By Dr. Kevin Lau
I just watched the opening ceremony of the 31st World University Summer Games held at the main stadium of Dong'an Lake Sports Park in Chengdu, Sichuan. Although the competitions have not yet begun, I can already imagine the excitement and immense sense of national pride on the faces of the athletes and their supporters when they wrap themselves in the national flag and take a lap around the field after winning the championship.
Key Point 1: Patriotic education is a matter of course
I have friends whose children study in the United States, where schools emphasize strict and patriotic education. Their mission is to cultivate educated and patriotic young leaders for the country. In American schools, instilling patriotism and a sense of civic responsibility in students is an essential part of character education. Schools require students to recite pledges of allegiance to the country and their respective states every morning. The schools promise that when students graduate, they will feel optimistic about the future of the country and take pride in being citizens. The same is true in the Philippines. My family's domestic helper told me that her child sings the national anthem at school every day, and she considers it a matter of course.
Key Point 2: Patriotism education should not be demonized
At the end of June, a fourth-year student from Pui Kiu Middle School wrote a letter to President Xi, reporting on their participation in the burial ceremony of the remains of Korean War martyrs and their interactive exchange activities with astronauts in the Tiangong Space Station. Recently, President Xi replied to all the students and the content was read out by the Director of the Liaison Office, Zheng Yanxiong. In his reply, President Xi encouraged the students to deepen their understanding of the national situation and the global development trend. He affirmed that the students have deeply experienced the sense of pride as Chinese, emphasized that patriotism is the core of the Chinese national spirit, and hoped that the students would cultivate a profound sense of national pride and become pillars of society, shouldering the responsibility of building Hong Kong and serving the country.
Upon comparison, it can be seen that President Xi's reply is consistent with the education in American schools. The goal is to cultivate students into young leaders full of patriotic spirit. In fact, every country has the right to instill patriotic education in the younger generation, and conducting patriotic education in schools is not exclusive to certain countries. It is completely unacceptable to glorify patriotic education in certain countries while demonizing it in others. If China, the United States, the Philippines, and Hong Kong can all have patriotic education, or if the content of patriotic education differs among China, the United States, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, and Chinese and Hong Kong people can love China, Americans can love the United States, and Filipinos can love the Philippines, then of course it can be done. But if it is said that the United States and the Philippines can have patriotic education, but Hong Kong cannot, then that is absolutely wrong. Patriotic education is allowed to "set fire by state officials" in foreign countries, but in Hong Kong, "the common people are not allowed to light lamps". What kind of reasoning is this?
Key Point 3: Start with education
Whether young people in Hong Kong have the opportunity to comprehensively and systematically understand Chinese history, the national conditions, and the current development status, whether they hold correct national concepts, and whether they can integrate into the overall development of the country and seize the infinite opportunities brought by national development to shoulder the heavy responsibility of building Hong Kong's future, largely depends on whether schools and teachers are imparting them with correct national concepts. In addition to incorporating elements of patriotic education into the curriculum, I believe it is also crucial to comprehensively enhance the training level of in-service teachers and prospective teachers and strengthen training activities related to patriotic education. Only when teachers themselves have personally experienced the country's development and have a full understanding of the country can they improve their ability to implement patriotic education within schools.
The author is a specialist in radiology with a Master of Public Health from the University of Hong Kong, and an adviser of Our Hong Kong Foundation.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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