You think, therefore you are. . . What can students gain from tertiary education? This is a question that freshmen are asked to start thinking about thoroughly when they are in the orientation camps. Actually, under the present examination-oriented educational system, students really have no chance to think for themselves prior to tertiary education. As early as kindergarten, especially in the better-known ones, little children are deprived of their happiness and stuffed with complicated knowledge. Why? For nothing but seats at better-known primary schools. It’s the same story in primary and secondary schools. At all times, students are under tremendous pressure to fight for good results in public examinations. At times it seems like jungle warfare. During these years, every choice has to be made in a hurry. Should we choose the art stream or the science stream? Which faculty do we choose for tertiary education? Perhaps all these important decisions are made in a short time without deep thoughts. With the sole aim of pursuing good academic results, students spend 15 years — about one-sixth of their lives — engaged in the examination battles. Questions like what to achieve in the university, what to achieve in their lives, are always missing from their agendas. It seems that they are only working to meet the needs — the need for examinations, the need for higher education — but not their will, or perhaps even against their will. So tertiary education seems to be a golden period for them to think. These three precious years, a short period before they pursue their careers, should be a time to think about what to achieve, not only in the three years within the university, but also in the future after tertiary education. Through attending lectures, organising and participating in a great variety of activities, tertiary students should be able to find the answers for themselves.

October 1996

Return to contents