Media Education and the Nurturing of Young Active Learners in a Knowledge Society

In the new millennium, the world is marching into the knowledge society, in which most of the population will be knowledge workers. In contrast to manual workers in an industrial society, every knowledge workers needs to strive to become a specialist with high creativity, outstanding information technology skills, an independent and critical mind, team spirit and a great enthusiasm for learning. To meet the challenge of the new millennium, many countries are undergoing a structural change to transform themselves from industrial societies to a knowledge societies. They are eager to reform their educational systems. This paper takes Hong Kong as a target of investigation. In Hong Kong an educational reform is underway, highlighting the importance of cultivating future knowledge workers. Meanwhile, media education is also getting momentum in Hong Kong. This paper aims at examining how media education can contribute to the nurturing of young leaders and help them become competent knowledge workers in a knowledge society. The analysis is based on the media education projects conducted in Hong Kong.