Wah Yan Newsletter



CONTENT


|EDITORIAL|

When I planned that WYHEUR would not be published in August because of the lack of campus news during the summer vacation, I obviously forgot two approaching events which many present students regard as their most important event of the year. (Or I sub-consciously wanted to bring everything, including publication work, to a rest in the July-August period so that I can lazy away all my summer holidays!) The HKCEE and HKAL results have always generated much interest among alumni, and reporting these profiles in an October issue does not seem to fit the one major characteristic of this publication - speed.

The survey sent with the last issue has prompted a good number of responses. Since some student readers may be away from their university terminals during this season of the year, a complete report will not be published until the next issue. Preliminary findings indicate that most readers support the continuation of this publication under the present editorship and welcome the inclusion of the school administration to become a 'reader'. Some feel that WYHEUR is too long. To meet the needs of busier alumni, starting from this issue, a brief summary of each article is included in the Content Section.

On the eve of writing this article, I was saddened by the news that a Form 1 student of the 95-96 academic year had just passed away after an major heart operation. As one of his teachers, I inevitably asked myself some questions. After picking up his exam report and as he was getting prepared for the operation, which he obviously had worries about, what did his first year of Wah Yan education (which turned out to be his last) mean to him? Did he experience support from his friends in school? Did he feel care and concern from the Fathers and the teachers? After all, fraternal support and mutual care are the values which I hear most from alumni about their alma mater. How much of these has each of us experienced in our school life and alumni community?


|APPEAL FROM THE EDITOR|

SHARE YOUR VIEWS ON OVERSEAS ALUMNI

THE Review Section of the next issue of WYHEUR will be focused on 'Wah Yan Communities Outside Hong Kong'. The editor appeals to the readers, especially co-ordinators of alumni associations, to share their views on the topic by writing articles on ONE OR MORE of the following aspects:

The WYHEUR is meant to be a forum for all Wahyanites. Please contribute! Articles of any length are welcome. Your article can be published under your real name or a pseudonym. Send your article(s) to the editor before October 15, 1996.


|ALUMNI'S ANNOUNCEMENTS CORNER|

(Wah Yan alumni are welcome to use this corner to make announcements to Wahyanites of other years.)

Class 1987 (Wah Yan students who took or should have taken the 1987 HKCEE) wishes to announce their new group alias:

wychk87@dreamworks.eng.sun.com


|UPDATE SECTION|

A & AS LEVELS RESULTS

RESULTS of the 1996 Hong Kong Advanced and Advanced Supplementary Levels Examinations were released on July 12. The performance of Wah Yan F.7 students this year can be described as mediocre. The following table shows results of main subjects since 1992. (In many subjects, the number of candidates was too small to allow statistically significant trends to be observed.)

Subject WY
Pass% (1996)
Pass% (1995)
Pass% (1994)
Pass% (1992)
Use of English
97.1
98.7
97.9
89.8
Chinese L & C
87.1
88.6
85.0
not offered
Economics
86.0
87.1
67.7
75.0
Geography
71.4
65.0
43.8
53.3
Principle of Account
58.6
48.0
45.8
66.7
Biology
81.8
100.0
100.0
50.0
Chemistry
88.9
91.3
100.0
72.7
Physics
77.5
93.9
100.0
86.4
Pure Math
81.3
78.9
90.0
66.7
Applied Math
88.9
77.8
100.0
71.4
% of A grades
4.6
4.8
3.0
4.4

Out of the 70 Wah Yan candidates taking the examination, about 45 were given first-year places in local tertiary institutions. Between ten and twenty students went abroad and most of the rest decided to repeat their matriculation studies.


WELL DONE, F.5 BOYS!

1996 marks a milestone in the history of Wah Yan's performance in the HKCEE. Apart from the much publicised 10As, the overall pass rate (5Es or above) passed the 90% mark for the first time in recent memory. The following table shows results in main subjects since 1992.

Subject WY Pass
Pass% (1996)
Pass% (1995)
Pass% (1994)
Pass% (1993)
English(Syl. B)
95.9 (54.5)
100 (57.4)
94.7 (56.0)
96.1 (59.5)
Chinese
89.9 (55.6)
84.3 (56.6)
81.8 (57.5)
80.0 (59.5)
Mathematics
99.3 (67.6)
92.9 (68.0)
94.7 (67.5)
96.1 (71.4)
Biology
98.3 (67.0)
96.0 (64.6)
98.6 (64.7)
98.2 (65.7)
Chemistry
90.4 (66.8)
94.1 (64.6)
97.3 (66.6)
97.2 (67.3)
Chinese History
61.1 (59.1)
63.3 (56.5)
67.2 (58.0)
64.4 (60.2)
Economics
83.5 (54.9)
90.7 (57.8)
81.3 (56.0)
92.9 (58.6)
Geography
69.2 (58.7)
100.0 (60.4)
71.7 (60.8)
77.3 (60.9)
History
72.7 (67.0)
44.7 (63.7)
59.3 (64.3)
52.4 (66.7)
Physics
99.1 (65.5)
88.0 (65.5)
98.6 (63.8)
95.4 (66.0)
Religious Studies
79.6 (67.6)
62.9 (67.0)
68.7 (64.8)
53.9 (65.5)
% of students with 5E or above
92.6
86.4
84.1
86.5
% of A grades
11.4
9.5
8.5
10.9

(% for all HK students in brackets)


THE EXTREMES IN THE HKCEE PROFILE

LAM Cheung Chi, the candidate for President in the proposed new cabinet of the Student Association, scored ten As (6 A1s and 4 A2s) in this HKCEE. His classmate in 5S1, Tin Chi Ho, also scored A in all his ten subjects (9 A1s and 1 A2). Other 5S1 students like Ho Chun Wai and Wong Wing Ho also did well by making seven As and a handful of credits. In the only F.5 arts class, Tsoi Fong Kong topped his classmates with 3 As and 5 Bs.

The lower end of the spectrum showed improvement in 1996. The total percentage of F and unclassified grades was 9.2, compared with 15.1 in 1995. We no longer see Wah Yan students failing in all subjects. The minimum personal achievement in 1996 was pass in one subject.


WAH YAN ORIENTED TOWARDS 1997

In the weeks preceding the summer holidays, the staff and the school administration formulated the school theme for the 1996-97 academic year: "Wahyanite, Hong Kong Sentiments, Chinese Heart, Global View". (The long name sounds much less awkward in Chinese!) Activities related to the theme will be held to promote the four identities crucial to our students in the coming years: Wahyanite, Hong Kong Citizen, Chinese, Member of the World Community. More about developments of this theme in the next issue.


|REVIEW ARTICLE|

1996 HKCEE RESULTS IN PERSPECTIVE - John K. Tan

ACADEMIC excellence is an important goal in Jesuit education. The F.5 boys who took part in the 1996 HKCEE showed that they did very hard to maintain this Jesuit educational tradition. Not only were two of Hong Kong's five 10As students found in Wah Yan, more significantly, there was overall improvement in the general pass rate, in most subjects and in the percentage of distinctions received.

When readers of WYHEUR examine the HKCEE results tabled above, they may note the significant achievement of Wah Yan boys in language subjects. At a time when educators and employers in Hong Kong are increasingly concerned about the falling language standards of Hong Kong students, a phenomenon supported by HKCEE trends, Wahyanites are able at least to maintain their standards. Improvement in the results of the Chinese subject was marked - a 10% increment over a period of five years. Wah Yan, as an institution using English as the official medium of instruction, did not seem to sacrifice the proficiency in the mother tongue of the students because of its language policy. With the introduction of special Wah Yan scholarships for improvement and excellence in the languages in the coming academic year, it is hoped that Wah Yan's strength in the languages at CE level will not be diminished in the coming years.

Over the five-year period under observation, History and Religious Studies showed the greatest improvement in grades. Nowadays, many students find history boring and useless. Arts students used to be compelled to take History in the CE. Inevitably, many did not bother to study hard and scored F or U grades. In the 1996 examination, History became an optional subject for all arts and science students. The dramatic improvement hints that when students have greater say in what they study, learning outcomes may differ markedly.

The advancement in Religious Studies over the period showed the importance of the relevance of the curriculum to students' life and the medium of instruction. Before 1994, students studied the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles (history of the early Church). After the school had decided to replace the Acts with studies of personal and social problems from a Christian perspective for the 1994 exam, the pass rate rose from an average of 50% to more than 60%. 1996 saw the first batch of students (about half of the Wah Yan candidates) taking HKCEE R.S. in Chinese, the first time Wah Yan students could take a HKCEE subject (other than Chinese and Chinese History) in their mother tongue. The pass rate improved further to almost 80%. If this figure is sustained or improved in coming years, the school authority should seriously consider its language policy, e.g. by allowing students to take certain subjects, especially non-science ones, in Chinese.