TNAG-1856-FCO40-2631-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 191

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE

28 June 1989 香港立法局————————————一九八九年六月二十八日

COUNCIL

55

public examinations regardless of the prices they have to pay. In the course of such pursuit, they hurt themselves mentally, psychologically and even physically. Have we ever given sober and serious thoughts to the plight of these children? My heart cries out for them. I call to give them some sense of achievement, some recognition of success so that they do not have to pursue blindly a kind of education that do not suit them. We cannot expect other members of society to do this if we, as leaders of society, do not. We can no longer adopt the attitude that as long as my children and the children in my school can manage, I could not care less about the rest.

I subscribe that we must provide for the bright. No community can afford to neglect its bright children. But as a responsible government and as responsible adults, we must not simply provide and cater for the bright at the expense of the rest. The majority of people in any given society is in the "average" category.

I wish to sound a word of warning here. If what has happened in the United States is any indication or reflection, we may soon find ourselves in the same boat.

In the 12 June 1989 issue of the Time magazine, a feature article entitled Violent Kids says, "A rise in brutal crimes by the young shakes the soul of American society". The crimes committed by very young children make the public stand aghast. The major causes listed are: lack of parental supervision, lenient treatment of juvenile offenders by the courts, children being mistreated by their parents, too much sex and violences in movies and television, too much emphasis on sex in advertising, rock music lyrics that glorify sex and violence, insufficient recreational facilities for teenagers, failure of schools to provide better education and, finally, a life of privilege.

Among the remedies suggested are: tougher criminal penalties, more government spending on educational and recreational facilities, greater restraints on the showing of sex and violence and in rock music lyrics, holding parents legally responsible for the crimes of children, intensive rehabilitation programmes, battle on drugs, and last but not the least demonstration that society cares about them.

Time does not allow me to go on. On the occasion of this the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Child, let us alert ourselves and do what we can to provide a cleaner, healthier, happier and warmer place for our