伸」，實在比較誇張，可能係左傾知識分子對直資學校之出現，心有不甘，想藉審計署之報告，乘機反撲。
盧子健認為應該加強監管，左丁山就認為應該更加放寬，為廣大學子着想，推行學券制，讓清貧學生憑學券叩門，進入直資學校。左傾精英每每以為思想高人一等，可以憑中央規劃、策劃就解決教育及貧富問題，實則市民集體智慧先至反映市場現實，譬如直資學校最近俾人鬧到一面屁，家長卻不以為然，直資學校仍然大受歡迎，懶理審計署講乜。黃竹坑嘅港大同學會書院在上星期六舉行中一收生簡介會，就有五百名家長出席，一位家長對記者講，「作為家長只看成績」，會考慮埋真道書院添！港大同學會書院校監李黃眉波話該校在2012年先至有第一屆畢業生，故此校董會內無校友代表，審計署點解唔知道，就批評呢？可算笑話一宗。孫明揚局長在立法會講，佢對直資學校冇牙力。真好彩，佢有牙力嘅話，直資學校與一般津貼學校有乜唔同？ （左丁山）
**********
直資是教育撥款制度，不是教育本體。直資學校是魔鬼還是天使，最終都是學生品質。家長以子女教育福祉為本，教育質素學業成績壓倒一切，學費不是問題，學校的名聲地位更重要，那怕政府額外的撥款管理如何，直資直情就是天使。
下面左丁山心水清，可以撥開傳媒嘩眾取寵的煙幕，直達直資和家長的核心價值。現實和真相說明一切。儘管議員們在鏡頭面前咬牙切齒，家長們對直資仍是趨之若鶩。要解決教育撥款的憂慮，學劵制可能又要翻出來再檢視。如果教育界的紳士都不能被信任，不如將錢交由學生發落，自由選擇學校以使用政府資助，學校們就只以辦學成績競爭，亦是一個教育新局面。
**********
家長愛直資
2010年12月09日
審計署痛批直資學校，令好多人認為直資學校管理一塌糊塗，浪費公帑，人人得以誅之。評論員盧子健嘅立場素來中間偏左，認為直資學校理念係右傾思想之延伸，應該重新檢視。傾左思想人物之所謂檢討、檢視，離不了加強監管又監管，盲目迷信政府監管能力，更誤以為得把口嘅議員可以指導教育運作。實則教育局官員已經有太多監管工作要做。例如管教改、管課程、管教師校長升遷、管學校維修、掌控課本審核大權，仲要管埋課本售價（表面不理，背後施壓），總之全港學校嘅事情，不分大小，教育局都有權管，就因為管得太多，如趙丹所言：「管得太死沒希望」，前教育局雙星李國章與羅范椒芬先至推行直資學校，希望為管得太死嘅社會主義辦學政策，稍為鬆綁，給香港教育帶來新希望。
審計署批評直資學校之要點，大都並非原則性，而是行政技術問題。除咗真道書院竟可委託校長買樓作教師宿舍，比較離譜之外，其他審計署眼中之缺失，係好容易改正嘅啫，如果因此而提到盧子健眼中之「右傾思想之延伸」，實在比較誇張，可能係左傾知識分子對直資學校之出現，心有不甘，想藉審計署之報告，乘機反撲。
盧子健認為應該加強監管，左丁山就認為應該更加放寬，為廣大學子着想，推行學券制，讓清貧學生憑學券叩門，進入直資學校。左傾精英每每以為思想高人一等，可以憑中央規劃、策劃就解決教育及貧富問題，實則市民集體智慧先至反映市場現實，譬如直資學校最近俾人鬧到一面屁，家長卻不以為然，直資學校仍然大受歡迎，懶理審計署講乜。黃竹坑嘅港大同學會書院在上星期六舉行中一收生簡介會，就有五百名家長出席，一位家長對記者講，「作為家長只看成績」，會考慮埋真道書院添！港大同學會書院校監李黃眉波話該校在2012年先至有第一屆畢業生，故此校董會內無校友代表，審計署點解唔知道，就批評呢？可算笑話一宗。孫明揚局長在立法會講，佢對直資學校冇牙力。真好彩，佢有牙力嘅話，直資學校與一般津貼學校有乜唔同？ （左丁山）
**********
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Cutting classes in DSS schools
A very simple fact: There are not enough students to fill all Form One places. In a free market, it happens all the time. Demand and supply never exactly match. The free market mechanism will auto-adjust. Some schools will get enough students and some will not. Those do no will not survive and thus supply falls, leading to a temporary equilibrium.
Education is not a free market when government intervenes and provides free education. When supply exceeds demand as in the present situation, resources just go to waste. Some naive legislators said with an intention that excess supply will improve education as more teachers will be looking after fewer students. EO know best because we work with efficiency, effectiveness and economy in mind. There is an optimum manning scaling for a task. Understaffed team will not perform well. Overstaffed team will also not performed well with excess resources wasted.
The most famous case a few years ago is the Tai O Primary School which fought school closing by demonstration at EDB. It turned out that the entire student population of the school was only 40 with P2/P3 and P4/P5 sharing one class. A total of 25 school staff were caring for 40 students. The school was eventually closed with students sent to Tung Chung Primary School, about 40 minutes bus-ride away.
To kill or not to kill; that is the question. EDB prefers not to kill (schools) but to kill (classes). This may be a way out, but the pain is now felt by every school instead of a few bad schools.
How about the free market of the private schools? Business is as usual. Those good ones still get good students while the bad ones not getting enough.
Then we come back to DSS schools. Which market are they in? With promised freedom, they think they are private schools and can open classes as they wish as long as there are students. In any case, subsidy are received per student count. The truth is that DSS schools are on higher ground attracting rich students, who are in ample supply in Hong Kong. They are not worried a bit about not getting enough students. Thus this part of public fund on free education is not helping share the pain of decreasing student population.
On way EDB can do is to cap the direct subsidy to number of students. When a class is to be reduced, the cap can be correspondingly lowered by the same student numbers. I wonder if the EDB officials have ever considered this.
Education is not a free market when government intervenes and provides free education. When supply exceeds demand as in the present situation, resources just go to waste. Some naive legislators said with an intention that excess supply will improve education as more teachers will be looking after fewer students. EO know best because we work with efficiency, effectiveness and economy in mind. There is an optimum manning scaling for a task. Understaffed team will not perform well. Overstaffed team will also not performed well with excess resources wasted.
The most famous case a few years ago is the Tai O Primary School which fought school closing by demonstration at EDB. It turned out that the entire student population of the school was only 40 with P2/P3 and P4/P5 sharing one class. A total of 25 school staff were caring for 40 students. The school was eventually closed with students sent to Tung Chung Primary School, about 40 minutes bus-ride away.
To kill or not to kill; that is the question. EDB prefers not to kill (schools) but to kill (classes). This may be a way out, but the pain is now felt by every school instead of a few bad schools.
How about the free market of the private schools? Business is as usual. Those good ones still get good students while the bad ones not getting enough.
Then we come back to DSS schools. Which market are they in? With promised freedom, they think they are private schools and can open classes as they wish as long as there are students. In any case, subsidy are received per student count. The truth is that DSS schools are on higher ground attracting rich students, who are in ample supply in Hong Kong. They are not worried a bit about not getting enough students. Thus this part of public fund on free education is not helping share the pain of decreasing student population.
On way EDB can do is to cap the direct subsidy to number of students. When a class is to be reduced, the cap can be correspondingly lowered by the same student numbers. I wonder if the EDB officials have ever considered this.
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