4
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9.
In such a society as Hong Kong deeply affected by Western influences and shrouded in poisonous mișts, most parents. have their hands full making a living and scarcely have time left for their children. Under such circumstances, people have every reason to count on schools to give students proper guidance and education and protect them against the corrosive effects of unhealthy social ideas. But Hong Kong's educational system only stresses the instillation of knowledge. Little or no attention is paid to proper moral education. Scholastic performance the basis of judgment about a student's being good or bad. From the very time children join a kinder- garten at the age of 3 or 4, they are forced to enter the ranks of so-called "social competition." Worries about advancement to a higher grade, a place in the schools, the future, and so forth inevitably weigh on their little minds. Such an educational system produces two sharply different kinds of students. One group of students may bury themselves in their lessons all day long "without caring what happens in the world." Another group with less than ideal scholastic performance may face the fate of being eliminated and lose their confidence. Therefore, some students want to end their own lives, and some give themselves over to pleasure. Abetted and used by bad people, many children recklessly go on the path of delinquency. To obtain money and "live it up"; some female students think nothing of becoming prostitutes thus becoming victims of this society. A young girl who had been reduced to being a prostitute of sorts spelled out what was in the minds of these victims of society. She said: "I was a student. Things were all right with me. Pater I could not help envying those schoolmates who showed off with their dresses and sports shoes of famous brands. family had no money to buy me such things
But my
To get what I want,
I have decided to join other girl tudents in making money. I do not care about my future."
:
/10.