Ka-fu Wong's Journal

I am writing this journal to share my views with my friends and students. I write about anything that I see and feel. Although this is not a blog, your comments are welcome. Comments, if any, should be directed to kafuwong@econ.hku.hk.

 

2023-12-14

Initially, I heard many negative feedback from seniors about the course, but I quickly realized they were mistaken.

2023-12-12

An awakening!

2023-05-25

Templates on sale, anyone?

2023-05-23

Who is to blame? The Observatory? Or yourself?

2023-05-20

I hope all students would be just as willing to learn and reach out for help from us!

2023-05-05

Can students late-drop their worst performing course?

2023-01-16

We shall overcome! We shall overcome the GPA killer's challenge!

2022-12-30

Rules! We follow rigid rules!

2022-12-30

I am honest. Why don't you trust me?

2022-12-17

How many times do I have to repeat before you listen and follow my instructions?

2022-12-06

Teaching Innovation Award

2022-11-07

Our expectation: 10 hours per week for 12 weeks!

2022-09-28

Is it possible to late drop?

2022-06-21

Why not implement zoom invigilation on top of personalized exam papers?

2022-03-21

DO NOT PANIC. YOU CAN DO IT. WE CAN HELP YOU, ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

2022-01-27

Can you help supervise my project?

2022-01-19

Please help me to enroll in Introductory Microeconomics NOW!

2022-01-15

Thank you, for putting in your best effort, thus letting me achieve what I wanted to achieve.

2022-01-06

It is never easy to face failure, but it can be an important learning experience.

2021-12-30

University life is not just about getting good grades, but also exploring your limit and understanding yourself.

2021-10-04

Reasons for disapproving late drop requests

2021-08-04

It takes two to tango!

2021-08-02

ECON1210 a killer course? KF Wong a killer?

2021-07-20

Shock and sad to see student's poor performance in 2021 Spring

2021-07-14

Cooling-off period

2021-03-17

Online data are cheap and easy to find, but they have limitations!

2021-02-08

Mini-projects to build up research ability (1)

2021-01-11

Be our advisor, please!

2020-12-21

Why do we need this transparency? For fairness! For learning!

2020-11-23

You want to build some muscle but do not want to use your time exercising? I can help by exercising for you!

2020-11-18

Feedback to feedback

2020-11-15

General comments on participant's performance in a competition

2020-11-04

Yes, 1200+ personalized versions of the test paper!

2020-02-18

Let students focus on learning, teachers on teaching, and thus together achieve the intended learning outcomes.

2020-02-10

Online learning requires Discipline, DISCIpline, DISCIPLINE!

2019-01-15

Supposedly not difficult to get a B grade.

2018-12-11

This quality is more important than grades.

2018-11-15

Late dropping

2018-11-15

Unreliability of average SETL scores due to the high non-response rate

2018-11-13

Let go!

2018-10-24

No, please do not use my lecture time for your society's announcement.

2018-09-26

Scheduling an appointment

2018-08-27

None of my business

2018-08-21

Course evaluation bounds and response rate

2018-08-09

Be a responsible job applicant

2018-02-10

No calories browsing....

2018-01-24

Would "uncertain" help your postgraduate study application? I would say, CERTAINLY NOT!

2017-09-14

When helping your friend is NOT HELPING YOUR FRIEND!

2017-09-13

My life as a student -- AGAIN

2017-09-05

You like easy grade, easy honor, easy graduation?

2017-07-18

My Facebook friends, please protect me just as I protect you.

2017-07-12

An internship

2016-03-01

You know me. But, do I know you?

2015-12-17

Why learning fails to happen despite the great design of the course and the great teacher?

2015-10-20

Can I trust you, my friend?

2015-10-17

If we have the second chance to "retake", failing or getting a low grade would not be so stressful.

2015-09-18

My first-hand experience on why learning is not taking place in lectures!

2015-08-20

Are you sure Econometrics is useless?

2015-05-04

Eating 100 bowls of rice in a day

2015-01-31

You say you love me. How can I tell whether you truly love me?

2014-10-24

I would be happy to write recommendations letter for your PhD or Master application if ....

2014-10-23

Master of Finance at MIT

2014-10-06

Are you sure what you saw was black?

2014-03-05

GOLDEN opportunity -- only to the hard-working students.

2014-03-01

What to do when your teacher's teaching style does not fit your learning style?

2013-11-28

A negative experience? Not completely. It can be made into a positive one!

2013-11-27

Many thanks for your appreciation of my teaching (II)

2013-07-23

My next stop is Barcelona!

2013-06-01

Her decision to pursue Master of Finance after her undergradaute study at HKU

2012-11-10

What should I do at HKU (activities versus study and many other things)?

2011-09-12

Coach, can you teach me to swim?

2010-02-18

How government policy with good intention can create frustration and political instability?

2009-12-01

Cherish our beloved ones who are still around us -- when we still can!

2009-11-27

Trust your teachers, but don't trust them blindly!

2009-11-26

You can give me a low score but please write some comments to help me improve my teaching.

2009-08-26

The similarity in health care service provision and fire fighting service provision

2009-03-23

Be brave. Visit your teachers. Ask them questions. Your teachers are a lot nicer than you think.

2009-03-14

How can you verify this is really you -- Dr. Ka-fu Wong of HKU?

2009-03-09

I dream to work in the business sector. Should I pursue a master degree before I join the private sector?

2009-02-19

Any economist can predict this... Can you?

2008-12-21

My students performed poorly in the final exam. Help me help them.... please.

2008-12-20

Learning should not end with the final exam!

2008-11-19

Exchange in Europe can be very rewarding!

2008-11-18

UC Berkeley is my top choice for exchange!

2008-11-02

Why did we not have fresh mushrooms twenty years ago?

2008-02-23

Dialogue is preferred to monologue.

2008-02-13

If I were a single unemployed old man who lives on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA)

2007-12-17

Is forecasting a pure guessing game?

2007-12-16

I want zero emission of CO2!

2007-11-30

How would I choose universities for exchange?

2007-11-28

Excuse me. Can you write a recommendation letter for me?

2007-11-12

No pain, no gain!

It is always a delight to receive an email like the following (from Dai Liang, who is current on exchange at UC Berkeley). Aside from his appreciation of my teaching, I am glad that he pointed out the "mistake" I made in an introductory Microeconomics course. He is right that I did not try to distinguish between Marshallian Demand and Hicksian Demand, although I was well aware of the diffference, and their implication in making welfare calculations. Teachers does not teach concepts in the most vigorous way all the time. The discussion of a concept is usually loose in its first introduction. The discussions become more Vigorous only when the concepts are re-visited. In these later discussions, concepts are further refined.

This is the way we learn and teach. A concepts is introduced, re-visited, refined over and over again. The learning of the more difficult concepts today builds on what we had learned yesterday. Knowing that what we learn today will affect how much we can learn tomorrow, shouldn't we work very hard today?


> Dear Dr. Wong,
>
> Long time no see. How are you doing these days?
>
> I am writing this email to express my gratitute for your preparations
> on my further economic study in your introductory level courses.
>
> I am taking intermediate micro/macro economics, econometrics and
> complex analysis this semester. Now I understand how crucial your
> first year preparation is, especially for my econometrics course
> (hopefully I survived the first three weeks, when the professor went
> over the simple and multilinear regression with pure mathematical
> proofs. Now I am learning what if any of Gauss-Markov assumptions is
> violated, and how to use the software SAS to deal with real datasets).
>
> I think the greatest success in your teaching is to help me know the
> intuition of those complex knowledge, instead of the knowledge itself.
> e.g. from the bonus presentations of econ1001 and the graphic
> illustration of the Gauss-Markov assumptions. Actually my professors
> here also emphasize a lot on intuitions, e.g. I should be able to
> explain all the comparative statics (calculated by taking partial
> derivatives) in consumption and production theory problems by stories.
> I realise that although more and more math is introduced and
> implemented in economic theories (my microecon tests now look so
> similar to calculus ones), intuition is always the most important, for
> both the understanding of existing knowledge and hypothesis and the
> proposition of new theories.
>
> Besides, my information collecting ability, trained in your weekly
> discussion, helps me a lot in my current research on Chinese auto
> industry for Berkeley Roundtable on International Economy (BRIE).
> Three of us (an indian student, an American student and I) are
> collecting information and trying to make comparison between Chinese
> and Indian auto industry under the instruction of a professor.
>
> However, there is something wrong in your econ1001. You mixed up
> (deliberately, I believe) the concept of Marshallian demand and
> Hicksian demand, which leads to a mistake in the graphic
> interpretation of consumer surplus, which should be derived from
> Hicksian demand (from cost minimization), instead of Marshallian
> demand (from utility maximization) where our demand curve comes from.
> Hope what I point out here is correct :)
>
> I got A and A- in all my first round midterms and I am struggling with
> my second round ones these days. I hope I can achieve a higher GPA
> than the one got in HKU.
>
> Thank you again for your excellent teaching and enjoy your days with
> your new students!
>
> Best Regards,
> Dai Liang


2007-09-14

Teaching is to be enjoyed, and so is studying. Grades should only be secondary.