Do you know that lots of Hong Kong teenagers have no confidence in
themselves and don’t know how to pursue their career goals? This conclusion
comes from a survey done in 2015 by City University. Sad, isn’t?
The survey was conducted upon 2000 Form 6 students in Hong Kong.
While 4 out of 5 students plan to further their studies and know well that they
want jobs that provide good development opportunities, 65% of them simply don’t
know how to pick a career. They don’t think they can control their career path.
Another survey done recently also suggests that half of the
interviewed secondary school students show symptoms of depression, with about
20% being moderate to severe. What’s astonishing is that, about one fourth of
the students considered committing suicide just two weeks before the survey.
Together with the news of 22 youngsters killing themselves (one of them was
only 11) in the first quarter of this year…
Just what is wrong with this society?
Of course the experts will try to give reasons like “the education
system is too stressful”, “students cannot handle stress”, “they lack family
support’, and some smart dude from the Education Bureau even said “they lack
life planning”.
But you know, they know and I know that the problem is way more
complex than that.
“Low self-esteem”, “don’t know what to do with life”, “depression”,
“suicide”…these factors seem somewhat inter-related to me, but aren’t these
signs of middle-age crisis?
Why would Hongkongers facing these while they are still in their 10s
or 20s?
Is it because they are too mature?
Or is it because the society expects too much, yet provides too
little?
