Beijing Municipality has revised its 15-year-old student code and
deleted outdated clauses which could encourage youngsters to
pointlessly sacrifice their lives in emergencies.
The new code of conduct, approved by the Chinese Ministry of
Education, was introduced to more than 1.7 million primary and
middle school students when the new semester began Monday.
"We changed the regulations according to the laws on child
protection and education," said Li Jing, a moral education official
on Beijing municipal education committee. The revision "accords
with the development and daily behavioral norms of kids, embodying
the development of China's society."
Gone are such old calls for youngsters to "fight criminals
courageously" and "sacrifice themselves to save others".
The old student norms had encouraged primary and middle school
students to report to the authorities and to fight courageously
against criminals and to act in emergencies since 1987.
However, children's heroic behavior usually left them injured or
even dead because they failed to fully foresee the dangers of their
actions.
A
noted example was Lai Ning, who was listed among China's "top10
model young pioneers" in 1989 after he lost his life while trying
to put out a wildfire at the age of 14.
For long, China's media reported these tragedies, praising
children's "heroism", even calling on students across the country
to learn from them.
According to statistics from the China Juvenile Daily, 36
teenagers were awarded the title of "young heroes" from national
and provincial authorities because of their bravery since 1949.
However, the deaths of teenagers committing "heroic acts" sparked a
mass controversy nationwide about the protection of the minors in
recent years.
"Children must be guided correctly to learn from heroes," said
Beijing primary school teacher Zhu Liang. "We cannot advocate
heroic acts which may cost them their lives."
"The new regulations attach greater importance to cherishing their
lives," Zhu added.
Wei Lusheng, a parent, said schools must first teach children how
to protect themselves before learning from heroes and the mass
media must tell students more about ways to help others.
But educators said the spirit of courage should not be thrown away
in the new student code of conduct.
"The deletion of the 'fight criminals courageously' clause does not
mean denial of the spirit of 'fearlessness' and 'readiness to help
others in a just cause'," said education official Li Jing.
"We should be more mature and rational towards the spirit of
sacrifice," Li said.
Junior middle school student Zhao Xiaoguang in Beijing agreed.
"Though the new code no longer advocate fighting criminals
courageously, we should still learn from heroes," Zhao said.
"Cherishing life is not a reason to be a coward because we can
learn courage to overcome difficulties from heroes," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency, February 18, 2003)