Then & Now | Bullying endemic in all levels of Hong Kong education system

Eight teenagers from Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School, in Ma On Shan, are now on police bail pending further investigation after one of their classmates was filmed, in a video clip that went viral, “trapped, stripped and abused”, according to recent media reports.

The school manage­ment’s public response – that the incident was just “over-enthusiastic playing” is a typical rejoinder to peer-group bullying within the Hong Kong education system. The courage of those who insisted that the victim had the right to complain should not be underestimated; and school­yard bullying is never just a practical joke carried a bit too far.

Let us be clear: such awful behaviour is endemic across Hong Kong’s education system, and has been for decades. Its prevalence has origins in local culture. Passive aggression – to the point of open bullying – is a noted Hong Kong Chinese cultural trait that can be readily observed up and down the power spectrum, in any school or workplace. This tendency marches in lockstep with a desire to tamp down confrontation and – so cultural theorists allege – “maintain face”, retaining an outward semblance of social harmony where none exists.

Ultimately, the price exacted is that genuine issues are not addressed and resolved; instead, they fester and occasionally erupt into violence. A broader lack of community under­standing of the underlying reasons bullying is downplayed further illustrates this thoroughly distasteful trait.

Perhaps inevitably, “monkey see-monkey do” learned responses play into schoolyard bullying. Many local teachers keep order in overly large classes through a combination of bullying and passive aggression. While some simply know no better, others realise over time that these “techniques” can be effective in managing an unruly class, and keeping down intelli­gent-but-bored students who might other­wise prove challenging.