Friday, June 30, 2006

Education before college

I grew up in Hong Kong, and the education system allows for two focus-path: science or arts. The science track is formed by subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Advanced Mathematics. Most everything else is grouped into arts: history, geography, literature, etc. The arts category seem odd at first, so I formulize the categorization in my way: by the kind of tests given to the students. Subjects that allow you to score an A by answering the only possible answer is Science. Subjects that have a larger range of flexibity in the form of essays, and usually graded subjectively is categorized as Arts.

High school was to be the stepping stone to getting into a great university. In order to achieve the goal, I have decided to go with the path that will allow me to get good grades given equal study efforts. My early education, before I entered college, was thus constructed by a science-biased view.

I never really dream to be a scientist, however. Almost everything that I did in my spare time had nothing to do with science. Instead, they are all about arts. My life was surrounded by music, and I spent most of my time as a pianist for choirs, choruses, ballet schools, etc. Although I was never really good at it, I also tried to draw, sketch and paint. I find the experience very relaxing.

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