ATS Education (technology)

Aberdeen Technical School was a real technical school.  Not just in name. But it really provided a very strong technical education.  

We learned wood working.  We learned to saw, shave, and chisel wood. We learned to make dovetail joints.  We cut intricate patterns with jigsaws.  We could also made useful things such as sound boxes for loud speakers.  

We learned metal working. We learned to use hand tools.  We could file and saw.  We could use a tap to cut threads in a hole, and use a die to cut threads on a bolt.  We could use power tools such as drilling machines and lathes.  We could sharpen a drill bit or a lathe tool with a grinder.  We made our own tools: hammers, wire-strippers, set squares (triangle rulers), … and our own toolboxes. 

In the electrical section, we learned to design and build electronics circuits.  We learned to build amplifiers with vacuum tubes. We learned to replace vacuum tubes with transistors when they appear.  We learned to etch electronics circuits on a circuit board.  As a graduation project, we assembled our own amplifier and even complete sound system with turntable and loud-speakers.  In the mechanical section, I heard that they played with big machines and made intricate objects on lathes.  One of their signature projects was a brass cannon, complete with wheels and gun barrels.  We did very well in the technical subject (electrical or mechanical) in the Secondary School Certificate Examinations.

We all learned to make professional level technical drawings.  Each of us owned a wooden drawing board and T-square set, where the T-square fits into a slot in the middle of the drawing board.  Many of us scored As in the Secondary School Certificate Examinations whose standards compare favourably with the British GCEs.  When I was at university, what I learned at ATS helped me to take part-time jobs working for professors making illustrations for their research publications.  Which helped me to support myself through university.     

Other than Technology (Electrical or Technical) and Technical Drawing, we studied other subjects similar to those offered in other “grammar” schools: Use of English, Chinese Language and Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Chinese History and Religion.  Nine compulsory subjects.  

Our prowess in technical subjects was undergirded by Physics and Mathematics.  We had an excellent Physics teacher in Mr. Fok.  He was somehow able to engage us through the clever experiments and the challenging concepts.  Newton’s Laws of Motion became almost second nature. I suspect part of his secret was his enthusiasm and genuine care for us.  Plus his ability to help us visualise the beauty in Physics.  Once you figure out the   elegant formulation of the 3 laws, you can solve any problems without having to memorise anything else, but always starting from the fundamental principles.  And the same method can be extended to other arenas of learning - particularly the technical subjects.  Many of us scored As in Physics.  Many of us enjoyed particularly solving geometry problems.  Visualising spatial relationships become both a challenge and a joy.  Decades later, some of us continue to pose geometry problems in our WhatsApp group.  

When we finished Form 5, a few of us went to other schools to continue with Form 6 and 7 - the “preparatory” courses, and went on to university.  Many enrolled in technical college which eventually became today’s Polytechnic University.  Many went directly to work.  With our strong technical training, many were snapped up by shipping companies, technology companies such as computer makers and vendors, and engineering companies.  Some ended up as engineers in the government.  Some started their own companies.  

As for myself, I got through Form 6&7, then got a scholarship to go to the USA for university.  Then graduate school for my PhD in USA.  Then a research officer in the national research institute in Canada.  Then a computer science professor at PolyU back in HK.  Decades later, I started teaching service-learning.  We started installing solar panels to generate electricity in rural Cambodia, Myanmar, Rwanda and beyond.  The skills and knowledge that I learned in ATS - the Physics, use of hand tools, principles of electricity, reading and making of maps, suddenly become SO useful.  Perhaps God had started to train me to teach service-learning so many decades ago, through ATS, without my having any inkings of it.  

As a hobby, I started creating objects by applying the principles of Physics and Mathematics to palm leaves, a material I became familiar with through my involvement in service-learning.  

I believe many of my fellow classmates have found that their ATS education had prepared them for their career (and life) in a similar manner.  

Hurray, Aberdeen Technical School!

#SChanPalmArt