Many Hong Kong parents need lessons in good behaviour

The wife of former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa used to complain that all Hong Kong people do is "complain, complain, complain".

Today, she might say all we do is occupy, occupy, occupy. The movement from a culture of complaint to one of radical protest is a continuum.

How did we get here? I guess the answers depend on where we stand on the political spectrum.

For me, the example set by the intolerant attitude of many parents towards teachers is partly to blame. On this, recent statements made by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers are instructive.

When I was a kid growing up in 1960s and 70s Hong Kong, teachers and principals were authority figures. If they complained against your child, you had to go along and reprimand him too.

Today, it's often the other way round. The child complains against a teacher, and the parent takes up his cause. Their motto is: my child, right or wrong!

According to the federation, more and more parents take extreme actions against real or perceived misdeeds or shortcomings of teachers.