There certainly seems to be a huge emphasis on simple hard work. The colony as a whole was built on this pretext and it’s education system reflects these roots.  Unlike many countries, the concept of class is virtually unknown – if you  need to better yourself and your lives then education is the major route.  

Many also point to the fact that Hong Kong itself has little in the way of welfare benefits, the state is not there to step in for people who need them.  Parents invest in their children as a form of pension, obviously this means there is much more incentive for the child to succeed.  Parents also are known for their diligience and take an extremely keen interest in their childs education.  Ever heard a parent complaining to a teacher about lack of homework – it’s something you’ll hear regularly in HK.

Parent’s also invest heavily in extra tuition and classes for their children.  It is estimated that over 70% of  secondary school pupils have some form of additional private tuition.  The curriculum is very traditional and extremely academic with core subjects which include Chinese, Maths and English.  There are other classes on art , music and drama but these are normally trimmed back in later years and especially during the run up to examinations.

Hong King also has an extremely modern infrastracture with for example very high broadband speeds.  Also Hong Kong does not suffer from the restrictive internet censorship that is practiced in China where you’re likely to get blocked a lot  -in HK it’s not necessary to spend time learning how to sidestep the firewall and video blocks – like this - over and over again.

Critics would argue that Hong Kong should be ranked highly purely because  there entire focus is on examinations.  There is a selective education system which rewards the best results with access to the better secondary school.  The pressure on young children though to succeed is extremely high and opinion is divided whether this does lead to long term benefits.

My children are well used to using technology, but scratch the surface and their knowledge is pretty basic.  The problem with todays technology is it’s so easy to use that you don’t really have to expand your knowledge.  A recent survey by the Prince’s trust in the UK suggested that thousands of young people have very basic IT skills.

In their survey ten percent of the young people they spoke to couldn’t send a CV online to an agency.  Nearly a quarter would dread filling in a CV or job application online.  Nearly all of these people are regular users of technology but cllicking around their phone, surfing through Facebook or updating status pages doesn’t really teach any useful skills.

Computer literacy is becoming more and more vital in todays technological world.  However when I asked a group of 15 year olds some basic IT questions it was apparent to me that this literacy is sadly lacking.  In fact out of the class full I asked only one had reasonable computer knowledge.  He had learnt while trying to set up a VPN on his iPad to watch BBC Iplayer, when staying in the US for his summer holidays.  This young man apart, the knowledge was limited to point and click and a knowledge of phone apps and suchlike.

Basic computer skills are not just needed for a career in IT, there is virtually no sector where it isn’t a huge advantage to have at least some computer skills. It is also a way to get into a wide variety of different careers, computer literacy is a huge asset for any employee.  

I read the above post and it hit home with me. I’m okay at writing, I went through college and university and wrote at a reasonable level, but I wasn’t all that good at spelling and other things that people were great at. So, my literacy rate is probably around average so I think I’m in a good position.

The thing here is, though, that I’m thankful some individuals in society want to help others with their writing and their ability to formulate words and re-arrange words so that they read correctly. My grammar hasn’t been at all good in the past, I haven’t really a clue what the past participle is: it bored me during English class learning what they are all about, and I have kinda got by doing what I do. I understand what where and we’re are, and they’re and their, so I guess – with reading different posts, pages and comments online – that I’m not doing that bad in the English and literacy field anyway.

Here’s to writing that little bit better and having people understand that just because they think their writing is bad other people are available who can look over and correct the different things in your words so that people won’t think you’re a complete idiot.

This is a shame, especially as we are seeing a trend toward weight gain in huge numbers along with more and more cases of diet related medical conditions affecting an ever younger demographic of the population. It would seem a most sensible path to take for those responsible for educating our children to ensure they are taught in sufficient detail what is probably the most important aspect of their very existence.

Understanding Health

The results of this lack in education are apparent in the way that society appears to be eating itself into ill health and obesity. People are doing this without realizing what is even happening inside their bodies in reaction to the poor diets they are unwittingly consuming.

The old values of a family unit have been eroded to such an extent that families rarely take meals together regularly as they once did. This has created a situation where individual members of the family are quite happy to “grab something quick” to eat and this becomes their normal mode of eating.

So many people’s staple diet consists of sandwiches, microwaved ready meals, takeaway food and cheap meals in fast food restaurants all washed down with copious volumes of fizzy soft drinks that are loaded with sugar. It’s no wonder so many people are gaining weight and becoming a part of the obesity statistics.

What Are the Solutions?

Of course it is simply not possible to turn back the clock and return to the ways of five decades or so ago. The current trend for eating and drinking will only continue and gradually become worse through simple ignorance of the facts about nutrition and how diet affects the body and ultimately a person’s health.

One way of cushioning this potentially deadly blow for societies that are most affected by this shift in lifestyle is to educate people while they are still young. Instilling a sense of family values, eating together at meal times and eating wholesome meals made from fresh ingredients and not processed foods would be a step in the right direction.

If only it were possible that the main meal of the day consisting of a wholesome home cooked meal was to replace a meal consisting of processed junk. The population as a whole would reduce its physical growth in inches and start on the road to a healthier way of life.

Other smaller changes would follow as more people become truly aware of the importance of eating healthily. It would promote a better personal health image that people would have of themselves and that they could carry throughout their lives which can only be a great benefit to individuals as well as to whole societies.

As you can see the figures are quite surprising, in London for example 17% of respondents had a literacy level of a 9-11 year old.  The same result was recorded for the North East, but throughout the country around 10% of Adults has a literacy level worse than a primary school child.  The sample for this study was adults aged 16-65.

In Maths the survey found even more worrying results in many areas, 25% of adults who took part in the survey had the mathematics skills of a 9-11 year old.  If these figures were transposed onto a national level that would mean 8 million UK citizens are lacking even basic numeracy skills.

This of course will cause many problems for those involved.  They will be seriously disadvantaged in careers, in health and of course as parents.  This latter role is likely to see these disadvantages in many cases passed down the generations through their children.

For those who may find themselves with adult literacy or numeracy problems – it’s worth checking out the BBC education site.  There’s loads of online resources which can help people brush up on their skills in the basics of Maths and English.  Most items are accessible internationally but some areas are restricted to UK only but you can use resources like this page http://www.theninjaproxy.org/tv/how-to-use-a-bbc-iplayer-proxy/ to show you how to change your IP address and access through a UK server very easily.

The site is none other than The BBC and it contains a huge section of pages designed specifically to improve literacy.  The site is called Bitesize and is split into three sections – science, maths and literacy.  Here’s a screenshot from one of the literacy games - 

All the lessons are interactive and can be replayed over and over again.  This game helps with simple words and sounds that rhyme, most children really enjoy the cartoon type graphics and interactive elements.

But these are more than just a selection of fun flash games to sit your children down in front of.  If you look in the site you’ll find much more there is even a teachers/parents section with suggested lesson plans.  These incorporate the games and then expand on them with class based activities and tasks which the children can play without access to a computer.

Of course the BBC are primarily known for their world class programmes and the childrens channels are focussed in two specific  channels – CBBC and CBeebies for younger children.  All these programmes are available online using their custom video player called BBC Iplayer.  Unfortunately access to BBC IPlayer is blocked outside the UK however there is a workaround – if you visit this page - http://www.proxyusa.com/bbciplayerabroad2012 you’ll see the solution.  It’s not very difficult, you just basically have to surf via a UK based server to make it look like you’re based in Britain, it’s quick and easy to do.  

Yet in many areas, our lives are no better for it. In the area of physical health, we actually seem to be going backwards in our ability to look after ourselves. The frightening statistics on the overweight and obese in our society tell their stark, incontrovertible truth.

How Can This Be?

It can be argued that one of the biggest causes of obesity in modern times is ignorance fuelled by denial. While overeating and overindulging a poor diet are the physical causes of a person’s excessive weight gain, it is literally the failure to understand why such actions create the problem in the first place.

This fact is surely a contradiction when the means to understand this problem is available for anyone who cares to look. Yet here it is, with over half of the population of the United States and Britain classed as overweight or obese.

The only logical explanation for this state is that people are not willing to educate themselves on nutrition and diet. The information is there for anyone to read about in countless health related websites. Or for those too lazy or unwilling to read, they can even watch the many informative videos that are now available online.

Know Your Enemy

Learning how to effectively combat weight gain and obesity is actually pretty easy. It takes a little inventiveness to cut through a lot of the unhelpful, rambling to get to the good stuff in a lot of written articles. Likewise, it takes some focusing on the objective to avoid wasting much time watching the many distracting fun video clips.

By learning the main aspects of what causes weight gain and addressing them in the individual’s circumstances, a large part of the problem can be easily negated. Knowing which foods and beverages are the main culprits for loading high levels of excess calories to the daily allowance gives the person the means to eliminate or at least reduce the amounts of those items that are consumed each day.

Understanding the Body

It also helps immensely to have an understanding of how the human body works in terms of the metabolism of food. With this knowledge a person can see where they need to make positive changes to facilitate the reduction of the amount of energy they consume compared with what they are expending.

Once this balance has been understood and established, it really is only a matter of choosing how to modify the diet so that it is healthier while still remains interesting. More information on diet, nutrition and maximizing the body’s own metabolic process to maintain a healthy weight can be found by visiting this highly informative weight loss website: www.weightlossgenius.com. It covers all aspects of losing weight and maintaining good health in easy to read articles designed to help people to beat obesity and regain a healthy figure in an easy and enjoyable way.

The fact is that knowing exactly how your health is can mean the difference between peace of mind and worry. When you have peace of mind, you can relax and enjoy life, but when you worry, you tighten everything up and elevate your stress levels. This in turn forces you to be tense and not enjoy life so much. Let’s explore this idea in a little more detail.

Why Worry About Worry?

It may seem strange to hear, but plenty of people actually worry about the things they have to worry about in their lives. This is a nasty spiral that can drag a person down into the depth of depression. The sad part of it is that it is completely avoidable by employing some mental discipline.

No one should have to worry about things that are not worth making yourself ill over. A common theme is worry over finances or lack of them, including debt and economic impact on a family or personal budget. Another is worry over the fidelity of a partner or over losing them for one reason or another.

The problem with worrying over things is that the more you worry, the more you are going to attract the very thing you are worrying about to actually come about!

Turning Worry into Calm Confidence

No one should suffer the ill effects of the stress caused by worrying. In fact, as already mentioned above, by bringing into play some mental discipline, you can actually turn away from your worries and make them recede into minor concerns while you turn toward the things that bring you contentment and joy.

It’s all about the state of mind and what you are going to allow in there and what you are going to keep out. It has been said that light and dark are not two things, but two aspects of the same thing. To get into the light, you don’t try and banish the dark through force of will; you simply face the light, or turn on the light by the switch!

Worry and contentment are similarly two sides to the same thing.

Instead of trying to banish the worrying by focusing all your attention on it (which just makes things worse), you turn away from the thing that is causing the worry and focus your attention on the thing that brings you contentment. By dint of the nature of things, that which you give your attention to grows in stature in your mind, while that which you ignore shrinks in stature to become virtually inconsequential.

Treating your health to a booster by reducing stress is a vital part of enjoying life and you do that by focusing on things that bring you joy and ignore those things that require you to worry over them. Gaining a better understanding of this concept is an excellent way to improve your health in general (see: http://healthingeneral.com for more information) and bring more happiness and joy into your life. It is literally about gaining literacy in your personal health by design!

This is of course very interesting news for childhood educators and parents alike. There are plenty of things that both these groups can do to foster improved language development. Some of them include the obvious such as reading to young children. At kindergarten, group stories using a large picture book, e.g. The Hungry Caterpillar have been popular for years. This is just one example of how we can excite youngsters with language.

There are practically limitless possibilities. For instance, at home parents can introduced their children to their own hobbies. Talking about something you are passionate about will likely rub off on your child and provide an excellent opportunity for learning as well as provide a perfect language learning opportunity. So if health is your passion, perhaps you could involve your child in gardening or food preparation in the kitchen. Click here to read more about health through juicing. Teaching young children about the importance of a healthy diet is knowledge that can benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Without reading and writing skills it is very difficult to fill out an employment form, to fill out your tax returns and to apply for social benefits. It is also difficult to get a driver’s licence without some basic literacy skills.

As the basic manual-labor orientated jobs are being outsourced to cheaper countries in South America and Asia, it means that the jobs that are available in Colorado and indeed the rest of the USA require skills.

For example, vacuum furnace with carbon fibre insulation requires a lot of studying in order to be operated safely. Not only are standard maintenance practices such as cleaning and lubrication required, but also constant monitoring is needed to check for leaks in the joints. There is a real risk with vacuum furnances of burns and electrocution if safety procedures are not followed. With oil diffusion pumps if the fill pump is opened while the oil is hot it can lead to an explosion. Maintenance of furnace chamber internals can only be done with correct space entry and electrical lockout procedures. If not residual gases can cause asphyxiation.

This example of the complexity of modern factory equipment clearly shows the importance of safety in the factory workplace. This can only be achieved by carefully studying machinery and being able to read safety manuals and pass written as well as practical safety tests.