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Mass Tutoring Enrolment of Hong Kong's Senior Secondary Students Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Sociology and Social Policy 2009 Risk culture of late modernity? : Mass tutoring enrolment of Hong Kong's senior secondary students Cheuk Wai, Jeffrey CHEUNG Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/soc_etd Part of the Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Cheung, C. W. J. (2009). Risk culture of late modernity?: Mass tutoring enrolment of Hong Kong's senior secondary students (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/ 10.14793/soc_etd.7 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. RISK CULTURE OF LATE MODERNITY? MASS TUTORING ENROLMENT OF HONG KONG’S SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS CHEUNG CHEUK WAI JEFFREY MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2009 RISK CULTURE OF LATE MODERNITY? MASS TUTORING ENROLMENT OF HONG KONG’S SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS by CHEUNG Cheuk-wai Jeffrey A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Sciences (Sociology and Social Policy) Lingnan University 2009 ABSTRACT Risk Culture of Late Modernity? Mass Tutoring Enrolment of Hong Kong’s Senior Secondary Students by CHEUNG Cheuk-wai Jeffrey Master of Philosophy Mass tutoring on senior secondary curricula, with specific focus on examination syllabi and techniques, has expanded rapidly in Hong Kong in the recent decade. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, conducted in summer 2007, with 20 certificate level (Secondary 4 and 5) and 21 advanced level (Secondary 6 and 7) students with various level of involvement in mass tutoring, this study discovered: (1) Risk awareness and future-oriented mentality: Students expected that mass tutoring could help improve their performance in public examinations, and could secure good grades. To them, better grades mean higher chance to get a recognized qualification, fulfil their career aspiration, and secure a better life in the uncertain future. (2) Individualization of decisions and choices: Students thought that they should be responsible and accountable for their own life-choices. The decision to enrol in mass tutoring was made on their own. When they needed advice on choices of tutors, they referred to the opinions from the schoolmates with similar learning experience and academic performance as themselves. In order to locate the most suitable tutors, some students even collected various tutors’ lecture notes or recordings for comparison, or attended free-of-charge trial lessons before finalizing their choices. (3) Individual reflexivity and conditional trust on authority: In terms of enhancement of academic performance, a number of students trusted cram school tutors more than daytime school teachers, as they thought the former more familiar with the examination requirement than the latter. Nevertheless, they did not completely trust their tutors. They evaluated from time to time the effectiveness and suitability of the tutorials they were attending, and discontinued and made changes if necessary. (4) Detraditionalization of schooling values: Students viewed senior secondary education different from more idealistic lifelong learning. In their eyes, getting good grades and preparing for good prospect in further studies and career are of utmost importance in senior secondary schooling. Some of them even preferred daytime school teachers to adopt cram school tutors’ approach. With the above findings, the study argues that the microscopic phenomenon of blossoming mass tutoring enrolment is a reflection of the macroscopic risk culture of late modernity, which has been addressed by Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. The study unfolds several specific qualities of individual life and social environment in the post-industrial era. To deal with the uncertain social environment, individuals prefer adapting to the existing social order rather than imposing changes to the external social environment. Appreciated traditional values not conforming to the modern social order will only be practised only after an individual has achieved ontological security in the highly modernized social environment. Individuals are locked in a cage where they had to endlessly appeal to uncertain measures to deal with the uncertainties embedded in daily life. This study also reveals the unbalanced power between individuals and social structure in the structuration process, and the disparity in power of risk negotiation due to wealth difference in the highly modernized environment, which were under-examined by the proponents of the late modernity paradigm. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 5 2.1 Past Studies on Private Supplementary Tuition.................................. 5 2.2 Theories and Concepts on Late Modernity ...................................... 14 2.3 Youth and Late Modernity ................................................................ 31 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH DESIGN ..................................................... 37 3.1 Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 37 3.1.1 Significance of Late Modernity to the Social Context of Mass Tutoring Enrolment ................................................... 37 3.1.2 Research Questions ................................................................. 40 3.1.3 Orientation of the Study .......................................................... 43 3.1.4 Significance of the Study ........................................................ 44 3.2 Methodology .................................................................................. 45 3.2.1 Research Approach: Qualitative Inquiry ................................ 45 3.2.2 Data Collection ....................................................................... 46 3.2.3 Sampling Methods .................................................................. 47 3.2.4 Details of Execution ............................................................... 52 3.2.5 Reliability and Validity ........................................................... 52 CHAPTER FOUR PERCEPTION ON CAREER PROSPECTS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ..................................... 55 4.1 Aspirations on Career Prospects ....................................................... 55 4.2 Aspirations on Academic Attainment ............................................... 62 4.3 Discussion ........................................................................................ 74 i CHAPTER FIVE VALUES AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLING ........................................... 79 5.1 Purposes of Learning ........................................................................ 79 5.2 Public Examination Results versus Real Subject Knowledge .......... 81 5.3 Proper Studying Strategies for Hong Kong Senior Secondary Students ............................................................................................ 85 5.4 Qualities of a Good Teacher ............................................................. 88 5.5 Students’ Right to Choose Daytime School Teachers ...................... 91 5.6 Is Mass Tutoring a Possible Replacement for Daytime Schooling? ........................................................................................ 95 5.7 Discussion ........................................................................................ 98 CHAPTER SIX PURPOSES OF ENROLMENT IN MASS TUTORING .... 102 6.1 Aims of Attending Mass Tutoring .................................................. 102 6.2 Expectation on Mass Tutoring .........................................................115 6.3 Reasons for Not Attending Mass Tutoring for Certain Subjects .......................................................................................... 120 6.4 Discussion ...................................................................................... 126 CHAPTER SEVEN DECISION AND CHOICE ............................................. 131 7.1 Decision of Mass Tutoring Enrolment ........................................... 131 7.2 Choosing Tutors ............................................................................. 139 7.3 Discussion ...................................................................................... 149 CHAPTER EIGHT TRUST ON DAYTIME SCHOOLING AND MASS TUTORING ...................................................................... 155 8.1 Degree of Trust on Daytime School Teachers and Cram School Tutors ............................................................................................ 155 8.2 Withdrawal and Change of Tutorials:
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