As we all know, the media in Hong Kong have different positions. "Let a hundred flowers blossom" is a good thing, but in the debate on national education, many media in Hong Kong have been criticized for losing their objective and fair position, which deserves attention. One author pointed out through detailed examples: "For more than a month, one-sided reports have been made against the views of moral education and national education, and the views different from those of these opponents have been besieged as soon as they are spoken ... Officials responsible for implementing moral education and national education have been accused by individual media of abusing" shameless "and other personal attacks for no reason, hoping that their reasons will not be fully reported. 」
Freedom of speech is a good thing, and the emergence of different debates is also a good thing, because it allows people to look at a thing from different angles, thus achieving the best balance. However, freedom of speech should not become the hegemony of speech. It seems that only one's own words are correct, others' words are unacceptable and must be besieged and retaliated. Originally, everyone could have a calm discussion on the problems in the national education reference books and put forward suggestions for improving national education. However, some people grasp some problems in a reference book and go to the top indefinitely, describing national education as "brainwashing" and will not stop until they cut their backs. Anyone who opposes it will be labeled as "red" or attacked and abused.
In all fairness, if national education is "brainwashing", isn't it a kind of "brainwashing" for those who "demonize" national education and demand that it be completely overthrown and put forward "de-China" remarks? If the latter is not, then national education should not be.
The premise of dialogue between opponents and the government is that the government cancels national education; The purpose of the dialogue between the government and the demonstrators is to explore how to improve the content and methods of national education. It is obviously difficult for people with different positions to have a dialogue. It is easy to judge which position is more reasonable. However, the existence of language hegemony will lead some people to say that "you agree with me as democracy, but you don't agree with me as shameless".
A democratic society pays attention to the basic values of rationality, tolerance, consideration, objectivity and justice. However, in this great debate about national education, these basic values seem to be put aside. Since national education is a routine, the topic of discussion should be how to improve the content and methods of national education, instead of going to extremes at the beginning and asking the government to cancel the national education department.
The government responded to the opponents' demands, and established the "Moral Education and National Education Committee" chaired by Ms. Wu Hongyu, a member of the Executive Council, and invited organizations opposed to the establishment of moral education and national education to join. Yesterday, she also said that the Committee had a wide range of discussions, including withdrawal or not, and integration with or without separation. Originally, the establishment of the Committee was a good compromise and a good communication platform, through which opponents could put forward more concrete measures to improve national education.
A democratic society emphasizes tolerance and compromise.
However, opponents refused to join and blindly asked the government to cancel relevant subjects as a prerequisite for dialogue with the government, which made people feel that there was no room for rational discussion.
There is no doubt that there is room for improvement in national education in Hong Kong. However, fundamentally overthrowing national education seems to be moving from one extreme to the other, which is the status quo that rational people do not want to see. Rational resistance and proper compromise are values that Hong Kong people should be proud of and should be carried forward.
Primary and secondary school students' active participation in politics seems to be a new trend in a democratic society, and it may not be a good thing. However, self-mutilation such as hunger strike should not be advocated to force the government to accept unreasonable suggestions. Primary and secondary school students should pay more attention to their own majors, and cultivate better independent thinking and ability to distinguish right from wrong through study. This is the most important thing.