Is the over-emphasis on academic achievement creating a generation that is insular, psychologically skewed and unable to cope with real-life situations? A report by Wang Yuke.

The sound of children's laughter keeps growing fainter on Hong Kong's playgrounds - a metaphor for what appears to be turning into a humorless world, dominated by Tiger parents, obsessed with pushing their kids to ever-higher scholarly achievement.

Children don't have time to play, cautions Paul Pang Hok-hoi, a registered clinical psychologist. He believes that the current mode of sending kids to dance class, art school, music lessons, cram courses, remedial schools and all those other places that regiment their minds is killing a child's natural penchant for play. Pang notes that children in Hong Kong have three hours less playtime per day than kids in Sweden or the United States.

Cheng Pui-wah, a professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, worries that kids in Hong Kong are being channeled in the wrong direction, that they won't be able to compete with their peers from Western countries who got to develop their critical thinking abilities during the extra playtime, which, experts say, is the key to surviving the economic changes that are hard upon us.

The world is about to be taken over by machines. A study by Oxford University in 2013 predicted unemployment will shoot up to higher than 50 percent in less than 20 years, and 45 percent of the jobs, including bookkeeping and even news writing, will be handled by robots. Only those with creative minds, the researchers say, will likely survive the coming dystopia.

"Creativity was never our strength," argues Pang, adding that creative ideas are the key to finding new ways to break with traditional approaches that have outlived their usefulness.

Vanishing playgrounds

At Kwong Fuk Estate in Tai Po, the playground once was loaded with swings, slides, and a merry-go-round. There are no kids in sight - just an old couple chatting on a bench. A pair of rocking horses stands idle, accumulating rust. The grey colors are peeling away. The slide is gone - its empty space marked by a couple of iron railings.

Not only are the city's playgrounds being abandoned, some of these are uprooted entirely, said Ho Choi-wa, associate head of the Early Childhood Education Department of the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

"Parents who are concerned only with 'talents' and academic achievement don't seem to understand the importance of playing games," laments Ho. She argues that children want to play, just as the earlier generations did. They just don't have the time. Their leisure time is all mapped out for different academic or related activities.

Play is the best teacher of invention and creativity, says Cheng, who specializes in studies of children's play and learning. During playtime, she says, children brainstorm and imagine different challenges and experiment with different solutions. "They can exploit the equipment and tools on hand, jump out of conventional thinking, to discover many possibilities from play objects. Children who spend their days cramming and rote learning, who never learn to think creatively, are likely going to be the biggest losers. Too much restriction and instruction leave children with too few opportunities to explore and improvise," she declared.

Ip Kin-yuen, Legislative Councilor for the education constituency, says children are under unprecedented stress, especially since the introduction of the Territory-Wide System Assessment (TSA) in 2011. The TSA keeps a close watch on how kids in Primary 3 and 6 are scoring in their Chinese, English and math exams.

Ip has fought the TSA from the beginning. He petitioned the government to minimize the impact of the TSA on children and their parents, without much success. He said the assessment should be abolished.

"It's a blessing for children to play," Ip contended. "Without childhood play they grow up with psychological and character problems."

Lam Ho-cheong, another professor specializing in early childhood education, says children encouraged by parents to play it safe, go through the academic routine and never take risks tend to get stuck in a certain way of thinking, stubbornly following established routines to address problems.

Cheng agrees. Children denied the opportunity to explore tend to see only one solution to any problem. Education, she adds, is not limited to scholastic studies, but to the wide sphere of social, intellectual, cognitive and physical development.

Losing out on social skills

Pure play helps develop social skills in children. Cheng Zijuan, associate professor of educational psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says "peer relationships" stimulate children to be gregarious, generous, respectful of the rules and mindful of the feelings of others.

Au Kit-fong, chair professor of psychology at the University of Hong Kong, says that the playground is the best classroom for children. Be it character building, acquiring social skills and learning to regulate their emotions - this is where they pick it up from.

"Children are often given a head start by getting to play with parents. But on a level ground with peers they learn fairness and respecting rules," Au said. Children who play more grow to be more receptive and open-minded because "they can recognize during the play that every individual has his preference and habit. For example, you like the slide, but another may like the swing," Au explains.

It's not merely that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Family psychologist Chin Fung says the stakes are even higher. Chin warned that kids latched to the grindstone of academic studies and denied the release of their youthful exuberance are likely headed for behavioral problems down the road.

"When they grow up, they will become faint-hearted and short-tempered when they come up against external pressures. They may even avoid facing their problems altogether and spend time playing video games in the seclusion of their personal space," Chin added.

"In the long term, boys (deprived of play) have a higher risk of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) by the time they reach adulthood. Kids with ODD show irritability of mood and defiance of authority. Girls who rarely have a chance to play are more susceptible to depression and obsessive compulsive disorder."

The humorless, goal-driven agenda imposed on kids today eventually will take its toll on their mental health, argues Chin, and the signs, he says, are already manifest.

"We've seen children's mental health deteriorating and the number of suicide cases is alarmingly higher than before. That's in part because children become reluctant to confide their problems in others. They feel overwhelmed, nervous and irritable when faced with problems," said Chin.

Some of that anxiety felt by young people today is transmitted directly from their parents, who tend to obsesses over the possibility of their children getting hurt while playing.

A little girl on the playground of Kwong Fuk Estate, Tai Po, was being closely watched by her parents and a Filipino nanny. The nanny supported the child as she climbed the ladder to the top of the slide. The mother watched with fixated attention, nervously cautioning the child to be careful. Ten minutes later, the girl and her entourage had left.

There are several reasons why parents fret over their child's safety, said Ho. Smaller family size being one. "Unlike decades ago, families in Hong Kong now commonly have one or two children. That means parents can pour much more attention on every single kid. It's easier for parents to follow wherever the kids go and satisfy whatever they demand," Ho said, calling them "helicopter parents".

The adverse effects of losing out on play are huge on a child's early development and will likely linger throughout their whole life. Most worryingly, says Ho, children might be unable to solve problems independently. "I visit kindergartens sometimes and shudder at this scenario. When kids come across problems, instead of seeking the teacher's help they sit still, waiting for the teacher to approach them. It worries me."

A spokesman of the Education Bureau acknowledges in an e-mail response that play is one of the most effective ways of learning, since it enables children to express their inner feelings and explore the real world. When given proper guidance, children can construct knowledge on their own.

"Placing undue emphasis on the transmission of subject knowledge and drilling of academic skills prematurely would lead to excessive pressure on children. The mismatch between learning experiences and children's development would impose negative effect on children's well-being, motivation and interest in learning," the spokesman said. However, Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim did not respond to an interview request from China Daily.

Contact the writer at jenny@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 05/12/2015 page8)