Source: South China Morning Post A nine-year-old girl who hanged herself at home did so because she was disappointed with her test results, a classmate said yesterday. Ada Wong Tsz-ling, who had been top of the class at Buddhist Lam Bing Yim Memorial School when she was in Primary One and Two, received her results on Wednesday. A boy in her class, surnamed Pong, said he overheard her tell other children that she was unhappy with the results and wanted to end her life. Hours later the girl's mother found her hanging by a rope from a window in her bedroom in their Kwai Chung home. Pong claimed she scored less than 90 per cent in the Chinese language, maths and general studies tests, and 90 per cent in the English language test. The tests ended on Tuesday. The school's principal, Lee Suk-yee, said Ada had done well, although it was unclear whether the Primary Three pupil would still have been top of her class. "There was no indication she was under pressure," the principal said. Ms Lee said the girl had not acted unusually before she killed herself. She added the school was deeply saddened by what had happened. "The girl did well academically and was well behaved. She was an open and vivid student, and a helpful person." Educational psychologists and social workers were at the school yesterday to counsel pupils. The tragedy has prompted the government to consider giving more support to parents and improving parental education. Stephen Fisher, director of the Social Welfare Department, said: "I feel so sorry about the incident. It's a reflection of the problem that children are rather weak when facing adversity. They do not {hellip} know how to deal with it. That [might] lead them to commit suicide." He said the best way to prevent this happening again was to make sure children felt cared for. "Children at high risk are those who feel totally neglected," Mr Fisher said. "Usually, there are signs [of suicidal thoughts]. Parents can notice that their kids are facing problems if they pay more attention to them." A department spokeswoman said its social workers had not dealt with the family before.
We see the incidence of children killing themselves more and more often these days. Kids have no more elements of childhood. I remember enjoying my childhood very much, but kids these days are being pressured to perform way beyond their limits. Kind of sympathise with them...
9 years old =/ whut tha....thats shocking hmmmm but on the other hand...doesnt this kind of stuff happen all the time in asia? ive heard lots of japanese kids throw themselves off buildings when they've got bad test results... something i just cant imagine would happen here in my direct environment.... its not that we take school lightly but suicide....=/
It does...pressure from all parties drive the kids nuts these days. But seriously speaking, I contemplate suicide all the time. Just not foolish enough to do it. Mmm...what am I talking about...thinking about it is foolish enough eh...-dead
WTF 9 yrs old!!! i remember my dad once told me when my elder brother was still studyin primary school in HK at yr 2 he scored something like 70-80% on his test and his teacher wants to talk to my dad coz she thinks my brother was really under-performing, everybody else got like over 90% in their test its HK man, no wonder their so many suicides
This dude clearly doesn't understand chinese parenting in terms of academics. The problem was probably that the parents were giving the child far too much attention to the point where she had no personal space, and demanding that she do well in school or face punishment at home. The chinese place so much emphasis on academic success, and don't understand that pressuring a 9 year old with near adult responsibility is enough to destroy that child. The world is a depressing place, i wish there was a way to just get off it. Maybe il start building a space ship in my back yard. If I can invent some sort of warp drive maybe il be able to chill out at Alpha Centauri while this place rots.
Yes, they place lots of stress on academic success. And yet, half the time, the Chinese aren't really that street smart at all. They fail to integrate what they learn into practice, and merely chant from their texts. They lack creativity. Let me give you an example. The teacher draws a circle on the board and tells the children, "This is a circle". The children obediently echo, "Circle". Get it wrong and *thwack* you get it on your palm. IF only the teacher could have first asked, "What is this?", I'm sure she'd have gotten better, more imaginative answers, like perhaps, a ball, or a cake, or something like that...you get the picture. It's a rigid system that they follow...
hey, its quite plausible it wasnt the parents' or anyone's fault.. people say it's the parents' fault, and granted, asian families tend to have over the edge high expectations, but some people can have high expectations for themselves.. maybe this girl had high expectations for herself, thus leading to suicide.. but we havent seen the bigger picture, so we have no right to blame it on anyone or their parents..
^ dude, she was 9 years old. at 9 the only convictions you have are those of your parents. kids really dont start to develop an individual mindset until they are 12+. if she was 19 and committed suicide because of her marks, the parents wouldn't factor into the equation at all, but in the case of a child, its the parent's responsibility to see what is going on and do something about the situation.
damn...this is so sad. getting a bad mark isn't the end of the world. wish this girl coulda found some help from someone. gosh, i remember being incredibly stressed and unhappy when i get a bad mark and the horror of having to show it to my parents was enough to make me pee my pants. i wish this girl knew that if u fall then u yelp in pain a little and then get back up and keep going. life is full of failures and disappointments, its a matter of working thru it. sooooo sad...
if i suicided every time i got a bad grade, i would be like a cat, but million of cats, with millions of lives, that's insane.. i first thought this was at japan too, cause japan is the one w/ lal the suicidal crazy stuff in which we're most familiar with, but i guess this can happen to anyone and anywhere
She scorred 90..... Childeren, are alot under pressure in china. Since, the parents as always expect alot from there childeren. It isn't strange though, using their money to back up their child to school. As a 9 year old, you will feel alot of presure. Since you dont want to give your parents a disappointment. expecially when you are the 'only child' I guess, I wouldn't have enough lifes. If i would need to score above 90 ....-mellow
