In South Korea's 2016 college entrance examination documentary "The Betrayal of Learning", Yun Yeyuan, a third-year student, said: "The year of an adult is different from that of a child. What they do within this year will directly change their lives.” For the new Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) candidates who have experienced the two and a half years of the new crown virus epidemic, the impact is even more limitless – they stand on the point of life The fork in the road, the content of the assessment that has been changed, the epidemic prevention measures that are strict and lenient, the unprecedented arrangement of online classes, and the erratic exam dates make it nervous and messy, but who will care for their changed future from now on Pay the bill?
Some people were diagnosed before the test, and after several anxiety and anxiety, they were finally admitted to the university; some people were lucky enough to be born in this era, with fewer competitors and more time, and they got good grades in the test; Can only blame myself...
"DSE Candidates Under the Epidemic" Series No. 3
This year is the tenth year of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination. During this period, the content of high school teaching has been constantly changing, but these things are no more confusing than the three years of the epidemic.
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Curriculum changes, at a loss
For candidates, some days are very meaningful.
The day of the first interview was April 20, with 25 new confirmed cases, 64 asymptomatic infections, and 338 positive rapid antigen tests. Two days later, the new DSE exam will start.
Jia Lang (pseudonym) talked about the English exam two days later (April 22), his tone was a little nervous, and what he was most worried about was the Chinese exam to be held on April 26, "Paper 3 (Comprehensive)" ) is okay, but reading and writing are just average.” He mentioned several big dates in a row: the last exam on May 4th, the announcement of exam results (commonly known as the list) on July 22nd, and the joint university admissions method on August 10th The (JUPAS) rankings are released - at that point, the entire secondary school career will be over.
This class of students is not easy.
This year is exactly the tenth year of DSE implementation under the "334 New Senior Secondary School System". During this period, the senior high school curriculum has been continuously changed, the examination subjects have also been reduced, and the assessment content has repeatedly caused controversy——
For example, the 2020 DSE History subject provided two reading materials indicating that Japan had assisted China in modern times, and asked the candidates whether they agreed with the statement that "Japan brought more benefits to China from 1900 to 45", which triggered the then The Secretary for Education, Yang Runxiong, criticized hurting the feelings of the people, and the Bureau of Examinations and Assessment announced the cancellation of the examination questions. Another example is General Education, which is one of the four compulsory subjects. It has been repeatedly criticized as the "culprit" for young people to become radicalized. Until 2020, subject reforms have been carried out, including changing the name to "Civil and Social Development Division", independent project studies that no longer have school-based assessment, and public examination assessment. There are only "passed" and "unqualified" examinations, and all these changes make the candidates feel uneasy.
But none of these things are more confusing than the intermittent epidemic.
Another freshman, Xixi (pseudonym), is also familiar with the big days when the exams and the rankings are released, but he is no longer impressed by the three-year high school class schedule, after all, they are always changing.
"The high school career I imagined has a clear trajectory. I know what to do when I get up in the morning and go to school in the afternoon; I know when to go on vacation and when to take an exam." For middle school students, it seems to be a matter of course - every year when the new semester comes, the school calendar will clearly list the dates of the coming year, covering important activities such as the opening ceremony, land games, autumn trips, mid-term exams, final exams, parent meetings, graduation ceremonies, etc. , more specific to the weekly and daily class schedule; however, under the epidemic, this fixed road leading directly to the end of the public test suddenly became a "maze" - the end point was seen far away, but the road signs kept changing positions, even the education The chief was also not sure how to go.
The Education Bureau's limited support in teaching and technology has led to the embarrassment of online courses and the questionable quality.
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Three years of high school, three years of "Maze"
But retrospectively, as early as September 1, 2019, the first semester of the fourth grade was the beginning of the fickle three-year high school career of the fresh candidates.
In June of that year, they were about to finish their Secondary 3 courses, either burying their heads in preparing for the final exam, or actively considering high school subjects, or looking forward to summer vacation life; Demonstrations, escalating clashes between the police and the people, and the tearing of yellow and blue with daggers... filled their memories before they progressed to Form Four.
In November of the same year, that is, more than two months after they changed from "junior high school students" to "high school students", they officially kicked off their "abnormal" high school careers and formed an inseparable bond with "suspended classes".
Since November 11, anti-amendment protesters have launched "three strikes", including strikes, school strikes, and market strikes, blocking many major roads and affecting public transport services; three days later (November 13), the Education Bureau announced that all kindergartens in Hong Kong , primary, secondary and special schools are closed until November 20.
During the suspension of classes, the Education Bureau has repeatedly reminded students to stay at home, not to linger on the streets, and not to participate in illegal activities; while the school building must remain open, and parents can send their children back to school when necessary, and leave them under the care of the teaching staff.
However, Xixi was not impressed, "I remember that the first suspension of classes was due to the epidemic."
But in fact, excluding weekends, the students stopped classes for four days, but of course they didn't understand the seriousness of the situation at that time, and it was even a bit of a fluke mentality of "rare vacation". Unexpectedly, in the next three years, "classes were suspended". It has become the "new normal".
In mid-January 2020, there were signs of large-scale infection of the new coronavirus pneumonia in different provinces and cities across the country. By the eve of the Lunar New Year on January 23, sporadic confirmed cases began to be imported into Hong Kong, and community outbreaks have been caused since then.
At that time, the senior secondary students had just completed the final exam of the last semester and were enjoying the two-week Lunar New Year holiday. However, on the first day of the new year two days later, the then director of the Education Bureau, Yang Runxiong, announced that the original date of February 3 would be taken as an excuse for epidemic prevention. The resumption date of classes has been extended to February 16.
What is even more unexpected is that the delay is four months, and the fourth-year students will not resume classes on a half-day basis until May 27.
In the face of the sudden "long vacation", Xixi was both happy and disappointed. "I can go on vacation earlier, of course I am happy, but many extracurricular activities have been cancelled, which is a bit regrettable." But what effect did the suspension of classes have on academic performance, he was I didn't think much about it.
During the period of class suspension, the Education Bureau advocates that students should make good use of their time and continue to study, so as to achieve "stop learning while classes are suspended".
However, due to the insufficient development of information technology education in Hong Kong, the pace of e-learning in each school is very different. The decision to suspend classes was too hasty, and the Education Bureau's support in teaching and technology was even more limited. suspect.
Two months after the resumption of classes, teachers continued to add extra lessons in order to recover the teaching progress, but it seemed that no matter how much they followed, it would not help.
Secondary schools take diversion measures to divert candidates and students.
(File photo / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Online course life, confused
Until early July, when the third wave of the epidemic broke out, the Education Bureau announced that the summer vacation would be released a week earlier on July 13.
The whole process was very magical for Xixi and Ka Long. They seemed to end their careers as Form 4 students in an instant and "jumped" to become Form 5 students.
However, during the summer vacation, the epidemic was not as "fleeting" as in the Secondary 4 curriculum, but it became more and more heated. Epidemic prevention measures and social restrictions were also escalated. Entertainment and recreational places were closed, and restaurants were temporarily banned from dine-in.
In a blink of an eye, the summer vacation between Form 4 and Form 5 was over, as if it had not been released.
When it comes to the Form 5 career, which is a step closer to DSE, I am frustrated at the first step. Because the road sign of "face-to-face teaching" has changed again and again, the school opening day on September 1 will be moved to the Internet, and teachers and students can only continue to use Zoom and other video tools. Classes will be held, and campus life will not be officially resumed until September 23.
However, after only two months of schooling, the fourth wave of the epidemic broke out again on a larger scale. The SAR government had to announce the suspension of face-to-face teaching on November 29 until Christmas at the end of December.
The chaos brought about by the repeated epidemics made Xixi even more unwilling to attend classes.
In the blink of an eye, stepping into January 2021, Xixi and Jia Lang also ushered in the second semester of Form 5, and have become accustomed to online teaching.
As the epidemic cools down, the Education Bureau has gradually allowed primary and secondary schools to arrange no more than one-sixth of students to return to school, and secondary schools can also hold up to two half-day classes or exams.
However, it was not until March 26 of the same year that the Education Bureau announced that it would resume face-to-face classes in mid-April after the Easter holiday. This is the end of next semester.
In the blink of an eye, my high school career is about to enter the last school year. This summer vacation is no longer easy. Because the epidemic has compressed teaching hours, many courses cannot keep up with the original schedule, and the holidays are filled with a lot of make-up courses.
In this way, Xixi and Jialang rose to the sixth form in a confused way.
After more than half a year, it will be a public test that decides the fate of life.
Jia Lang said, "There was no high school student's self-consciousness in Form 5. Only in the first semester of Form 6, when the number of physical classrooms gradually increased, did I realize that I was already a high school student and was ready to face the public exam."
At that time, schools continued to go to school for half a day, and the government continued to encourage teachers and students to be vaccinated, promising that face-to-face classes could resume as long as the school's vaccination ratio reached 70%.
However, "vaccine hesitancy" prevailed in Hong Kong society at that time, and the vaccination rate in Hong Kong was only maintained at about 60%, among which the vaccination rate of minors and the elderly continued to be low.
However, due to the gradual slowdown of the epidemic, the SAR government's attitude towards requiring all people to be vaccinated is not tough, and the Secondary 6 students finally passed the half-year "safely".
On April 22, the DSE exam finally began, but throughout the exam month, candidates were overwhelmed by anxiety about a possible diagnosis.
(File photo / Photo by Luo Junhao)
Worry about taking the test
However, the good times did not last long. In the last few days of 2021, because the SAR government did not block the quarantine loopholes for the crew members, the most severe fifth wave of the epidemic raged.
At that time, both Xixi and Jialang were in full swing preparing for the DSE mock test in mid-January 2022, but the Omicron variant virus spread rapidly in the community. Face-to-face teaching is suspended.
Although the authorities allow schools to arrange for Secondary 6 students to go back to school in the morning for face-to-face teaching, and go home to make up lessons online in the afternoon, many schools have stopped face-to-face teaching on their own due to the continuous chain of invisible transmission in the community.
Take Kalong's school as an example, although mock tests can still be conducted in the school, the teacher has suspended classes when he changes the papers, and can only solve the problems online.
On February 28, 2022, the fifth wave of the epidemic was completely out of control, with more than 10,000 new confirmed cases every day. , April, but the authorities have not yet finalized the date of the DSE test, only that they will strive to start the test on April 22.
In March, Hong Kong ushered in the fifth wave of the epidemic, the public medical system was on the verge of collapse, and forced inspections were not uncommon.
Jia Lang saw that his relatives and friends were diagnosed one after another. He was not only worried about his studies, but also worried that if he was diagnosed, he might infect his family members, or he might be sent to an isolation center. He couldn't take the test with peace of mind. .
However, he was unfortunately infected with the virus, and the rhythm of preparing for the exam was suddenly interrupted, and stress and anxiety surged. "Prying" is a complete "fight with beasts". I tried to do a few questions, but I couldn't stop coughing, my throat was sore, I couldn't speak, and I couldn't concentrate on reading the book."
Fortunately, after Jia Lang recovered, a well-known tutoring agency provided a venue for him to study in meditation.
However, due to the indecision of the authorities, the chaotic arrangements, and the limited family conditions, more candidates could not enter the state of "preparing for the test" at all.
The epidemic began to subside in mid-April, and the DSE exam started on April 22 as scheduled.
Xixi and Jialang came to the examination room in advance with the quick test results and admission ticket.
During the exam, a few coughs from sitting next to me were enough to make the exam room tense and breathless.
Even if one exam is over, they are afraid that they will be infected before the next exam. I am afraid that they will have to take the exam at the Penny's Bay Isolation Center.
This kind of nervousness hangs over the whole exam month until the last subject.
DSE candidates under the epidemic.
One｜Three years of high school, three years of "Maze"