What schools are looking for at interviews

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VanillaCafe

Registered User
Are these interviews really as ridiculous as I think they are? How does one judge a child's potential with an interview when they are as young as 2 or 3? I've been asking this questions to all the schools I visited, mostly the answer is we are looking for happy, social, easy-going kids.

Well, I can see Obama and Bill Clinton are probably happy and social kids when they were 3. But what about the many other people who've made tremendous contribution to the society? Let's imagine if Einstein, Hemingway, even Bill Gates were born in Hong Kong and they had to pass interview to be admitted to schools, do you think they'll be admitted to the most sought-after schools here?

I do hope that I probably don't know the whole picture, that the interviews are more sophisticated than they appear, that they do have certain ways to scientifically identify a child's potential.

Can anyone help shed light on this? Especially if you've worked at the schools here and know the inside scoop.
 
i, personally, think that interviews for such youngsters are ridiculous. but the schools have the right to choose who attends whether we agree with it or not.

i wouldn't stress too much about it. it is the norm here and there's not much point in fighting the system.
 
"that the interviews are more sophisticated than they appear, that they do have certain ways to scientifically identify a child's potential"

are you being sarcastic?
 
if i were conducting the interviews, i would like to filter out the 'little emperors ' and 'little emperess' from my kindie..
i just got pushed by a little kid being carried by a maid in the lift today.. the maid apologise to me, and the mother standing on the side .. just kept quiet..
if u r wondering what interviews are about, how about sorting out these potentials..
 
The more exclusive schools will take students from their favourite kindergartens. The interview process expects these young children to demonstrate skills they have been forced to learn by rote. There has even been a booklet produced to assist parents in training their kids for interview. Some parents employ parents of former interviewees as tutors for the interviews. In addition, many parents put together DVDs of performances/award ceremonies/speech competitions, detailed portfolios/CVs full of certificates and written references from ALL courses ever attended. It's become a time of frenzy - believe me - as a teacher I hear it all. In my opinion, the schools are fostering all of this. Emperors/empresses? - with all the extra attention at interview time, kids feel exclusive, particularly when boundaries aren't set by parents.
 
I had to interview for a kindergarten that I worked for and nope there was nothing scientific about what we were looking for. We looked for children being in the developmental norm for their age and to be perfectly honest we spent a lot of time talking to the parents to see if they would be happy with our school. The school is very inquiry based/play based so parents who wanted their children sitting down doing very academic work were not going to be happy with the school in the long run. We weeded these families out. I agree though was very weird to be interviewing 1 and 2 year olds...I mean really!
 
Yes, every kindergarten in HK, whether they're the most sought after ones or not, interview these poor kids who have no idea of what is going on. For some schools, it's just a procedure but for others who have 1200 applications for 120 places, it's a screening process. I have 2 interviews lined up in November for my 21mth old boy to enter into pre-nursery in Aug 2010. Honestly, I'm not expecting anything from these interviews and it's just going to be like any other day for my child. It's only pre-nursery and it really doesn't matter where you end up. My parents overseas think it's bizzare that firstly, little 1-2yr olds be interviewed and secondly, these interviews are held 10mths before the actual school term begins. That's HK for you!
 
When we did a school tour for the school that my son eventually ended up in, the (then) director told me: "We don't expect the children to know their ABC's, shapes, and colors when they join us; it is our job to teach them those things." And that is how it should be.
 
Thanks all for sharing your experiences!

I wonder if the schools don't have a scientific way of identifying a child's potential, and they are looking for children being in the developmental norm for their age (which by definition is the majority of children), the final decision is a bit like a random draw. Then why would they spend so much time and resources, not to mention wasting all the time and energy of parents and children, to implement such a process? If most of the decision IS random, it would make everyone feel a lot less stressed if they do make it clear (say having a lottery system after initial elimination of children who don't meet developmental norm or families who don't share same education philosophy). Currently, they make it sound like it's the child's failure, that somehow the child has failed to perform up to their standard.

Worse, some schools may use the interview process as an excuse to hide all the other admission critera that are not suitable to be public knowledge. With the interview process at least the admission appears to be fair. And there's always a reason to give to the parents if they don't have space for a child - your child failed the interview. I do know for sure, as I was told by more than one local Hong Konger, that if the family has connections with school administration their child will not fail the interview.

Sometimes I wonder the reason for such a ridiculous system to prevail is precisely because too many people think "there's not much point in fighting the system."
 
Hi there everyone. I agree that we can't beat the system and I'm one parent who has decided to join it.

Following from that, I have a question following on from Elise's statement that "The more exclusive schools will take students from their favourite kindergartens".

If one would like one's child to be enrolled in the Diocesan Boys' School Primary Division/ St. Pauls, for example, does it follow that the child has a better chance if he went to an Anglican kindergarten? If so, does one know if the affiliated with DBS Primary Division is stronger with some of these kindergartens than others?

Will be very grateful for everyone's insights!
 
My son has an 'interview' next month for the 2s class in 2010. He will be 21mnths old at the time of the interview.

I have no idea what they expect of him but I doubt they'll ask him to distinguish between cars, taxis, trucks, buses and minibuses, his latest talent LOL. I 'm going to call them this week and ask about the process. It's all a bit ridiculous really...
 
Sometimes I wonder if it's not a race thing too? You know, they want to get whatever racial mix they want into the class and until they see the kid sometimes it's hard to know their ethnicity. They do it for buildings here so why wouldn't they do something similar for schools? not that I agree with it but I do think it happens.
 
I'm yet another very frustrated mum and also have decided to accept the system(otherwise we have to leave ey?). My son will get an interview in Dec when he's just 2 years old. Right now I'm trying to make him remember some flashcards and intend to take them with us during the interview, to show the interviewers that he...does know a thing or two.

As to my 4 year old K2 daughter, I'm making her work very hard and trying to get her to write A-Z and write 1-100, after being told by the teacher that if she doesn't improve, she'd have to be sent back to K1...Crazy crazy crazy...this is all I can say.
 
after reading this thread im really panicking. what?!? we have to get interviews secured for kindy now? my son is 20mths and i havent done any of such scouting yet! i must be missing something! what kindys are u all looking at? im realli stumped. i asked woodland preschool, and there's no mention of any interview. singapore international school has no interview till 2011. what am i missing out?
 
many, if not all kindergartens have interviews.

my son's kindergarten's interview was very fast and simple. I didn't even know he'd had it. my husband took him in one day and they were finished in about 5 minutes.

my son goes to a local kindergarten and we are EXTREMELY happy with it.
 
good, that u apply one and he got in , carang.
hmm.. i am not so confident, so i'll apply for 4.. hopefully , she gets in at least one.
 
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