Psychological education needed for students

A TEACHER, in his 40s, in Shaodong county, Central China's Hunan province, was having a meeting with an 18-year-old student and his mother about the boy's poor performance in tests, when the student stabbed him to death. Less than two months ago, three children in the county under the age of 14 were detained on suspicion of causing the death of a primary school teacher and robbing her apartment. Beijing News calls for more efforts to care for the psychological health of teenage students.

Students are supposed to be educated to become well-behaved citizens, but in many Chinese schools, such education is missing or has been led astray in recent years. On the one hand, schools are aware of the importance of teaching students about the laws; but on the other hand, some teachers tend to refrain from educating and punishing ill-behaved youngsters for fear of being accused of abusing their students, this makes strict teachers the "enemy" of students.

To solve this dilemma requires all high and elementary schools to introduce specific regulations to deal with the juvenile misbehavior, which is now basically in the hands of teachers. Campus-based student affairs centers, for instance, can be set up to correct students' wrongdoings and teach them the importance of following regulations, without incubating hostility and conflict between students and teachers.