Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my concern on the spate of student suicides in Hong Kong during the last few months. Cases of people committing suicide at an early age are not uncommon in Hong Kong and the problem is really grave, the public is beginning to ask 'why' and 'who' should bear the onus for such tragedies.
School life is supposed to be the golden years of one's life to enjoy the precious moments studying and spending time with our dear friends. But then, why would teenagers choose to take their own lives even though they haven't got a chance to step into society yet? As a student, I am experiencing the pressure faced by teenagers in Hong Kong simultaneously. Externally, the main source of stress is no doubt about the schoolwork. The current education system is criticized for putting too much pressure on students. Students, especially for those who lag behind and those who struggle for academic excellence are always caught in the middle of unrelenting stress. Parents and teachers always judge teenagers by the numbers on the mark sheets instead of their attitude and behaviours. The exam-oriented society is pushing students to the corner. Students have tonnes of homework, quizzes, exams to finish, without seeing an end. Even for some teenagers who have some talents or potential other than studying the facts printed on textbooks, they don't get a chance to develop their skills. Instead, they are treated as bad students, who are lazy, useless, not willing to work hard and should be blamed. These pressures from teachers and parents really contribute to student suicides as they would accept that they are really useless if they cannot fulfil the adults' expectations.
Besides, handling relationships is a difficult matter for teenagers. The communication troubles are plaguing so many youngsters and weigh down them so much. Youngsters may find it difficult to communicate with their parents due to the generation gap. They tend to keep problems to themselves and they are reluctant to share their worries with their parents. They may even find it hard to get along with their friends or their boyfriends or girlfriends. Lacking the skills and strength to cope with all these, they may be tempted to take the ' easy' way out.
Besides the everyday external problems, teens experience internal unhappiness which makes things worse. The changes in hormone levels at the time of puberty make it common for students to feel depressed. Students become more emotional, and will easily endure feelings of worthlessness and suffer from low self-esteem. Teens may not be aware of their feelings deep in their hearts as young people mostly focus on excitements and the multifarious duties they have. Hence, when they find they cannot cope with their pressing emotional problems, they nay fall to a very desperate, helpless and hopeless state and choose to conduct the silly act. The combination of these internal and external pressures goes a long way to the tragedies and it is everybody's business to protect our future pillars of society.
As many young people are at the crossroads nowadays, we have to do something about the problem to pull them away from the evil thought of committing suicides. There should be more co-operation between the government and schools to combat the problem. More resources should be given to schools to hire social workers and organize programs to improve students' mental health. For example, training should be provided to teachers so that they know how to handle students with emotional problems. Schools might use the resources to train the students so that they could be equipped with more knowledge about counselling to help their friends directly. As teenagers nowadays like to turn their emotion inwards or only tell their close friends instead of sharing with adults openly, training up 'trust-worthy' friends might be the best way-out.
While the government can help citizens in financial aspects by pouring resources, whether teenagers can lead a happy life or not depends on themselves. Instead of staying alone or putting much pressure on themselves, teenagers are encouraged to join more meaningful activities and enrich their campus life. A more active engagement in school and community can help them to adopt a positive attitude towards life. They should then realize that though they may face with a lot of obstacles in their growth, there are still lots of things in life that are worth-experiencing.
It is very lamentable that many young people nowadays choose to end their own lives without realizing how precious life is. Teenagers are always the future leaders of society with all the passion and dreams they have. The government and we the citizens should try our best to paint a rosy picture for teens. So, when you see your friends or children around, please give them a hug and a smile. It may seem to be simple, but the warmth may give them motivation to carry on their life against all odds.