Hong Kong’s young democrats need some lessons on democracy
Kerry Kennedy says the uncivil behaviour displayed by students in the row over pro-independence posters on university campuses runs counter to democratic values such as tolerance, fairness and open-mindedness
Many Hong Kong students benefit from 12 years of education, then those who are lucky enough get to go to publicly funded universities. The assumption for those lucky ones is that they have learned a lot in their 12 years and will continue to do so in university.
Yet recent events at several local institutions suggest that, for some young people, their learning has been illusory – perhaps something they can perform well at in an examination room but not something that equips them to be tolerant and caring citizens of the future.
Together, these attitudes reflect a stunning lack of understanding about what it means to be a human being and what democratic theory teaches about freedom. This seems ironic, since the offending material was placed on a “democracy wall”. Yet democracy does not support these students’ actions or views.
Don’t blame all students for ‘isolated incidents’ involving malicious messages
