Bizcuits | Not that word again – “talents”

Leanda Lee

The school attrition problem hasn’t gone away. The rate students leave school since it became a topic of public commentary in 2005 has been attributed to society’s socio-economic structure: namely, parents not being able to care for children due to casino shift-work, the attraction of good gaming salaries, Macau’s temptations, and academic competition putting weaker students under pressure and often kicked out of aspirational schools. The problem was further highlighted in 2011 and yet again parents having less time to care for their children was mooted as a major cause for concern. This last week, yet again the finger has been pointed at parents for inattention to their child’s education (MDT 25 May, DSEJ intends to penalize parents of school dropouts).
The salary attraction was supposed to have been ameliorated by increasing the minimum age of a casino worker to 21 years and the establishment of support services for dropouts. Mind you, high-­school drop-outs would mostly be under the age of 18 anyway, so the regulatory restriction could only really encourage continuation into tertiary education.
The Ten Year Plan for the development of Non-Tertiary Education (2011-2020) states the aims of Macau’s education program are the development of “high quality education, nurturing talents and improving the overall quality and competitiveness of residents.” “Talents” as used here and elsewhere in Macau’s English-based vernacular denotes “knowledgeable and skilled individuals”, usually workforce fodder. Although generally against socio-linguistic prescriptivism, particularly when use of a word becomes such common place, I rail against the way we use “talents”; and it’s not just meaningless academic obsessiveness for definitions. Words have a way of connoting values; they tell others how we think about things.
We each have the capacity to develop talent (“talent” as in attribute); people are not talents (“talents” as in Macau’s idiosyncratic word for better skilled workers). And, “having a talent” doesn’t mean canoodling with your employee.
Macau’s almost exclusive use of the word to mean ‘human resources as inputs of production into our present and future economy’ is limiting and undermines the intent and good work of many in education and in the unfortunately named Talents Development Committee. Education and human development is not just about building “Macao into a World Tourism and Leisure Centre” or to “promote appropriate diverse economic development” by “enhancing residents’ working ability”. We seem to be overly focused on “building up human resources” for “sustainable (economic) development of Macau”. The recently announced joint research project (MDT May 27) by four local tertiary institutions into the five dominant industries, the findings of which will help guide the Talents Development Committee agenda, although fundamental for economic development, is insufficiently broad in scope if we are really talking about ‘talent’ and not just vocational skills and knowledge as economic inputs.
The idea that education is equally important for the development of healthy “physical and mental qualities” and various types of human capital (e.g. moral, social, creative) is still in its infancy in Macau and glaringly low on the agenda.  As an aim, artistic accomplishment is actually included in the Ten Year Plan but clearly telling of Macau’s economic-capital mindset is the plan’s first stated requirement of parents: “financial security for their children’s schooling” – a limited view of investment. Ironically we bemoan students “dropping out” to earn good money: monkey see, monkey do.
In a UMAC study, teachers blamed part-time work as one major cause of absenteeism, tardiness and lack of educational motivation; all major predictors of dropping out. Poor academic performance and family structure, although risk indicators, are not as important as just not showing up. Blame not parents, but society’s values.
Missing in this discussion is awareness of the many pathways to a rewarding life and career. Good academic grades leading to tertiary education thus feeding into good jobs in the top 5 industries are a very limited set of valid life goals. Each student has his or her own skills and talents; but it takes a special kind of open, nurturing environment to determine what these are, know how to encourage and develop them – if necessary, outside the traditional school system – and to value and find a place for each in society.