Don’t just blame students Students yelled obscene slogans during the Orientation Camp at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in August. This act aroused society and led to lots of controversy. Some blamed university students for immoral acts, while some found it acceptable and forgivable. Many scholars criticized and bemoaned the degeneracy of students nowadays. They argued that they had a much higher standard of morality when they were university students. But in the past, girls dressing in mini-skirts and showing their legs were considered as unhallowed. Is it justified to say so now? So how can one use the old ruler to measure today’s moral standards? As a university student, I found the slogans ordinary and nothing weird or rare at all. The aim of yelling those slogans was just to stir up an exciting atmosphere and create a sense of belonging. Such practices or even more extreme obscene games are prevalent at universities in Hong Kong. I don’t mean those activities are right, and I admit that students should have a comprehensive introspection. What I want to stress is that it is too unreasonable to have the university students bare all the responsibility. It is obvious that youths can easily reach information about sex nowadays. Television programs, movies, magazines, newspapers and the Internet are different channels that youths can reach for sex knowledge. However, most often and unfortunately, such information is usually misleading, exaggerated or inaccurate. Magazines covered with sexy girls, stories about prostitution, and movies flooded with sex and violent scenes are inundating society. Mass media, which gives so many wrong messages to youths, has indispensable responsibility. Undeniably, there is a lack of sex education both at school and home. Traditionally, parents and teachers find talking about sexual affairs embarrassing. They tend to believe that their children will acquire such knowledge “automatically”. As a result, teenagers are of no proper guidance when they are accessing sex information. How can one request youths to have a high standard morality and definitely correct attitude towards sex? As time goes by, it can be rightly expected that youth are ignorant enough to believe saying obscene words is justified and usual. They do not realize that this is a barbarian and humiliating act, in fact. University students are just one of the many innocents under such a distorted growing environment in which sex education is kept private and believed to be unimportant. Instead of blaming students to practise this wrongdoing, it is more urgent and practical to think of solutions to solve this long-existing problem. Sally Yip Tseung Kwan O

Letters to the Editor, with the writer's name, address and daytime contact number, should be sent to: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Room 202, Humanities Building, New Asia College, or faxed to 2603-6610, or e-mailed to varsity@cuhk.edu.hk. Letters may be edited for reasons of space, style and clarity.