Mental health courses provided
11/8/2004 14:52
Nowadays, when young children are forced to face high expectations from
parents and fierce competition from peers, they find it difficult to adjust to
it.
As early as 1995, the Yangpu District Education Bureau realized the
situation. In the past nine years, various centers to help students solve their
mental problems have been set up in schools around the district.
"So far,
more than 95 percent of the district's primary and middle schools have launched
mental health courses," said Ni Jinfeng, an official from the Yangpu Education
Bureau.
She added that more courses, including lectures, parent and counselor
training programs and a handful of other activities, are set to be rolled out
within three years in the district.
"Mental health education, which can
greatly help students tide over their problems in their childhood and
adolescence, is a must in schools," she said.
As one of the model schools in
developing mental education, Tongji High School established a psychological
consulting room in 1995.
The consulting room, where students gather every
other week, is very popular among the students.
"When I am overloaded with
homework or feel under great pressure from competitions, I always come to the
consulting teacher, who listens to my problems patiently and offers positive
advice," said Liu Xuemin, a senior student who will sit the upcoming college
entrance examination in June.
She added that the school counselors have
helped many students who are sharing similar problems with her. Especially
during the final exams period, a short conversation between the counselor and
the student may help a lot in relieving his or her anxiety.
Besides, a
telephone hot line, which is accessible to students every Saturday night from
6:30pm to 8pm, and different kinds of mental health activities, are all good
supplements to the school's psychological education.
A mental health class
has been warmly welcomed.
Students are encouraged to role play and discuss
mental problems with others during the class. After class, each student is asked
to write down his or her own problems on a piece of paper and then hand in to
the teacher.
The teacher, uses various methods, including counseling
sessions, tests and music therapy, in evaluating students.
"Since we launched
mental education, till now we have helped a number of students to solve the
problems that they encounter during their growth," said Shi Sen, headmaster of
Tongji High School.
"As one of the earliest schools to provide such education
in the district, our main purpose is not only to help them maintain mental
health, but also develop a positive outlook towards life," he added.
It is
considered that the earlier mental health education is introduced to children,
the better results it will yield.
Unlike their middle school counterparts,
primary school counselors get the related information mainly by observing young
children's actions in the classroom.
"Once I noticed a student who had been
in a bad mood for days and thus could not concentrate on his school work," said
Xu Jin, counselor of Shanghai Changbai No. 2 Primary School. "I tried to get
close to him and learned that he had been suffering from parents' continuous
quarrels."
Xu conferred with the teacher in charge of his class first and
then had a talk with the boy's parents.
"The parents said that they didn't
realize that they were depressing their son until I told them," she said. "This
is a common phenomenon these days."
Under the influence of Chinese
traditional culture, parents are reluctant to overly praise their children for
their achievements.
According to Xu, usually, if a child reaches an almost
perfect score, say 99, in the test, most parents won't praise him or her for the
good job. Instead, they will criticize the child for losing that one precious
point.
"Compared with grown ups, young children are especially sensitive.
Such criticism will make them feel inferior, and will negatively impact their
behavior as well," she said.
Yang di
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