Saying no to bullying
The issue of school bullying has recently attracted a great deal of media attention and been the subject of a seemingly endless number of debates, the consensus being that the situation has grown worse. Not only students, but also teachers can suffer from bullying (“Getting to the root of school bullying,” Dec. 31, page 8). For this reason, the Executive Yuan has established an inter-ministerial platform to address student discipline problems. It is imperative that active measures be taken to nip this in the bud now. How to curb bullying should be everyone’s business.
As to causes, we should understand that there is no one reason that young students misbehave. The main cause is that morality and ethics are largely ignored by an education system that is entirely examination-oriented.
According to news reports, about 10 percent of students have suffered from bullying and about 30 percent choose to ignore it.
As a society this is an issue we must approach with a great deal of care. There are so many students with different personalities and family backgrounds. School teachers perhaps understand them best, whereas school principals and heads of student affairs are likely to only recognize the outstanding and the most mischievous. If a student creates problems, all they can do is ask the homeroom teacher for advice. As such, the relationship between the homeroom teacher and students is very close and can affect the attitude of the whole class. Homeroom teachers have a direct impact on students.
Schools are a place where teachers, students and parents interact, but many parents have convinced themselves that it is the schools that are to blame for children’s behavior. This ignores the fact that students with problems at home are more likely to become troublemakers at school. Given this relationship, homeroom teachers should play the role of communicator between the school, students and parents.
Increasingly easy access to all kinds of information can make it difficult for students to distinguish between right and wrong, and this is one of the reasons behind a discernible change in student attitudes in recent years.
Clearly, bullying at school needs to be deterred, and where that fails, severely punished, For this reason, schools should perhaps teach law-related courses, to ensure students have a grasp of the rule of law and its implications. In the meantime, teenagers need to learn to take responsibility for their actions.
Furthermore, parents and teachers should work more closely together to ensure children are supervised at all times, so than any indication of bullying can be dealt with immediately. Parents must also take their share of the blame for the bullying that plagues our school system.
VICKY LIN
Yilan City
Lost in translation
I went to McDonald’s near Nanjing E Road MRT Station today and instead of being asked for my name when placing my order, the member of staff chose to write waiguo ren (foreigner, 外國人) on my receipt.
That individual then chose to cover the word with a ketchup sachet so other staff members would not notice.
I went back later in the day to complain about the incident, but no apology was offered and the manager of the restaurant seemed to find nothing wrong with what had happened.
Rather than get caught up in my own frustrations with racial discrimination in Taiwan, let’s explore the impact and consequences that this sort of behavior can have on a country as a whole.
Racism and prejudice are rife in Taiwan and many foreigners living here find themselves discriminated against on a daily basis, being walked past in lines, shouted at by passers-by, stared and glared at on the street and even spat at.
How does Taiwan as a nation expect to be accepted by the international community as a serious political and economic stakeholder if even politicians are allowed to express discriminatory views against foreigners without being challenged by the political opposition?
If Taiwan really wants to make progress it must seek to eradicate this social prejudice.
Taiwanese have what amounts to an obsession with visa-waiver programs and the desire to live/work/study abroad. With this in mind, perhaps people should examine how they expect to be treated abroad, and compare that to the treatment they give to foreigners in their homeland.
CALLUM MCGOVERN
Taipei City
Mixed messages
Recently, while visiting a Starbucks here in Taiwan, I noticed posters on the wall that proudly announced the company’s dedication to helping poor communities by buying coffee from poor farmers in those regions. Then my attention was drawn to all the needless garbage piled up — plastic cups, spoons, knives, forks, paper plates, wax paper, etc. I asked for my coffee in a mug, but the other 20 or so customers were using paper and plastic cups. If Starbucks is dedicated to helping poor regions of the world, doesn’t it realize that all the waste it produces is going to end up in the water, land and air as garbage in those areas? Time to clean up your act, Starbucks.
MICHAEL LESSER
Tainan City
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS