TV debate reveals conflicting opinions over national education on

Yesterday morning’s TDM Forum highlighted conflicting opinions over the hot topic that is the imposition of national education in local schools, which has stirred up citywide debate over the past few weeks.
Among the six guest speakers participating in the discussion, half of them spoke in favor of the introduction of national education introduction – which many have described as a form of “brainwashing” by the central government.
They said that a country’s citizens should learn more about its national situation. However, lawmaker Au Kam San questioned whether the teaching materials compiled and published by the mainland would be reliable and objective, adding that a local independent body would be necessary to prepare local teaching materials for schools.
He also argued that nowadays there were many different media outlets disseminating information on current affairs based on the mainland that teenagers can access, stressing that the mission of educators is rather “to nurture citizens for the city, the nation and even the world.”
The head of the Macau chapter of the General Association of Chinese Students, Leung Chi Ho, cited the declining Chinese identity among local youngsters as a just cause for defending national education, claiming that the existence of this identity is “crucial” for youth to develop their career plans.
The director of Education Research Centre, Vong Sou Kuan, countered this claim, stating that national identity changes from time to time, and that it is too early to decide if it is really “declining” or not.
Ho Sio Kam, president of the Chinese Educators Association of Macau, believes that the rise of China on the world stage is itself a good reason to learn about what has been going on across the border.
The forum also heard supportive voices from citizens, with most of them criticizing the prevailing accusation that national education was “brainwashing” youths, saying that this view was biased. Some of the attendees said there was nothing wrong with being proud of one’s own country.
The main argument revolved around the teaching materials which would be adopted, which could address lots of issues regarded as sensitive in mainland China.