“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” (Mills, 1959) - This is what C. Wright Mills mentioned in The Sociological Imagination. It is true that if we would like to understand our own life, we have to obtain sociological imagination which enable us to understand how history and institutions shapes our own biography and personal choice. Therefore, I would like to discuss how my own biography and history within society intersects.
To begin with my family background, I am the only child of my family. In the past, I have been troubled by my family’s unwillingness to have any more babies. I had asked my father and mother a lot that why I don’t have any siblings while most of …show more content…
And the fertility rate of Hong Kong also proves that within the 5-year period from 1997 to 2003, there had been a huge declination in the number of births in general. For example, there was 59,250 new-born babies in 1997 but it dropped to 52,977 in 1998. After 1998, there was a 4-year constant and gradual reduction of new-borns from 52,977 to 46,965 in 2003. Originally my parents were expecting an economic recovery after Asian Financial Crisis, and that it would still be possible to accomplish my hope of having siblings if that the general societal circumstances become less unclear. However, it had proved to be a disappointment as mentioned above, the huge mistake of Tung Chee-Hwa’s governance in the economic and livelihood aspects as almost half of the Hong Kong people agreed on had posed long-term effect on Hong Kong’s economy. What’s more, in 2003, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had affected Hong Kong gravely and became another painful year in Hong Kong history. Not only there were severe infection and huge amount of deaths in community, there were also popular anxiety within the society, not to mention the slowed-down economic activities. …show more content…
For how institutions like family or education shapes my biography or personal choice, I would like to take a little example during taking DSE. As the fourth group of candidates of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), pressure from the DSE exam and worries about our own future prospects were commonly found within nowadays teenagers. I was not an exception also, and that I noticed that some symptoms of anxiety disorder such as constant worrying could be found on myself. The feelings of anxiety and fear became more and more significant as DSE gradually getting closer. Yet, this was clearly not my own personal problem but a common social issue. For example, according to a city-wide survey covering about 10,000 secondary school students, more than half of them showed signs of depression, and the situation was described as “serious” by experts. It wasn’t new to hear that the stress levels of DSE takers reach new high, and that was mainly because the replacement of the former Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) by the only public examination- HKDSE in the new 3-3-4 education system in 2012. To be honest, it is really a huge pressure on students under such new examination framework, and no wonder that some of the overstressed students who couldn’t stand such mental stress became depressed, or even commit suicide. Such issues had been
To begin with my family background, I am the only child of my family. In the past, I have been troubled by my family’s unwillingness to have any more babies. I had asked my father and mother a lot that why I don’t have any siblings while most of …show more content…
And the fertility rate of Hong Kong also proves that within the 5-year period from 1997 to 2003, there had been a huge declination in the number of births in general. For example, there was 59,250 new-born babies in 1997 but it dropped to 52,977 in 1998. After 1998, there was a 4-year constant and gradual reduction of new-borns from 52,977 to 46,965 in 2003. Originally my parents were expecting an economic recovery after Asian Financial Crisis, and that it would still be possible to accomplish my hope of having siblings if that the general societal circumstances become less unclear. However, it had proved to be a disappointment as mentioned above, the huge mistake of Tung Chee-Hwa’s governance in the economic and livelihood aspects as almost half of the Hong Kong people agreed on had posed long-term effect on Hong Kong’s economy. What’s more, in 2003, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had affected Hong Kong gravely and became another painful year in Hong Kong history. Not only there were severe infection and huge amount of deaths in community, there were also popular anxiety within the society, not to mention the slowed-down economic activities. …show more content…
For how institutions like family or education shapes my biography or personal choice, I would like to take a little example during taking DSE. As the fourth group of candidates of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), pressure from the DSE exam and worries about our own future prospects were commonly found within nowadays teenagers. I was not an exception also, and that I noticed that some symptoms of anxiety disorder such as constant worrying could be found on myself. The feelings of anxiety and fear became more and more significant as DSE gradually getting closer. Yet, this was clearly not my own personal problem but a common social issue. For example, according to a city-wide survey covering about 10,000 secondary school students, more than half of them showed signs of depression, and the situation was described as “serious” by experts. It wasn’t new to hear that the stress levels of DSE takers reach new high, and that was mainly because the replacement of the former Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) by the only public examination- HKDSE in the new 3-3-4 education system in 2012. To be honest, it is really a huge pressure on students under such new examination framework, and no wonder that some of the overstressed students who couldn’t stand such mental stress became depressed, or even commit suicide. Such issues had been