Naughty schoolboy spurs talk of solution

Parents should show more tolerance for other people's misbehaving children and help the "problem child" improve, according to education insiders and psychologists after public attention was drawn to the negative behavior of a boy in one school class.

Dozens of parents demanded the removal of the boy in their children's third-grade class.

China Daily is withholding the boy's identity and the name of his school to avoid subjecting him to public ridicule.

"We should be aware that there is a 'problem family' behind each 'problem child', and the child is actually a victim of the environment that he or she grew up in," said Qu Tingting, a teacher at an elite school in Shanghai's Fengxian district. "Their teachers, schoolmates and parents should embrace them and help them form desirable habits and personalities."

Recently, 45 parents whose children shared a class with the troubled boy, asked that the boy be removed. They said he is often disruptive and bullies classmates.

They held their own children out of school for several days in protest, even though final examinations were a few days away. Nearly two-thirds of the school's students didn't attend.

Parents said the boy hit a classmate in the head, tore others' textbooks, spit, screamed, danced in class and raised girls' skirts.

"Four teachers had been assigned to the class within the past year," Yang Biao, the school's Party chief, told ThePaper.cn. "The situation infuriated parents."

The school declined to comment on Thursday.

Despite the parents' strong opposition to the boy staying on in the class, the principal felt the child should not be abandoned.

"Not giving up on any child is not an empty slogan at our school," the principal, Xu Jin, was quoted as saying by ThePaper.cn. "I've met quite a few 'problem' children in my career, but we cannot reject or isolate them. That will hurt them even more."

The boy's parents are taxi drivers, parents said, and the father is often violent.

Psychologists said such children are usually lonely and lack love and care.

"They are angry at the violence of parents, and they bully vulnerable children as a way of venting," Lin said.

Qu noted the case of a fourth-grade girl last year who once pulled a classmate down the stairs, breaking bones.

The girl's parents were also ill-tempered, and the school persuaded them to get psychological counseling once a week for several months.

"The girl improved a lot, along with overall family relations. Her parents took her to an amusement park last month, which had never happened before," Qu said.