School violence, whose responsibility is it?

Not in the Middle Ages, nor in some wild primitive society that has just been discovered, but right in the educational environment of the twenty-first century, where slogans such as, “Discipline - love - responsibility”, “Every day at school is a happy day”, “Friendly school, active students”, “Learning manners first, then learning knowledge” are still bustling… Yes, it is in that place that the belief in safety is being betrayed, the state of shock is still present and surrounds the human instinct of fear.

Shocking, unimaginable and difficult to understand what is happening with school violence. If there is a quick summary of the prominent features: One, it happens continuously; Two, the victims and perpetrators are both female students; Three, the crime is committed by a group; Four, it is barbaric; And five, the exploits are made public by “posting” them online. People are afraid because all explanations are still not reliable enough to place a hope of peace in it. Why are students who are taught very carefully about morality, have a whole subject of civic education, and read the 5 teachings of Uncle Ho every day, yet they can be so cruel to their fellow human beings?

An ethical deviation, a sickness, even a freakish one, is too obvious, too serious, so serious that it is a red alert. The writer of this article did not have enough mental strength to watch the entire clip "Hung Yen female student beats and strips her friend in the middle of class". It is beyond imagination, it feels like the violence is endless. The screams are terrifying, the pleading is pitiful, and the enthusiastic cheers of the accomplices. For the Hung Yen female student, this is not the first time she has suffered, and for school violence, this is not the first horrifying incident. Many, many previous incidents have appeared one after another. A few years ago, female student Le Thi Ha Trang, a 9B student at Dong Tam Secondary School, My Duc (Hanoi), used a knife to stab to death female student Pham Thi Ngoc right in the school yard. In 2017, two 8th grade female students at Tan Viet Secondary School, Binh Giang District (Hai Duong) fought each other and stripped each other in the middle of the classroom, which was also widely shared by the online community. Hundreds of other cases and not excluding many cases that were covered up. What is the cause, the conflict between students or the conflict within each student? Is there or is there not a conflict between the purpose of education and the method of education? Is the disease of achievement a part of the culprit? Looking back at the direct cause of the cases is really too ridiculous! Fighting because of "looking at someone else", fighting because of dressing up, fighting because of stealing a "husband". In particular, in the Hung Yen case, the torture was brutal for the "terrible" crime of... not wearing a Cano hat! Not only that, while the Hung Yen incident was still having aftershocks, in Dien Chau district, a 7th grade female student was tortured because of being involved in an issue that even adults would sweat profusely upon hearing - the rumor of being pregnant!

The incidents are pouring in one after another, while the actions to solve the problem are still familiar and follow a rhythm that could not be more regular: “Request to report the incident before…”, “Will handle it seriously”, “Remove the Board of Directors”, “Comrade X has visited the victim at the hospital”… something like that! It feels like a chronic disease that is treated by applying painkillers. Responsibility is being “shared” with the education sector, and all criticism is also pointed in that direction by default. Education is “blamed” when a series of teacher scandals directly and brutally impact the psychology of students, that is undeniable. An educational model with pressure from exams, pressure from achievements that comes with it, and an outdated approach compared to the rapid development of the external environment, of course, the damage is inevitable. But is it both too much and too unfair to demand the morality of minors to be completely left to education? In a society where everyone tries to cram as many words into students' heads as possible, considering it an indicator of success while ignoring other skills of the learner, is it only the fault of the education sector?

In recent days, newspapers and websites have reported on the phenomenon of gangsters being praised and welcomed like A-list stars here and there. It is too distorted, do not say that these things have nothing to do with the formation of the personality of school-age children. Students need to grow up in a healthy educational environment, but education also needs to grow up in a civilized social environment. Do not stand outside of education to manage education, nor stand above education to criticize education. Wherever school violence comes from, it must be resolved from there, when children are bad, no adult is innocent./.

Nguyen Khac An