Booklet helps youths get on the right path
THOUSANDS of schoolchildren gained a better understanding of themselves and acquired communication skills after completing the exercises in a project organised by the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong and Tsuen Wan District Board.
The project required participants, mostly Primary Five to Form One students, to complete seven exercises in a 36-page booklet, The Monkey King and Seven Crosses .
Over 8,000 booklets were distributed to children between October and December last year with the help of schools and youth organisations.
Cartoons, graphs and tables were included in the booklet to make it more appealing to youths.
Topics such as using brand-name stationary, failing examinations, reasons for studying, idol worshipping, teacher-student relationships were discussed.
Questions like ''Why do you go to school?'' and ''What do you get from taking different subjects?'' were asked.
In one exercise, participants were told of a case that a schoolgirl, May, who scored low marks in school examinations and ranked 34th in a class out of 38 students while her good friends made progress.
Participants were asked: ''How do you think people like May's teachers, parents, good friends, enemies and May herself would response to her poor performance?'' A seminar on youth suicide was also held in October for teachers and social workers who shared their opinions and counselling techniques on problem students.