The Guidelines on Civic Education in School (1996) for Hong Kong recommend that there should be five foci in school civic education, namely education for democracy, human rights education, education for the rule of law, nationalistic education and global education. After the return of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) and the SAR government has singled out nationalistic education as the sole focus of civic education. This paper is a report of case studies focusing on the understanding and practice of nationalistic education of three civic educators whose understanding is inclined towards education for totalitarian nationalism in Hong Kong secondary schools, using the concepts of indoctrination. The findings show that because of the teachers' inability to separate the nation from the ruling party and their strong mission of sending a positive image of the party to their students, they have tended to adopt particular teaching strategies, which might suppress the students' ability to reflect critically. According to the criteria of indoctrination, namely relationship, intention, content and teaching method, their teaching approaches tend to be indoctrinatory, rather than educational. This is certainly unacceptable to those who believe education is concerned with the development of independent, critically thinking individuals. Hopefully, this paper will enhance the awareness of the potential indoctrinatory nature of nationalistic education of teachers and shed light on the development of school-based nationalistic education aiming at the cultivation of the 'critical patriot'.
[Copyright © 2004 Symposium Journals Ltd.]

According to the Olympic Charter, "Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining into a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles". Sport is viewed as a mini society where participants experience the success and failure; the joys and tears; and the ups and downs of life. For children, the overall aims of education for the 21st Century in Hong Kong should be "To enable every person to attain all-round development in the domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics according to his/her own attributes..." (Education Commission, September 2000, p.30). In the early childhood curriculum, physical education is integral in fostering young children's total development. Early childhood educators always provide an educationally appropriate program to enhance young children's whole person development. This paper serves two purposes. First, it demonstrates how Olympic sports are highly related to Civic Education for young children. Secondly, it suggests educationally sound strategies for early childhood educators to develop a preschool physical education curriculum with emphasis on the development of young Hong Kong children's civic capacities.

There is always an on going debate on whether nationalistic (patriotic) education is compatible with the practice of civic education with an emphasis on preparing critical thinking citizens. After the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty to the People's Republic of China, the urge to promote nationalistic education within civic education is increasing rapidly as the national identity and sense of belonging to China among Hong Kong people is weak. This paper argues by case studies of some civic educators in secondary school that teachers with an understanding of 'education for totalitarian nationalism' tend to adopt teaching strategies which probably lead to indoctrination -- for example -- the use of biased sources of information, exposure to the 'bright side' only, refraining from discussion of the 'dark side', and restricting divergent views in the teaching of controversial issues. This practice of nationalistic education is contradictory to the aim of civic education to prepare critical thinking citizens.