Past Prize-Winning Programs
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Prize (The Best Program in Youth Education Category)
"ETHIC EDUCATION: Dare or Beware?!"
entered by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)
[Content]
This cleverly constructed program deals with a variety of issues facing young people in modern Hong Kong by looking at several issues through the eyes of the members of a family. Fifteen-year-old Ah Lui pierces her ears many times to impress her friends and attract boys. Her 13-year-old brother Ah Tsai is dealing with questions about masturbation and sex. Mother constantly criticizes Ah Lui, although she also decides to dye her hair. Father takes the traditional role of being the wage-earner and not interfering in matters in the home until Ah Lui comes home blonde. Mother scolds but father explains the trouble the whole family will get into if her school objects, so she dyes it back to black. Mother discovers a pornographic video Ah Tsai has been watching but father rescues him by claiming it as his own. Ah Tsai is grateful, but they both wish they could talk openly about his concerns. There are pauses throughout the program where a group of high school students discuss the issues presented. They talk about peer pressure, wanting to be "cool", the nature of good and bad and how everyone makes mistakes and what we can learn from them.
[Jury Comments]
When teenagers at the start of the 21st century face so many pressures, a sense of humour is an important ingredient in developing maturity. It was the sensitive use of humour which most impressed the jury about ETHIC EDUCATION: DARE OR BEWARE?! It also makes very original and effective use of a popular genre--the soap opera--to explore difficult issues with subtlety, looking at generational conflicts and sex education from the point of view of both young people and parents in a way that is empowering and both models and stimulates discussion. d The programme has warmth and honesty, which reaches the target audience while at the same time it does not attempt to give simplistic solutions to complex issues