Q Do teachers suffer more stress than other professionals? Teachers really have a lot of pressure. But some professionals are faced with the same or even more pressure than teachers, such as doctors. Since the Education and Manpower Bureau introduced reforms, teachers no longer concentrate only on their teaching duties, but also have to cope with other matters such as sitting for the Language Proficiency Assessment and conducting school self-evaluation and school reforms. Apparently, teachers suffer a lot of pressure. But in hospitals, thousands of doctors are working in an environment that is even more stressful. The workload of doctors is growing heavy as a result of a shortage of resources and rising demands for health services. While receiving less support from the government, the public still expects doctors to maintain their service quality. Chia Kwan-leung, Western District It is hard to say if teachers are under more pressure than other professionals since a scientific comparison has not yet been done to assess it. But based on what I have heard from friends who are teachers and from media reports, I believe Hong Kong teachers face more pressure than ever since the launch of education reforms. I agree that reforms are indispensable to the improvement of the education system, but it is doubtful whether they are being handled properly by the educational authority and parents. People nowadays expect a higher level of transparency and more involvement in the education system, just like what they expect from other sectors. However, parents are always looking for a fast way out. For example, if bullying happens in schools, they think teachers should be able to prevent it from happening again. Some parents criticise teachers for not being professional enough if the situation is not immediately under control. They overlook the complexity of the problems. People would not expect the police to catch all criminals overnight. But many parents just ignore the facts where it concerns their children. The situation with education reforms is similar. Many plans with good intentions, like the Target-Oriented Curriculum, Information Technology Teaching and the Territory-Wide System Assessment, have been ultimately turned into chaos for the same reason - people just want quick results. They do not look thoroughly into the complicated situation at our schools. A better education can lead to a better Hong Kong. Trying to better understand what is going on in our schools is a way to ease the tension there and to help our next generation develop. Raymond Leung, Tuen Mun Like other professionals, teachers face pressure from their employers as well as their colleagues and students. However, some sources of pressure are unpredictable and unbearable. In some schools, there is an assessment mechanism for students to evaluate their teachers' performance. However, some teachers are afraid that their principals will take the students' comments on them as criteria for assessing their performance. Allowing students to fill in the evaluation forms may help teachers receive feedback from their students. However, teachers also worry about whether their students are sincere and mature enough to make such judgments. The popularity of a website called Xanga also undermines students' respect for teachers. Through Xanga, students can spread gossip about their peers and teachers. Many teachers have become the targets of attack. Some of my colleagues do not dare to browse Xanga for fear they will see how their students bad-mouth them. Teachers are human beings who need respect and appreciation from others. Wong Chi-keung, Sha Tin Articles have pointed out that teachers are facing a lot of work, such as preparing lessons, having school meetings, handling parents, helping students with their problems, and generally working long hours. But they fail to compare this to work conditions for other professionals. I am an engineer and would like to take my case as an example. Every day I have to prepare over 10 pages of engineering reports, have more than two hours of morning meetings - sometimes even having meetings at midnight with clients who live overseas - handle customers' demands, help my junior colleagues with their problems and provide them with training. I also have to work long hours, seven days a week. Some of my friends who were my classmates in secondary school have become teachers. They receive higher salaries than me. They always invite me out for activities during the weekend, on public holidays or on their summer vacations. But I always turn down their invitations because I need to go back to the office to finish my work. I still respect my friends because they are teachers. But why does the media only focus on the heavy workload of teachers, and not of other professions? Derek Chan, Ho Man Tin On other matters ... Toxic pollution can damage or kill plants and animals, even in small quantities. The substances contributing to toxic pollution mostly come from industries and incinerators. Pollution problems affect not only Hong Kong, but also all other places worldwide. As Hong Kong residents, we have a responsibility to ease the situation. To do so, we should minimise activities that may release toxic substances, such as discouraging people from smoking. We should use public transport more often than private cars to minimise the emissions from vehicles that cause air pollution. And the amount of garbage should be reduced. Burning of solid waste in incinerators is a major source of pollution. Therefore, we should do our best to reduce the amount of waste. To do this, we can start taking action in our daily lives, such as taking our own reusable bags when we go shopping and not using disposable plates. To save natural resources, we should strongly support recycling programmes run by the government. Nowadays, people can easily see the green, blue and brown recycling bins found in many public areas, such as on the street and in housing estates and schools. The bins are used for collecting bottles, paper and aluminium cans for recycling. If all of us could spend a little more time and effort on protecting the environment, the problem of pollution could be better controlled. Lui Chun-leong, Chai Wan I have heard environmentalists warning the government about poisons in the soil at the Tamar site, where the government is planning to move. I may not support either the environmentalists or the government, but there is something else that puzzles me. Why would environmentalists want to build a park on poisonous land? And why build a park in a place full of cars, and which often has such polluted air that you can't even see across the harbour? Jasper Yip, Hong Lok Yuen
