Sullen anthem protest shows up rot in education system
Two Hong Kong College of Technology (HKCT) students were asked to leave their graduation ceremony as they refused to stand for the national anthem; the issue has become a hot topic. The two HKCT students sat silently with their arms crossed while the national anthem played. They were ordered to leave for disrespecting the anthem and violating school rules. Their supporters, a group of 10 other students, also left the hall while holding up protest posters and yelling.
Students enjoy the freedom to express their opinions but it does not mean they can disregard the interests of others, or express their positions and opinions on an inappropriate occasion. The group of students almost deprived other students and their parents of a solemn graduation ceremony.
Chan Cheuk-hay, the college’s president and principal, later explained to students that ever since the school was established in 1957 it had been a patriotic institution. The college insisted on raising the national flag and singing the national anthem even during the colonial era.
Chan said the school never retreated, even under colonial government pressure of funding cuts and losing its campus. “If you didn’t know about this before you joined the school, you picked the wrong school,” said Chan. The video clip featured widely on social media.
A media report said there was much more to the incident. Only Apple Daily, the anti-communist and anti-China newspaper in Hong Kong, quickly uploaded the video showing the incident. It turned out, however, that the ceremony was a closed-door event; Apple Daily reporters had received tickets from the students concerned.
Why do students dare to carry out disrespectful acts at their graduation ceremony? These students had been studying in this patriotic school for years, yet look what they have turned into. What has happened to the education of our younger generation? Imagine the students were studying in a Christian school, would they ever dare propagate anti-Christ thoughts and post anti-Christ banners everywhere? And if they did, what would the church say about it and what would the school and teachers do?
I attended Christian schools. Although I was not a Christian, all students — me and other non-Christian schoolmates included — still followed school rules to pray in the assembly every morning. This is basic politeness. It is a respect to other religions, other people, the occasion and also to oneself.
In the past, some management teams of colleges and universities tolerated impolite protests in various formal occasions and constantly stressed that students and schools should respect each other. However, since schools regard students as “respectful and impartial” people, students’ respect for the schools, the society and even the country is deteriorating. A radical theory of “Hong Kong independence” seems to have gained some popularity in recent years. This is closely related to the young people’s lack of understanding of our country’s present conditions. The words one of the students said while confronting Chan only serve to show his ignorance or prejudiced perception of our country. This is appalling and regrettable.
It is a blessing of society if our youths care about its development and politics. However, blindly raising the banner of freedom and ignoring obligations and responsibilities to the country without national awareness will only derail the next generation and bring about farreaching consequences.
Any country or nation has the responsibility to help the younger generation understand its own country and national identity correctly. However, I dare say educators in Hong Kong are clearly not doing enough in this regard.
Schools, parents, the public media and society at large are the main parties that should be responsible for students’ education. When students embark on a crooked road, if these parties do not correct them promptly, they will drift away into the wrong path, further away and maybe at a faster pace.
Back to the beginning, some university and college campuses are full of political declarations, even violent demonstrations. Have the management teams actively dealt with all these, including disrespecting the national anthem at graduation ceremonies? Is this one of the major causes for the continuous fermentation of the problems?
Whether Chan could become the starting point, as the first step in the education sector to show courage to face up to the problem remains to be seen. The society should think twice before just letting the incident gradually fade away, like other stories.
Instead this incident should alert schools, principals, teachers, the government and wider society to review our education system and to think how to deal with the situation in the future.