Talk:Canadian International School of Hong Kong
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Although the facility and the tour of Canadian International School are impressive, the way they handle application/admission is quite strange, especially for someone who just moved from the US to Hong Kong.
When I brought my 4 year old daughter for the "admission test," one of the staff said to the 7 4-year olds and their parents in the waiting room that, "there are only 3 spots open at the moment, but there are 7 of you here, so some of you will not be accepted." I was surprised the staff thought 4 year old wouldn't be able to understand such statement, or the impact of such statement to them was irrelevant.
After telling them that my daughter is a bit shy in new environment via prior email and phone communications, the staff mentioned above said to my daughter with loud voice in the waiting room, "Who is xyz?" My daughter was so scared that she hid behind me. The staff used the same volume and asked, "Oh, are you xyz?" Not to mention a 4 year old who is a bit shy, even an adult being asked these two questions in this manner will feel being intruded. My daughter was further scared at this point.
Among other things, the "admission test" involves putting the kid with 2-3 other kids and 2 teachers, so the teacher can observe the kids' "social interaction skills." I would think social skills at this stage should not be the test of the willingness of the kid to play with strange kids instantly, unless the Canadian International School only wants kids of extrovert by nature.
Of course, the school is entitled to screen and accept kids of certain profile they want. Hong Kong law permits that. My problem with the Canadian International School is that some of their staff lack the basic child development knowledge of how to interact with children of young age. They do not respect young children as people, but rather, some entities either fit or not fit into their profile of which they can churn into the statistics their school desires. Is the tail wagging the dog here? Or am I a naïve American mother who needs to better understand the school reality of Hong Kong?
Thank God there is another North American curriculum based international school in Hong Kong which practices (not just merely claims to have) the same early child-hood development philosophy we enjoyed in the States, and my daughter was screened there and accepted right away.
The reason I share this information here is to help parents who just moved to Hong Kong to be aware that in Hong Kong, private schools have their own agenda other than education. Being in a new environment, faced with seemingly similar but actually different reality, be sure of yourself and your children and your past value systems. In time, you will find the right school for your children, but what you see may not be what you get at the beginning.
[edit] Regarding statement on Screening
I would like to ask how old is that comment?
p.s. I was a student of CDNIS, so I'm concerned with the age of the statement.
Considering the fact that over 2000 students, including children of the same age are educated in the school and many graduate with, honors, it's quite interesting to see that your child didn't get in. I commend you for blaming a school whose screening processes have been unchanged since the past 10+ years, which allows students to live a proper lifestyle. The school should not take any blame for how badly raised your child was, especially when your child didn't get in.
~~Arithmetics~~ Post script: I personally think that you are a Naive American Mother. I've been through the test, and they accepted me right away. Children don't like it when adults treat them as f they're 100% human. I know many, many people who hated it, especially me. However, many students- especially the boys- are now very extroverted. The reason that CDNIS wants more extroverts instead of introverts is that an introvert has a bad social life, which will be a deadly affect to their future. Being shy is not being an introvert, though. Arithmetics 12:56, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
