In recent years, students have been asked to demonstrate filial piety at school as part of the values ​​education program. Some schools asked students to kneel and offer tea to their parents. A viral image on social media shows this practice via PoorLHK on Facebook. Free to use.

The leading cause of suicide is untreated depression. Depression is treatable and suicide is preventable. You can get help from confidential helplines for suicidal people and those in emotional crisis. Visit Befrienders.org to find a suicide prevention helpline in your country.

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on mental health, particularly among vulnerable young people. However, in Hong Kong the situation seems particularly dire, as suicide rate among young people have increased in recent years, with 2.8 percent of students considering suicide in the 2022-2023 academic year – one of the highest rates in the world.

As education experts have grappled with these issues, a prominent commentator, Ricky Tse, made the following controversial comment during a press conference.

甚麼是智慧、甚麼是責任感、甚麼是尊重，所以所有價值觀去到最後就是文化核心，所以學生生命教育，如果其他人會怎樣，你會多設想這個精神便不會做傻事

All values ​​essentially boil down to considering others. Then you will know what etiquette, wisdom, responsibility and respect are. Values ​​are essentially a cultural core, which must be taken into consideration towards others. Therefore, life education for students requires them to think more about social responsibility and parental expectations. What would happen to your family and others if you left? With such a mind, you won’t do anything stupid.

Tse is the director of the Life Education Center at the Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education. “Life education» is a teaching pedagogy that prioritizes the spiritual development of students in education. His comments that the increase in suicides was due to a deficit of values ​​among young people sparked a backlash within the community, as many said the views were insensitive and feared that such views could lead to more of student deaths.

Creation of a Facebook discussion group on student suicide a declaration condemning Tse for his insensitive remarks and for ignoring the students’ plight.

…撒瑪利亞防止自殺會曾指出「學童或青年的壓力大多來自父母期望過高」…現今，謝主任再次建議學生多想家對的壓力。

…the Samaritan Befrienders (a local suicide prevention group) pointed out that “much of the pressure on students or young people comes from their parents’ high expectations”… Now Mr Tse has again suggested that students should think more about their parents. expectations. His speech trivialized the pressure students face.

謝主任指出，企圖自殺乃「做傻事」。…有自殺念頭的人往往正面臨著極大的痛苦，故不應簡不論是否認同他們的行為，亦應尊重和肯定他們的經歷及感受。本聯席促請各界在形容自殺事件時，避免使用「傻事」、「輕生」等字眼…

Mr. Tse called attempting suicide “doing something stupid”… Suicidal people often suffer greatly and their action should not be simply described as stupid. Their experiences and feelings should be respected and acknowledged, regardless of the right or wrong of their behavior. We urge all sectors to refrain from using words such as “stupidity” and “recklessness” to describe incidents of suicide…

Student suicide has become a serious social problem in recent years. The most up-to-date Hong Kong government public statistics indicate that the number of student suicide deaths has almost tripled in 10 years and reached a record high of 23 cases in 2023. That same year, 6.9 percent of students aged 6 to 17 engaged in suicidal behavior and 24.4 percent suffered from mental health problems, a government-commissioned study showed.

Data from public school student counseling cases indicate that a large number of students suffer from mental health problems (37%), followed by family problems (20%) and school-related problems ( 20%). The main mental disorders seen in schools include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); disruptive, impulse control, and conduct disorders; anxiety disorder; and depressive disorder.

Recognizing the problem, the Office of Education has allocated more resources to school social workers and school psychologists, parent education, and school emergency protocols for mental health support of students. students.

Education experts also weighed in to comment on the issue.

After releasing a survey showing that 15 percent of students had suicidal thoughts and 70 percent of students felt hopeless or confused about their lives during a press conference, Tse exhorted for a better approach to life education during a press conference.

He views Chinese culture as a spiritual touchstone that can help students alleviate the stress and pressures that drive them to self-harm. He argued that education should be based on traditional Chinese culture and values:

中華文化的核心精神就是關顧別人的仁愛與同理心，從來強調多元、互動及包容。

“Life education” should be integrated with the value education and moral education of traditional Chinese culture, because the basic spirit of Chinese culture is to care for others with love and empathy, and it has always emphasized diversity, interaction and tolerance.

Originally from Australia in 1979The concept of “life education” was initially introduced by a Christian pastor who approached youth delinquency, such as drug addiction, with a spiritual approach. The pedagogy was increasingly considered an effective intervention to reduce unnatural deaths, particularly suicides, in Chinese societies in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, although each has adopted a different educational approach.

In Hong Kong, the Public School Life Education Program was launched by around 20 Christian schools in 1999 to address issues related to school violence and youth gang problems. A decade later, in 2010, the Education Bureau began allocating budgets for schools to adopt the curriculum.

Since 2021, life education has been integrated into the city’s primary schools. Values ​​Education Programas well as national education, moral education, etc. The objectives of the program are to deepen students’ understanding of correct Chinese values ​​and virtues, promote their recognition of these values, and cultivate empathy, a positive attitude toward life, and affection for the country and Hong Kong , and finally, help them adopt correct and good behaviors. There are 12 traits listed as Chinese correct values ​​and virtues, including perseverance, respect for others, responsibility, national identity, commitment, integrity, benevolence, respect for laws, empathy, diligence, unity and filial piety.

The initial Christian approach to life education, which emphasized the individual’s search for the meaning of life, slowly gave way to the Chinese cultural and nationalist approach, which emphasizes establishing self-awareness through family/community and national values ​​— iIn recent years, some schools asked students to show filial piety to their parents by kneeling to offer a cup of tea (see top image), and some asked students to do speech during the national flag raising ritual on their duty to society and their nation.

Tse’s approach to life education is consistent with the values ​​education curriculum. guidelines, but its These remarks provoked a massive reaction on social networks, and it I had to apologize for his choice of words two days later.

The issue is not just to stigmatize suicide as a stupid act, but to suggest that Chinese culture and values ​​can solve the problem of student suicide, as underlines by the eminent writer Fung Hei-kin, who argued that dominant Confucian culture, which advocates “self-sacrifice” (usually towards the country), often worsens mental health and leads to suicide:

預防自殺」拉上關係的價值觀，我只勉強想到愛談養生保性的莊子。然而主流傳統文化非但不排斥自殺，更往往不為他人着想呢？

Chinese culture encompasses many schools of thought. I can only think of Zhuang Zi, who loved to talk about maintaining health and preserving nature, as a value that could be associated with suicide prevention. As for mainstream traditional Chinese culture, it rarely rejects suicide but often praises those who commit suicide. For example, Qu Yuanhis suicide was honored with a public holiday (Dragon Boat Festival), is precisely a great man defended by those who have embraced traditional Chinese values. Should Professor Tse condemn him for neglecting his social responsibility and not thinking of others?

What really pisses people off is the ideological approach, which suppresses individual needs in favor of cultural and national collectivism to address issues of life and death.