Politics and Policy Program / Profile
Matthew Yong’s Investigation of Language Equity in Hong Kong
Before arriving at Penn as a graduate student, Matthew Yong had spent four years teaching English online to students around the world. A Vancouver native pursuing a joint Wharton MBA and Lauder MA, he came to Philadelphia with a deep interest in the relationship between language proficiency and education in Hong Kong.
Through Lauder’s Politics and Policy Program (PPP), Yong was able to travel to Hong Kong to examine the city’s biliterate and trilingual education policy. Introduced in 1997, the policy was designed to promote literacy in Chinese and English, and spoken proficiency in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin (Putonghua). But how well was it working for ethnic minority students?
Launched in 2024, the Politics and Policy Program supports Lauder students as they examine a specific policy in a country of their choice. After workshops in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., students conduct field research and produce a policy brief. The program gives students a practical way to explore the intersection between business and public policy.
What surprised Yong most about the experience was how candid and helpful people were during his fieldwork. “I was worried coming into PPP that I wouldn’t be able to get the right resources to fully test my hypotheses. But, in fact, almost everyone that I reached out to not only accepted my invitation to meet, but also connected me to many, many more people.”
Those conversations offered perspectives he could not find through background research alone, including accounts of how students and their families navigate Hong Kong’s school system.
The interviews also helped Yong investigate a disparity he had not anticipated at the outset. Despite a nearly 50 percent increase in education funding over the previous decade, the Chinese-language proficiency gap for ethnic minority students persisted.
Yong’s brief points to an implementation gap: for example, schools not using all allocated funds because teachers lacked the training or time to deploy them effectively. He presented his findings and recommendations in a five-page brief, “Bridging the Language Gap: Enhancing Chinese Proficiency Among Non-Ethnic Chinese Students in Hong Kong.”
While the policy brief focused on primary and secondary education, his Lauder master’s thesis moved the question forward to examine the relationship between university education and employability for ethnic minority students. Yong says, “I wanted to link both my PPP and my thesis to make the entire process synergistic.”
Having completed his degree in May, Yong will soon begin working as a consultant in Chicago, focusing on social-sector and public-sector clients. He says the PPP strengthened his interest in improving educational attainment and accessibility for students around the world. “In the case of Hong Kong, I learned the gap in educational outcomes really wasn’t about a lack of funding. It’s about whether teachers and students have the support and tools to use funding effectively.” ■
View Matthew’s video on YouTube
Story and Photo by Lauren Treutler
