檢討教科書問題的「五不宜」/出版社總編輯 李家駒
2008-10-23

圖：資深出版界人士建議政府推行教科書電子化之前有五點要注意 （資料圖片）

課本及電子學習資源發展專責小組（以下簡稱小組）即將成立，它集合不同界別人士，集思廣益，討論未來教材的供應及發展，構思是值得認同的。筆者支持亦關注此事，不僅在於自己是出版從業員，更在於自己曾當過教師，又有很多現職教師的朋友和工作夥伴。這種雙重經驗和體會，令自己對行業狀況、教師訴求和學校運作都有一定的理解。教科書在現時的教育環境和機制下，關於它的供應問題，遠比想像複雜，亦與本港的教育生態密切相關。若未能理清問題的核心和根本，以客觀和公正態度處理，難言對症下藥，最終不單傷害了出版整個行業，更對學校、教師和學生產生不良的影響。嚴重些說，或會延及一代人！以下依據自己的經驗及所思，在小組成立之前，嘗試提出「五不宜」，供小組專家及當局參考。

（一）不宜忘記：過去的探討

討論教科書的供應和價格，非今日才有。政府、教育工作者、消委會和出版商會多年來曾嘗試探討不同方案，最終均未有成果。例如，消委會在2001年9月研究不同地區的教科書送審制度，曾提過改變現行教科書供求制度的建議，即由中央供應（該報告仍刊登於消委會網站：http://www.consumer.org.hk/website/ws_chi/competition_issues/competition_studies/list.html）。建議最終未被接納，原因包括學校團體普遍不表支持、政府不想以公帑直接支付予某行業而有違財務原則等。其實，政府多年來亦曾與行業商討，是否應該將教科書和教材分開定價，後者由學校（其實是政府）購買，有關建議一直未有進展。時移世易，情況是否已有所改變？考慮是否有所不同？討論過的建議，考慮過的提議，以及參與者的誠意，都不宜忘記。小組探討問題前，應先充分總結這些經驗和方案，作為未來討論時的基礎和前提。

（二）不宜簡化：本港的特殊情況

其他地方的經驗雖可借鑑，卻不宜不理本港的特殊情況而將之照搬，應充分評估其他經驗在本港的可行性。例如，之前不少討論本港教科書問題時，都嘗引用美國的現況，特別是美國大學教科書的電子化發展（有興趣可參閱網站：www.maketextbookaffordable.org），進而支持教科書大規模的電子化，並由政府及大學學者牽頭，製作免費的教材，供大眾享用。暫不論美國大學教科書電子化的成效，須知現時討論的是本港中小學教科書問題，還要充分考慮本港特有的教育環境，包括：生存在大學資助委員會制度下的大學教授是否願意參與不計出版成果的教材編寫、中學教師一周約有30教節沉重工作量下是否有餘力編寫教材、本港傾重考評的學教文化等。至於其他問題，如：電子教材是否比印刷教材更便宜？程式及設計費用、會否造成學習數碼差異？學校已有具備足夠配套？教師是否已有充足的準備等？都宜周詳考慮和充分諮詢，不宜簡化和忽略本港的特殊性。（三）不宜輕視：範式轉變

不

論本港教學是否過於依賴教科書，教科書是教與學的重要學習材料，應無大爭議。現時討論如何改進教科書的供應和出版方式等問題，勢將觸及長久以來的教與學模式和習慣。例如：教科書的一個主要作用是將課程內容依學習的進度編排，就算是不同教師和學生都有文本可依，令教與學容易規範化和統一化；遇上學習能力和興趣有異時，則靠教師因應個別學生情況而作出教學適調。這種長期而有序的教與學模式構成了已有的教學範式。改變以電子形式的教學取代，是改變了教學的範式，是一種徹底的革命。筆者雖一直推動電子出版，亦知道本港部分先導學校在電子教學上已取得可喜的成功經驗，但若要全面推廣到所有學校，宜充分評估可行性。現時不少評論談到電子教科書，都已談及這點，意味著部分教育界和社會人士已留意到問題所在。此外，長期以來社會的專業分工，出版專於出版，教學專於教學，改變社會已有的專業分工，意味著資源的重新分配，會導致另一種的範式轉變。舉凡種種，實不宜輕視。

（四）不宜迴避：教育的結構性問題

業界一直已指出，教科書供應問題是教育結構性問題的一環。教科書的供應和定價問題，因教改推行而進一步激化。因此，探討教科書種種問題時，不宜迴避背後的本港教育結構性問題。一言蔽之，本港教育和學校情況是：普遍大班教學（中學）、教師教時多而無暇備課、側重考評而衍生操練文化、教改鼓勵教師持續評估和學生要有不同的學習經歷，等等，教科書出版社除為教師提供教科書外，亦須協助提供有利教學的教材和支援，讓教改的理念更易落實。因此，現時的教育出版社的定位，已不單是「內容供應者」，同時是「服務供應者」。學生要學好須靠老師點撥，老師要教學則要借助出版社這合作夥伴。不能否認是一些較有經驗的老師可獨當一面，但普遍的情況如何，不宜忽略。假如社會認為再不需要教育出版社扮演類似的功能，哪應由誰來代替，以維持現時或比現時更好的教學支援？學習革命早已來臨，教學理念業已改變；教育是需要投資，問題是由誰來支付？因此，當考慮教科書供應涉及的問題時，千萬不宜迴避它背後觸及的教育結構性問題。

（五）不宜全盤否定：未討論先有結論

教科書和教育出版社的教育功能，亦即它的價值，跟討論它的價格同樣重要。本港人口少，近年出生和學生人數持續下降，加上出版不如其他行業可以容易發展海外市場（因大陸及台灣都設有不同的保護制度），教育出版只是一個產值不大，從來只能服務本港學界的行業。過去社會對教科書出版存在不少誤解，例如：年年改版、濫用粉紙令書價高企、不肯分冊出版等，醜化了行業形象。雖然業界本身仍很多地方需要改善，說到怎樣，也不應淪落如此光景，因教科書價格問題成為教育轉型的「代罪羔羊」。現時在社會高度關注，集思廣益之下，聚焦於教科書出版，可鞭策行業自我完善和改進，更貼近公眾利益，亦可令公眾對教科書出版加深認識，增強良性的溝通。在小組成立前夕，提出以上的意見，祈望小組及當局能充分考慮教育、學校、教師和學習的實際情況，實事求是，作出公平的判斷和建議。切忌全盤否定，更忌未經討論先有結論，這顯然非為行業之福，更非為下一代之福。


Fake shoes

Some time ago, there was a closing-down sale at a shoe store in New Town Plaza. I was looking for a pair of shoes for work and so I went in. The Hush Puppies were on sale

I have been wondering what I am really good for. What am I good at? Editing is definitely not something I am good at. I am much better at writing than editing, and I write slow. Am I out of touch with myself?

I remember doing those career tests back in high school and then during the summers when I was taking PCC classes. The last one I did was just before I left for Hong Kong in the summer of 2006 when I was taking TV production class. I enjoyed PCC really. I find it to be a place of good, practical educational institution that teaches you skills instead of just theory. It actually trains you for a job. I learned a lot from PCC and not just from the teachers and classes but also of pursuit in life, career. I realized that individuals don't have to go along the same "standard" path to suceed. For those rare times that I was able to take PCC classes, I really enjoyed them. Partly because I was learning things that I wanted to learn. Even at UCR, I would check the PCC class schedule every once in a while to see if there were classes I could take. I also looked into RCC and community college at Riverside.

I have some regret, I feel that I somewhat limited myself in going to UCR. The blame goes to the culture and learning environment that I was in, the expectation from parents and others, and to my own philosophy at the time because of the bubble I was in (much to do with the culture at school). At the time, regretably. I decided to go to UCR, a four year college, because I figured that with all the struggles I went through with the aim of going into a good UC schools (a goal highly influenced by the environment), I might as well go. The second reason being that I wanted to experience college dorm life like every other college kids. That's why I didn't opted for PCC which probably opened more doors for me while giving as good GE education for much less. A third reason that is somewhat related to the second one was that I wanted to belong to somewhere. Part of me wanted to leave home and start anew, I didn't enjoy high school. I wanted a new start. The last two reasons were true to myself and legit as I think about it, and the first was stupid. I should've investigated about what was best for my career goal, things I wanted to do in life, PCC couldn've opened so many doors for me with much room to explore along with giving me a cheap good education.

I get afriad at times when it seems like I have nothing to do or not sure what I am suppose to be doing.

Multinational corporations are increasingly seen as excessively big and powerful, and as
having dramatically increased in size and power. This perception has led to the view that
the big corporations are threatening democratic institutions of the nation-states and that
they pervert the cultural and social fabric of countries.

The starting point of all these analyses is a double claim. First, multinational corporations
are very big. The most popular way to express this is that among the 100 biggest
“economies” in the world 51 are corporations and only 49 are countries, giving the
impression that large corporations are now larger than the average nation-state (see
Anderson and Cavanagh(2000) who were the first to use these numbers).

The second claim is that the size of multinationals is greater than ever. It is not difficult to
find statistics that will buttress this claim. Indeed, measured in the dollar value of their
sales and assets, multinational companies are bigger than ever.