Ethical-Sociopolitical Teaching

Hong Kong, a place where people receive good education, is an International and Financial Centre. But, have you ever seen people helping the elderly to cross the road, or given a seat to elderly people or pregnant women if there is no vacant seat on the bus? All people will definitely say “yes”, but actually, only a few people will do it. I start to think, most people in Hong Kong are knowledgeable, but we see people who seldom show respect to one another, especially the elderly. Is there anything missing in our education? Schools focus too much on teaching skills and examinations. Students live in a world full of competitions; they have to work harder in order to strive for a place in university. They surely know they cannot lose. But they neglect the most important things in the world. That is, the need to respect and filial piety. In the past, people respected the elderly people and teachers. Even having a meal, they would wait for the elderly to eat first before they could. But why are there great changes now? The difference lies in our education. In the past, people learnt about Confucianism at school. The stress was on collective interest. Individuals needed to put aside their own selfish need . I think our education needs is ethical-sociopolitical teaching. According to a survey published in the Monday Found, five out of ten young people in Hong Kong have admitted bullying peers at school. Twenty four percent said the bullying took the form of social isolation, while 22 percent said they resorted to physical violence. Students acted like that because they didn't know it was wrong; they thought that it was not a big deal. The rising number of 'Hong Kong kids' gives us a signal that ethical-sociopolitical teaching is needed in our education. Nowadays, teenagers cannot cope with stress and get angry easily if their parents don not follow their will. This worsens the relationship between parents and teenagers. Last month, a teenager could not stand that his parent kept on scolding him for playing on-line games. They argued at first, but later , the teenager turned out killing his parents. I was shocked because what his parent's did was for his own good, but the teenager didn't listen to them and killed his parents at last. Ethical- sociopolitical teaching teaches us the essence of respect and delaying one's craving for immediate satisfaction. We all want to live in the world where people respect one another and place collective interests before theirs. What we need to do is to re-examine what is lacking in our education system and make adjustment in the near future.