Reported by Fifi Tsui, Tomiris Urstembayeva
Edited by Katherine Li
It has been a busy thursday for 16-year-old student Derren Chan from La Salle College, one of the top five secondary schools in Hong Kong. After classes ended at 6:30 PM, he had his debate team meeting first, then came hours of the tutorial lessons where he finished his school work. When he went to bed, it was already 2 AM in the morning.
“I spend most of my time on my academics and the debate team. I leave home at 7:30 AM in the morning for school so I only sleep five to six hours per day,” said Mr. Chan, who is sacrificing sleep to strike a balance between his extracurricular activities and academics.
With full understanding that his stressful schedule is unhealthy for a teenager, he believes that his efforts are necessary for his future success, or more specifically, for his DSE exam which is a university entrance exam all local school students have to take to be granted entry to one of the eight Hong Kong universities.
“One examination will determine our future path,” he said, “so teachers and parents always tell us if we can’t get great results in the DSE, then we can’t get into a university and we can only do low-paying jobs like washing or sweeping. This is why most of us are doing our very best in order to get better results.”
Mr. Chan is not the only student facing the selective screening of the DSE exam. In 2018, only 42% out of 57,649 exam-takers passed the DSE. Among the ones who passed, only 35% were admitted to a university undergraduate program.
“DSE is a lot of pressure,” said Athena Lee, a 15-year-old student of Good Hope School whose class already started their preparation process, “Many seniors told me that more than half of 24 hours a day would be spent in self-study rooms, and studying non-stop like this is so stressful.”
The selective DSE exam and the high expectations placed upon youngsters face criticism from many different public sectors. Mr. Hui Hon-wing, a lecturer on education policy from the Education University of Hong Kong, said that the assessment method and societal expectations largely contribute to emotional problems among youths.
“I believed that the DSE should be replaced by something more practical. Our traditional examination system can only test one aspect of the student ability, which is not fair because not everyone is good at taking examinations. Our syllabus should be more related to our real life,” said Mr. Hui.
According to him, students who are not good at studying may feel that their future is doomed at a very young age because the education system indoctrinated the idea in parents and students that exam grades are everything, the society often limited their choice.
“It is a serious social problem when our society is not offering young people alternative choices. They all expect students to get into UGC funded programs of our eight universities, but what about their actual dreams and what about the students who simply aren’t good at taking exams? All this can accumulate to paramount emotional stress for young students and induce extreme behaviour,” he said.
Indeed, the suicide rate of full-time students aged from 15 to 24 increased to 76.1 percent in five years between 2012 and 2017 based on research conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention. The CSRP noticed that the proportion of students committing suicide with academic problems and psychiatric history has increased. Research done by City University in 2018 also identified almost a third of pupils aged between 10 and 14 in Hong Kong as having potential suicide risk.
HK Samaritans, a suicide prevention hotline which often receives calls from students, cites academic pressure and expectations as a key reason for student mental health crisis. Their suicide prevention hotline receives at least 100 calls for help every day.
“Many young people feel pressured for their examinations and their lives, so we have to provide more options not just focusing on academic results,” said May Ly, Project Consultant of the HK Samaritans, “This is not only about changing the education system but also changing the mindset of people in Hong Kong.”
She thinks that open communication and a strong support system between peers and family members are crucial in helping students get past academic related rough patches. When students go to her for help, she frequently hears them say that it is hard for them to express their feelings and harder for them to tell their parents that they cannot bear the pressure of life.
“They feel that if they cannot get good grades, then they will become a loser,” she added, urging the government to listen to young voices more when creating education policies.
Despite hoping for more leisure time to spend with friends, Mr. Chan is one of the fortunate students who are optimistic that he will have an ideal DSE result and will make it into a university. He aims at pursuing business, law or journalism as his university major.
“There are times when I fell asleep while doing homework, then woke up an hour later to continue,” said Mr. Chan, “I do get frustrated by the workload sometimes, but I know that this is my future. I have to do well in DSE and I have to go to university, so I have to persist.”
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