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School violence rising, students not given adequate counseling | Look At Vietnam

Violence at Vietnamese schools has been on the rise, say educators who argue that a lack of on-campus counseling could be part of the problem.

Speaking at an international conference in Hanoi last week, Dr. Phan Mai Huong from the Institute of Psychology said school violence in Vietnam was getting more complicated and dangerous.

Campus violence is now more diverse than ever, Huong said, explaining that recent cases ranged from verbal abuse to murder. She said it was now common for high school students, and even those as young as 13-14 years old, to form gangs or team up with gangs outside of school to bully or control other students.

Hoang Ba Thinh – director of the Center for Population Studies and Social Work at the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said recent research on violent behavior in schoolgirls showed that 64 percent of 200 surveyed students between 15-18 years old had been involved in fights.

The research found several recurring causes for the fights, including revenge for romantic disputes, hate for each other, and even no reason at all, according to Thinh.

He noted that over 50 percent of schoolgirls exhibiting violent behavior said their parents don’t show much care for them, while nearly 15 percent said they received no care from their parents.

Tellingly, nearly 85 percent of the schoolgirls who had been in fights said violence was employed in their families, Thinh said.

A 2007 student mental health survey conducted by the Hanoi Health Department with the University of Melbourne showed that nearly 20 percent of 21,960 surveyed students between 10-16 years old had mental health issues.

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon with my VAS students, but not so much with my VUS ones. Whenever I ask them for information about what they would do or how they would feel if someone treated them badly (usually when we talk about how to be polite to others, something not so familiar to many), I can almost guarantee some students will answer something like “I would kill him” or “I hate her”.

During breaks the level of over-excitement and noise from most exceeds my expectations from what seems initially to be a very quiet, shy group of kids. Often boys will push each other around, and I’ve seen grown men do this for fun too. Often the security guards will engage in some rough ‘n’ tumble with each other at work.  The girls are quite physical, and it is normal to see one kick or hit a boy or even another girl as part of a conversation. And they don’t do it softly. I heard a kick connect last week with a sound rivaling that heard in a boxing match.

Overall, it’s quite worrying that something here is breeding a generation comfortable with using such strong emotional words and that think nothing of physical aggression, even in play. I try my best to teach etiquette and politeness as part of my culture transfer, and I’ll only know if it’s having any effect on my students as the year goes by.

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• Verbally Abused Children (ocscrubs.blogspot.com)
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• Non-Violence Begins at Home (blogs.timesunion.com)