Li Po Chun United World College
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Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong (香港李寶椿聯合世界書院), established in 1992, is one of the United World Colleges.
The UWC movement was initiated by the German educationalist Kurt Hahn with a view in promoting international understanding and post-World War II reconciliation in response to the general animosity and revolutionary zeal in the age of the Cold War.
The published exit statement for the College states that "Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong brings together students from all parts of the world to study, live and grow together. Following the educational philosophy of Kurt Hahn and the UWC movement, students are encouraged to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zones in every area of their formation, and to go forth into the world as responsible and compassionate young men and women, committed to putting into practice the ideals of peace, internationalism, justice and excellence in all things."
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[edit] Admissions
The school admits students both from over 80 countries[1] and from many local Hong Kong schools. The student body is made up of roughly 40% local and 60% overseas students.
While "overseas" students are selected by the national committees of their home countries, Hong Kong students (or "local students") are chosen by a selection committee appointed by the Home Affairs Bureau. Hong Kong selection has 3 rounds. The first is solely applications, then from those applications a group of students are chosen to participate in "Challenge Day." Challenge Day consists of group activities and is organized by teachers and students, the next group of students are chosen from the Challenge Day feedback and finally there is one informal interview.[2] Students generally receive financial assistance on a means-tested basis.
[edit] Academics
Students at the College undertake a 2-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The classes offered in each Group are as follows (in alphabetical order):
Group 1 Chinese A1 (HL, SL) English A1 (HL, SL) Spanish A1 (HL, SL)
Self Taught A1 Language (Any other language) (SL only)
Group 2 Chinese A2 Chinese B Chinese ab initio (SL only) French B French ab initio (SL only) Spanish B (if numbers permit) Spanish ab initio (SL only)
Group 3 Chinese Studies (SL only) Economics (HL, SL) Geography (HL, SL) History (HL only)
Group 4 Biology (HL, SL) Chemistry (HL, SL) Environmental Systems (SL only) Physics (HL, SL)
Group 5 Mathematics (HL, SL) Mathematical Studies (SL only)
Group 6 Theater Arts (HL, SL) Visual Arts (HL, SL)
Theory of Knowledge A requirement for the IB diploma, each student attends a TOK class for one year about half as often as any other class, is required to make a formal TOK presentation and in the 2nd year write a paper on one of the topics/questions given by the IBO.
[edit] Quan Cai
The CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) program is a part of the requirements for an International Baccalaureate diploma. It requires a set number of hours in each of the 3 areas. Li Po Chun's adaptation of this system is called the "Quan Cai" program(meaning "all-round development" in Chinese).[3] The program has 4 components, community service, creativity, action and campus support. The services are unique in that students sign up for a service for an entire year, while the other 3 activities are generally only 1 term (half a year) activities. A student is required to officially participate in 4 terms of service, 3 of campus support, 2 of action and 1 term of creativity in their 2 years at LPC. Therefore a first year student in the firs term has 4 activities (one of each) then in the 2nd term only 3 (not required to have a Creativity), and so on and so on. It is designed in this way so that as work load increases from the beginning of the 1st year to the end of the 2nd, other commitments such as Quan Cai activities will decrease.
All areas of the Quan Cai program are to be taken seriously, but generally the most emphasis is placed on the community service aspect. Community services include a variety of projects ranging from helping asylum seekers, to visiting nursing homes and aiding the elderly, helping underprivileged children with schooling and the lending of facilities to services outside of Hong Kong such as Initiative for Bastards and GCAT. The school also competes in most of the sports available as Quan Cais. This includes soccer, basketball, athletics, volleyball and badminton. Occasionally there will be exceptionally talented athletes who may compete individually for the school in sports such as squash. These requirements add to a student's complete, well-rounded development. The flexibility of the Quan Cai program allows students to start new activities (called an "initiative") at any time, and if successful the school adopts the activity, making it official.
[edit] Other On Campus Activities
Global Issues Forum Every Thursday there is a presentation made by students about global and local affairs. Generally the students presenting are from the areas involved or are highly knowledgeable about the subject. Not only is it a chance for community members (students, teachers, principals) to learn about events and issues world wide from invaluable sources, but it is also a venue for the sharing of diverse political perspectives, and more often than not debate. The object is to create an atmosphere of international awareness and motivate students and teachers to learn and keep track of current events that will impact the world and to understand past events that have shaped it.
Cultural Evenings Four times each year, the college is home to cultural evenings, in which all students from a particular geographical region combine efforts to put on a performance showcasing different elements of their cultures. Typically the evenings involve performances, songs and dances as well as a special dinner with food from the region. The cultural evening regions are divided up into seven blocks:
- African Cultural Evening
- Asia-Pacific Cultural Evening
- Chinese Cultural Evening
- European Cultural Evening
- Latin American Cultural Evening
- Middle Eastern/South Asian Cultural Evening (Used to be separate evenings but were merged in 2006), and
- North American Cultural Evening. (Including the Caribbean)
The Chinese Cultural Evening takes place every year, while the other evenings take place once every two years, with 3 other regions every year. Hence a student in LPC experiences Chinese Cultural Evening in both their years and experiences the other six regions once in their two years; 3 one year and 3 another. It is not unheard of for representatives of countries such as Egypt, Turkey or Mexico to participate in 2 cultural evenings. There are also many students who feel they are a part of multiple cultures and may also choose to participate in more than one event.
[edit] Special Trips
China Week One of the aspects which sets Li Po Chun apart from the other United World Colleges is its China week project. Every year, first year students travel to China, do community service, and experience everyday Chinese life. Annual China week projects include: Teaching English to children of the She Tribe in China, visiting an elderly home and helping mentally and physically handicapped children in the Guangdong province, working with lepers in the Yunnan province.[4]
Project Week The status of Project Week and how it functions has changed significantly in '06-'07 academic year. Generally, annual project weeks last nine days in March and should give students the opportunity to lead and work on projects in East, South, and Southeast Asia. In March 2005 some projects included: Helping rehabilitate a tsunami-struck school in Sri Lanka, performing plays for children in Bangkok, working with children at the Christina Noble Children's Foundation in Ho Chi Minh City and traveling to North Korea to learn about life and affairs in a country that much of the world knows little about. The new regulations put into place stated that students on an "official" Project Week trip must be accompanied by 2 teachers with no more than 10 students on a trip per teacher. There were not enough teachers to have a trip for each student to go on an official trip, so parents were given the choice of signing a release form allowing the students to travel by themselves during this 8 day period, but they would not receive any financial aid from the college if they did so. This resulted in many students staying in Hong Kong, who also had the opportunity to do service locally.
[edit] Social Life
On a regular weekend, general destinations are the nearby Lee On Housing Estate and Sai Kung. Students can also travel approximately an hour to the more urban parts Hong Kong such as Wan Chai, Lan Kwai Fong and TST for karaoke, clubbing or dining. Sometimes students gather during the weekends, socializing around bonfires in Starfish Bay, the beach that is next to campus.
One of the main criticisms of the college is a divide between the Hong Kong ("local") students and the foreign ("overseas") students. Suggested sources for this social issue range from the tendency of Hong Kong students to speak Cantonese, to the fact that many local students spend their weekends at home to just cultural differences between the two broad categories. This division by no means applies to each student, but can be easily observed on campus in places such as the canteen.
[edit] Graduates
LPCUWC has achieved some of highest average IB scores in the world. In 2005 LPCUWC produced 5 perfect IB scores,[5] the second highest number of IB perfect scores in the world. In 2006, 3 students gained perfect scores of 45, which together with the other United World Colleges, represented over 15% of all perfect scorers achieved in the world. Due to these academic achievements LPCUWC is considered by many to be a very academically challenging high school. In the Chinese language press in Hong Kong in May 2006 it was reported to be one of the best high schools in the world.
Students can choose from several options for post-Li Po Chun experiences. Some graduates receive offers from top universities around the world such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford among many others, with most students earning significant scholarships. Others choose to pursue “3rd year options” which can range from service to traveling, most of which have some sort of cultural immersion.
[edit] List of Principals
- Dr. David Wilkinson (1992-1994)
- Mr. Blair Forster (1994-2003)
- Dr. Stephen Boring-ton (2004- present)
- Cameltoe Biatch (Always)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.lpcuwc.uwc.org/en/about/about_countries.php
- ^ http://www.lpcuwc.uwc.org/en/events/events_showall.php?event_id=87
- ^ http://www.lpcuwc.uwc.org/en/qc/
- ^ http://www.lpcuwc.edu.hk/en/about/about_chinese.php#china_week
- ^ http://www.lpcuwc.uwc.org/en/about/about_results.php
[edit] External links
- Official Website of Li Po Chun United World College
- Official Website of the United World Colleges
- About the Principal, Stephen Codrington
- Frappr Map, LPCUWC
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