OPINION> Commentary
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Best first lesson
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-01 07:41 No first lesson is more important than the one on personal safety for kids. The First Lesson of the New Semester, a TV documentary about how to protect oneself in time of emergency to be shown tonight at prime time, is meant to provide school students with the know-how on self-protection in such natural disasters as earthquake, fire, snowstorm or flood and other life-threatening situations. The Ministry of Education has notified all primary and middle schools to urge students and their parents to watch this documentary, which was jointly produced by the ministry and CCTV. Some Olympic gold medalists, renowned scholars and social celebrities have participated in making this program. With this program as the core of a national campaign to alert students on personal safety, the ministry has called on all schools nationwide to give lessons on self-protection know-how in time of emergency every semester. Life is precious. Ancient Chinese sage Confucius once said that it was the very beginning of filial piety to protect even your hair and skin from being hurt as they were all given by your parents. What Confucius emphasized is the sense of responsibility for one's parents in maintaining personal safety. And the simplest truth is that one cannot expect to accomplish anything without being alive. Yet, there are times when one can be helpless and hopeless in trying to survive many life-threatening situations. There are reports about such tragedies almost every day. But that does not mean we should wait to perish in the face of such situations, and many examples show that enough self-protection knowledge along with enough courage and tenacity can help many survive what would otherwise be the end of their lives. The freshest example is from the May earthquake in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. When thousands of primary and middle school kids were killed by collapsed school buildings, all students from a middle school survived the disaster even without a single one being hurt because of their timely, orderly and reasonable evacuations, which they had drilled regularly in every semester. What was the most impressive was the case of a seven-year-old girl who made a medical emergency call when she found that her parents were gas-poisoned in the bathroom. Her timely call saved his parents' lives and it was from books she had learned what to do in such critical situations. In fact, the know-how on self-protection in time of emergency needs to be made an important part of early education for all kids from parents at home and teachers in schools as well because life is fragile but can be tough when one is armed with enough knowledge on how to best survive life-threatening circumstances. This campaign is important not only because children represent the future but also because children today will be parents tomorrow. As students fully arm themselves with enough knowledge on how to best protect themselves in life-threatening circumstances, they will be able to easily teach their children the same knowledge when they become parents. So make it a compulsory part of our education to teach them such knowledge. (China Daily 09/01/2008 page4) |