A few people in the Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) have threatened to hold a general boycott of school by teachers and students across the city on the first day of the new academic year, which is about two weeks away. They demand that the SAR government withdraw a booklet prepared for teachers' reference in conducting the moral and national education (MNE) curriculum. The extreme gesture has triggered heated debate among local residents and drawn strong condemnation for the PTU. This author believes the boycott threat is totally wrong and should be rejected by all Hong Kong residents. Here's why:

1. Boycotting school is an extraordinary action usually taken amid a revolution or in other chaotic situations. A general boycott of school in Hong Kong today risks fueling social conflicts that will create turmoil. Public protests are common everywhere in the world and particularly in Western societies, where freedom of assembly and freedom of expression prevail, but boycotting school doesn't happen often and is usually on college campuses with small groups of students. Secondary school students rarely go that far in protest, while primary school pupils are even less likely to get involved in such activities. As a matter of fact, large-scale boycott of school by students happens only when a country is rocked by a revolution or some other form of total chaos.

Although Hong Kong is currently wrestling with some serious issues concerning the economy, quality of life and social conflicts, its economic development and social stability in general remain relatively orderly. Local residents wish to see those issues addressed through gradual reform of related systems, such as housing, healthcare, old-age care, employment and distribution of public resources and wealth. In short, Hong Kong is nowhere near a period of full-blown social crisis. Therefore the first thing Hong Kong needs to do right now is to ease social conflicts and dissolve animosities rather than deliberately to escalate such problems with highly emotional, incendiary and socially polarizing actions such as a general boycott of school by young children and their teachers.

2. A citywide boycott of school here means some 340,000 primary and secondary school students and their parents will be used as human shields by the organizers for their own protection in political fights. It is as unethical as you can get in politics. Parents work hard every day to provide for their children in the hope that the younger generation will receive a good education in a quiet and secure space under the care of their teachers. Discussions about whether or not, when and how the MNE curriculum should be carried out is better left to adults and can go on as long as necessary, but the great majority of parents do not wish to see their innocent children dragged into political wrangling between adults that they couldn't begin to comprehend. That's why few if any of them support a boycott of school now or ever.

Who will take care of the students, in their routine daily lives as well as their education when teachers are on strike? And who will be blamed when parents' work schedules are interrupted because their children cannot go to school? I wonder if those who came up with the school boycott thought about these problems. The few PTU decision makers, who happen to be veterans in the education industry, deserve extra condemnation by the public for even contemplating using young pupils for their own political profit by forcing them away from school en masse, in total disregard of professional ethics and integrity.

3. Boycotting school is an affront to Hong Kong's mainstream values. Democracy, freedom and human rights are no doubt among the mainstream values Hongkongers cherish very much. It is also beyond question that patriotism and love of the Chinese nation are such values as well. More importantly, in Hong Kong, people are expected to pursue their social aspirations, be it democracy, freedom or human rights, and express their patriotic feelings and love of the nation in a rational and peaceful manner. Otherwise local residents will not support them.

Therefore, both sides in the ongoing debate over the MNE curriculum have the right to put their thoughts across pro or con and there is an audience for either, but boycotting school is too radical for Hong Kong society. Any such action deviates from our mainstream values too much for comfort and is impossible to appreciate. It is even more despicable and loathsome to make primary school pupils join a political stunt like that.

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 08/18/2012 page3)