忽視缺點

   Sample 2

Question

You read a news article entitled “New blood to our education system”, in which the writer put forward an idea of importing more Mainland students to Hong Kong. You think it is an important policy so you write a letter to the newspaper discussing its advantages and disadvantages. End the letter with your own view. Sign the letter “P. Tam”.

Letter:

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to an article entitled “New blood to our education system”. The writer proposes that we should import more Mainland students to Hong Kong. But what effects would this policy bring to society?

One big advantage of having more Mainland students in Hong Kong is the facilitation of cultural exchange between the two places. When students have more chances to meet young people from the Mainland, they would surely understand life there more. Likewise, the experience can open the eyes of the Mainland students.

Another benefit of this is that the general standard of Hong Kong students can be raised. By admitting outstanding Mainland students, we can have more role models for local students. Students can also learn from each other’s learning habits.

Despite all these, we should not overlook the drawbacks of this proposal. To begin with, this would definitely increase the workload of teachers. Imagine you were a teacher and there were a few Mainland students in the class. What would you have to do to meet their needs? Of course, there is a lot to work on to help these new students catch up with others.

Another point is whether it is wise to put extra pressure to students in Hong Kong. Our education system is highly competitive and exam-oriented. Implementing this policy is like having our students to compete with all the top students from the Mainland.

Clearly, then, we have to examine the possible outcomes of this proposal carefully before carrying it out. Nevertheless, it we can relieve the impact brought by this practice, having more elite students in our schools is a good phenomenon in our society.

Yours faithfully,

P. Tam