Undeclared passion and ungraded beauty: a feasibility study of setting up a heritage trail on a non-historiccampus

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to test the feasibility of setting up a heritage trail on a non-historic campus as an effective educational tool to facilitate cultural identification among students. The ELCHK Lutheran Secondary School is used as a case study.

Since understanding the place is fundamental to value-based conservation, heritage education for students should start from their acquainted environment with a sense of belonging. Existing external heritage resources provided to schools are not sufficient to meet the mounting needs for cultural heritage education. One’s own campus should be incorporated into the design of teaching and learning activities. In this dissertation, an in-house, on-campus heritage trail is set up on a non-historic campus, with neither declared monuments nor graded historic buildings, through a stakeholder participation approach. Major visiting points are determined according to an opinion survey of the stakeholders. The proposed trail can also be used for docent service for visitors and other orientation programs.

The proposed campus heritage trail may only be operated on a pilot scale in view of its inherent limitations of small campus size and low degree of attractiveness. Its non-historic nature also implies lack of adequate funding for management and impetus for conservation. Nonetheless, implementation and evaluation of the proposed learning activities should still be tried out. If review proves that utilization of the trail is an effective tool to cultivate a sense of identity, continuity and belongings among students, the feasibility of the proposal can be verified.

An ordinary school, as long as it is loved and has its own identity and individuality, deserves recognition and conservation. Regardless of age, non-historic places have to be taken care of with passion and enthusiasm before they can gradually evolve into more historic and precious jewels.