Discipline, in the Orient, is a duty, not just a virtue. From a very young age, children are made to obey unconditionally a teacher's order, and to respect convention and the will of their elders.
But sometime discipline, in such absolute form, can go horrifically awry.
A ten year old boy in West China flung himself from a third story building after his teacher ordered him to do so. The child had been found lacking by the teacher, when he failed to write a punitive essay of 1000 Chinese characters for talking while the class was ongoing. Failure to deliver the essay caused the teacher to order the child to jump from a building.
At first the child refused, and also failed in several attempts due to fear. Finally after being told again by the teacher to do it, the child flung himself to his death from the third storey.
The incident has caused an outcry from his parents, who cannot understand why the teacher would order the child to do such a thing.
The police are investigating the incident, amidst citywide protests on the harshness of schooling methods.
The school where the incident occurred posted a 'justification' saying that the children had been ordered to write punitive essays for behavioral violations. But the site also added that the child had died 'by accident'.
The child's notes were found to be scrawled with pleas for help and with expression of his fear for having to 'jump' as the teacher ordered. In one note, the child wrote "teacher, I can't do it".
Source : France 24/ 10.31.13
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