Indifference to school violence

One of the reasons for the increasing prevalence of school violence is that public opinion has gradually become desensitized to it, viewing it as a normal phenomenon.

Recent incidents of school violence - Photo: taken from video clips

"They withheld information for fear of damaging their image."

According to Master's degree holder Dinh Anh Tuan, school violence has been occurring frequently recently, but most reports only provide information and images of the incidents, without separate reports. Some delegates suggested that many schools are suppressing information for fear of damaging their image. If there were complete, honest, and straightforward statistics, the number of violence incidents would be much higher and more widespread in secondary schools.

At the workshop, many delegates argued that nowadays, people almost accept school violence as normal, leading to an indifferent and apathetic attitude. According to a study on school violence in Binh Dinh City (Quy Nhon), when an incident occurs, about 22.6% of students said they only stood and watched, 36.5% said they reported it to the teacher, 5.4% filmed or took pictures, 7.3% cheered and encouraged the violence, and as many as 30.9% left to go somewhere else for safety.

Mr. Tuan stated that the students' reaction to violence was alarming, as they remained indifferent, walking away, watching, or even cheering, filming, and taking pictures. "Many students consider violence to be a daily occurrence at school," Mr. Tuan reiterated.

According to Master Phan Dinh Nhan - Vice Principal of Nguyen Van Troi High School (Khanh Hoa), 50.5% of teachers, administrators, and parents surveyed believe that violence is very common nowadays.

Commenting on this situation, lecturer Truong Thanh Thuy, Department of Educational Psychology, Hue University of Education, said: “In the last 10 years, violence has appeared in both urban and rural areas, affecting both men and women. This has had negative impacts on teacher-student relationships, and on relationships between students… This is truly a worrying problem.”

Forget about teaching people how to be good people.

At the workshop, many education experts presented the causes and solutions to address and prevent violence. According to the experts, the main reason for this situation is that current secondary schools focus more on teaching academics than on teaching moral values.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Pham Huu Khuong, Chief Inspector of the Ninh Thuan Department of Education and Training, said: “It’s time to re-evaluate the way we measure the quality of education. We must measure quality outside of school, measuring the character and ethics of students, not just academic performance and conduct as before. At the same time, schools need to focus on teaching students how to be good people. If we need fundamental and comprehensive educational reform, we need to change that ingrained mindset. We need to abandon the idea of ​​studying only what is tested, studying only what is tested, studying to obtain degrees, consolidate status, and improve the standards of civil servants and public employees…”

Mr. Khuong also stated that it is regrettable that nowadays, learning to become a good person, acquiring knowledge, and applying it to work and life is considered secondary. "Therefore, the result is an increasing generation lacking life skills, being selfish, indifferent, and apathetic, even when they become officials and civil servants in the government apparatus. We must change the educational methods in schools, fundamentally avoiding focusing solely on examinations," Mr. Khuong urged.

Mr. Chau Thai Loc, Deputy Head of the Student Affairs Department (Khanh Hoa Department of Education and Training), suggested that research is needed to adjust the civics education curriculum to make it more suitable.

Another reason, according to the delegates, is that most secondary schools currently lack or do not have psychological counselors to promptly address conflicts or difficulties and anxieties faced by students.

According to TNO