Abstract
Background: As the birth rate in Hong Kong declines constantly in recent years, many villages are going to be closed. However, many of them have played an active role in the educational development of Hong Kong. It is difficult to understand why some village schools can enroll students from P.2 to P.6, although they have not been permitted to enroll P.1 students. This study tried to explore the questions behind.
Aims: The article takes two village schools as case study. It intends to explore 1. Why the schools can still recruit students? 2. What is the rationale of the parent’s choice? Our survey examines the reasons why students dropped out and parents chose village school.
Sample: Take 2 village schools as cases: Wai Kwan Primary School and YL Small Traders New Village Public School
Method: Questionnaires were sent to the two schools and numbers of “drop out” students from 2003–2005 were calculated. Furthermore, 9 parents were interviewed.
Results: Our survey finds that “learning environment” and “student self-esteem” are two main factors that have effects upon both academic results and personal development of the students in the village schools.
Conclusion: It is purposed that the “cost-benefit analysis” needed to be revised in the local context in Hong Kong. We need to re-examine the value of village school from the case of “drop out” students in Hong Kong.
| Keywords: | village school; educational option; cost-benefit analysis; diversity |
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