‘I’m really struggling’: stressed-out Hong Kong girl blows her top with mother over pressure of schoolwork as they travel on city’s packed subway
- Young girl loses cool over the burdens placed on her, saying: ‘It’s a struggle to survive in this world.’
- Excessive academic pressure is a perennial problem in Hong Kong, where a high percentage of students suffer mental stress from schoolwork
A video of a Hong Kong primary school girl complaining to her mother about academic pressure while they travel together on the city’s subway system has sparked a lively debate on social media.
While chatting with her mother on a crowded Mass Transit Railway (MTR) train, the girl offers some powerful – and emotional – insights into the effect excessive academic pressure has on school students in Hong Kong.
In the five-minute video clip, which was posted on March 2, the speakers’ faces are not visible.
However, viewers can hear the tender voice of a girl. Hints about her identity appear in the middle of the conversation between the pair when the girl says she is having a hard time getting into Primary Two.
At the beginning of the video, she says: “I’m not feeling well anymore and it’s a struggle to go to school every day.
“I have to get up so early every morning and you don’t let me play on my phone. I’m really struggling!”
Throughout the conversation, the girl uses the expression “I’m really struggling” at least 10 times.
She also tells her mother: “You don’t give me space every day and now you’re getting in the way of my time. You don’t let me watch anything now. You don’t care about me now. You can tell me to go now.”
At this point her mother responds: “I’ll give you space after a couple of days.”
Very upset, the girl retorts: “I want to go now! I don’t want to wait here. I’ve been waiting for years and it’s such a struggle,” adding: “I’ve done so many things to help you.”
To which her mother asks back: “What have you done to help me?”
“How dare you! Do you know you’ve wasted a lot of my time?” replies the angry girl.
The remainder of the conversation revolves around why the girl does not have any friends to play with at school.
Finally, the girl declares: “You adults are all the same and haven’t changed. It is a struggle to survive in this world!”
The video has caused a buzz on Hong Kong’s social media.
“You can hear this little sister is really stressed out,” said one commenter.
Another observer said: “I hope the future leaders of Hong Kong can learn to not take these pressures so seriously.”
School-related stress among students is a perennial problem in the city.
In 2022, a survey of Hong Kong students aged nine to 18 showed that 19.7 per cent of those polled experienced higher than normal levels of stress.
