Educational development and social problems in Macau

To a greater extent Macau is a creature of its past. Because of tradition and inertia, the society is weighted down with considerable unnecessary baggage and conservatism in social development and educational reform. For instance, in recent years, Macau has been "embarrassed" by many of her social problems. Daily newspaper headlines often address the issues and problems influencing educational development and report on increasing crime rates and government bureaucracy including honor and violence and community tolerance in relation to youth gangs and criminal offenses. Indeed, many of the social problems in Macau are connected with education and schooling such as nine year compulsory education, school dropouts, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy and suicidal attempt, single-parent learners, identity crisis of new immigrant students from mainland China, etc. A social problem is a condition growing out of human interaction that is considered undesirable by a significant number of people who believe it can and must be resolved through preventive or remedial action. In this symposium, educational practitioners --who had local teaching experience in Macau post-secondary institutions-- will examine and discuss the structural, institutional, and cultural circumstances which give rise to some of the emerging social and educational problems and issues in this Portuguese colony. Highlights of the proposed questions include: (i) What are the concerns of quality and quality of education in Macau? (ii) What are the affective and social goals of education from the students viewpoint? (iii) How do schools and students cope with community crimes and social problems and injustice? (iv) What would be the possible outcome or the price we will pay if social reconstruction and educational reform are not carried out promptly?