Local vs International vs ESF schools

[East_coast]

But how are DSS different from international schools then?

DSS Schools get better scores in I.B. than their international school counterparts.

Is it because the IB programme is all about rote learning so it suits the local students?

[jmbf]

DSS Schools get better scores in I.B. than their international school counterparts.

Is it because the IB programme is all about rote learning so it suits the local students?

The IB, especially the PYP (Primary Years Program) is definitely not all about rote learning. It's primarily focused on 'inquiry-based' teaching and learning. However, the specific implementation of the program is very teacher dependent and there has been some criticism that there aren't enough properly trained IB teachers in HK.

[hgcsc]

IB nowadays is not as popular as in the past in HK since local high school system of years changed and undergraduate degrees in HK changed from 3 years to 4 years. IB is more difficult and complicated than the HKDSE, SATs and Australian High school curriculum. There are CAS and essays. IB schools and exams are much more expensive. You study the same thing in IB again in first year of colleges.

[HowardCoombs]

DSS Schools get better scores in I.B. than their international school counterparts.

Thats because they are extremely selecive.
Only top students get to do IB (not everyone) and the rest get to do HKDSE.
This has the obvious effect of inflating the IB scores.

By the same token, there are a few (not all, just a few) International schools doing the same thing for the sake of high averages.

Is it because the IB programme is all about rote learning so it suits the local students?

Good students do good -- no mystery here.

[Open Casket]

I don't have kids but I went to local HK schools.

Local schools- Easy English curriculum compared with ESF and International, less non-local teachers and students, VERY hard Chinese curriculum(it is not easy to get good grades even when the students speak Chinese as monther tongue, only the most talented students can excel), harder Maths and Sciences. Less open-minded local middle age teachers. Younger local teachers are more western-influenced in their teaching methods and relations with students.

And generally, local schools can be divided into EMI and CMI, with EMI schools(English as the medium of instruction) being much less in numbers, and attracting the families who are good in English to apply. English training for these kids start early and harder, as these educated parents want their kids to secure a place at the EMI schools.

International school students like to party more.
Have all sorts of students. Intellectuals, musicans, sports kids, not motivated, very rich or middle class.

Local schools. All sorts of local schools. Famous and not famous schools. Very smart to average students. Well behaved to bad teens. Goodlooking, fashionable to nerdy.

Do you mind me asking how much homework you were assigned & at what ages?

My kids friends, who attend local schools, do tons of homework (ages 5-9). Like 3 + hours a night plus tutoring. I'm not certain if that is the parents pushing that in order to keep up? Or mandatory school assignments?

Can you send your kids to local schools and let them be kids? At least until a certain age? Do 6 year olds really need to sit in class all day & then do homework all night on top of that?

Needs to be more of an emphasis on outdoor play & socializing at the younger ages. 30 min to an hour of homework is my opinion.

[HowardCoombs]

My kids friends, who attend local schools, do tons of homework (ages 5-9). Like 3 + hours a night plus tutoring. I'm not certain if that is the parents pushing that in order to keep up? Or mandatory school assignments?

Either its the parents piling on the pressure and extra homework on them
or
The kids are slow and not all that motivated.

We went thru traditional local schools. The 3 hours of homework + more is a myth.

Can you send your kids to local schools and let them be kids? At least until a certain age? Do 6 year olds really need to sit in class all day & then do homework all night on top of that?

Yes, you can and no they dont.

[Open Casket]

Kids need outside play time, very valuable to their social development.

Hong Kong prisoners get more exercise time outside than our schoolchildren, research reveals | South China Morning Post

[Andy SNK]

My son is 6, now he is in Primary 1 local school.
he gets 3-4 homework/worksheets each day, he needs max 1 hour to finish them though, as long as he concentrates because he knows that he can freely play after he finished them.
before school, he only can speak english. but now he also can speak cantonese and putonghua, i think it's one of the advantage of local school.
the school has tests from time to time, but we never pushed him to always be number 1 or anything, just be prepared and do your best. i think the pressure mostly comes from parents than the school itself.

[hgcsc]

Either parents or teachers who give kids homeworks.

Tiger parents will push their kids when they are not motivated.

Some kids are very motivated themselves. It is pretty sure parents around the world, Asian or Western, are very happy if they have such kids.

Either its the parents piling on the pressure and extra homework on them
or
The kids are slow and not all that motivated.

We went thru traditional local schools. The 3 hours of homework + more is a myth.

Yes, you can and no they dont.

Homeworks are not effective for HK high school students. You can be lazy for 3 years until a month before the HKDSE and still manage to enter uni. Most HK primary schools have a lot of homeworks but this policy does not mean all the students will become successful at the end of primary school and in high school. The better primary school students eventually goto "better" high schools and universities. Once in high schools, the differences in ability of different students in the same age group become much more visible. There are always better and not as good students in the same city.

It is the way teachers and parents value education traditionally in Asia. Keep doing something to better equip yourself and be competitive.

Do you mind me asking how much homework you were assigned & at what ages?

My kids friends, who attend local schools, do tons of homework (ages 5-9). Like 3 + hours a night plus tutoring. I'm not certain if that is the parents pushing that in order to keep up? Or mandatory school assignments?

Can you send your kids to local schools and let them be kids? At least until a certain age? Do 6 year olds really need to sit in class all day & then do homework all night on top of that?

Needs to be more of an emphasis on outdoor play & socializing at the younger ages. 30 min to an hour of homework is my opinion.

[Willow_321]

We went thru traditional local schools. The 3 hours of homework + more is a myth.

That's not what I heard from local parents. Some of them do more, way more than 3 hours. So I don't know what is really going here. Maybe your case is the exception rather than the rule or not representative of what local schools are like?