Scenario 1 

Miss Chan is a S.1 class teacher. She is concerned about her students' emotional wellbeing and learning. 
Since September, she has noticed that a few students look distressed, not smiling at all in class. Some 
students appear to be quite dominating and attention seeking. A number of students wrote in their weekly 
journal that they found school life boring, and did not like their classmates. Her students do not have 
serious behavioural problems but there is not much class spirit. She wonders what she can do to help 
her students.

Scenario 2 

Mr. Lee is an IS teacher teaching S.2 and S.3 students in a neighbourhood CMI school. His students' 
academic performance is quite average and no serious misbehaviors have occurred. He joined the school 
2 years ago and has been teaching the students since their S.1. This year he found some students who 
used to be verbal and participative in class activities remarkably changed --- now being reticent and 
reluctant to speak up. One secretly revealed to him that she doesn't want to be too "smart" in the group. 
On the other hand, some students seem to enjoy their attention-seeking behaviour. During the recent 
Parents Day a few parents reflected the concern that their children have started going out late. They can 
spend hours speaking to peers over the phone or keeping themselves in their bedrooms and just don't 
want to talk to their parents despite a satisfactory parent-child relationship described by the parents. 
Mr. Lee feels that he might need to do something ......"

Mr. Jones: Hello, June, you wanted to see me about something. How can I help you?        
June:           I want to drop one of my subjects…Physics. 
Mr. Jones: You've decided to drop Physics? You do that with Mr. Wong. 
June:           I know it's not your subject, but I wanted to have a chat with you about it first. 
                     He'll go mad when I tell him, but I'm so far behind with my assignments,  I feel I'll 
                     never catch up. We've got another one to do today and I've not done the last two yet. 
Mr. Jones: You feel Mr. Wong will be angry with you for dropping Physics, but somehow you don't see any alternatives? 
June:          Yes, he told me when I started how hard it was going to be and I only got a C in my HKCEE, so he said then 
                     I would have trouble keeping up. 
Mr. Jones: You expected it to be hard, but you still wanted to do Physics. 
June:           I really want to be a children's doctor, I always have, so I need three science subjects...... and I used to enjoy 
                      Physics. We had a great teacher there who explained things properly, and you could ask him questions without 
                      being made a fool of. 
Mr. Jones: So you need Physics to go on to medicine, but you're not enjoying the subject as much as you did at school? 
June:          It's not that I'm stupid, but Mr. Wong seems to skip over things quickly, saying that we've already covered 
                     this somewhere else, and when I said that I hadn't  done it, he just looked at the boys in the class as though......
                     well you know ....... it makes me feel uncomfortable.  

[adapted from MT Yuen, 2005, HKU PGDE ES Strand 1 Learning Guide (2005-06)]

During the teen years, adolescents experience changes in their physical development at a rate of speed unparalleled since 
infancy. Huebner (2000) believes that there are three major physical changes: (1) Rapid gains in height and weight; (2) 
Development of secondary sex characteristics; (3) Continued brain development. These changes may bring about the 
following consequences: 

(1) Teens frequently sleep longer;
(2) Teens may be more clumsy because of growth spurts;
(3) Teenage girls may become overly sensitive about their weight;
(4) Teens may be concerned because they are not physically developing at the same rate as their peers;
(5) Teens may feel awkward about demonstrating affection to the opposite sex parent;
(6) Teens may ask more direct questions about sex.

Tom was a student in S.2 in a school that emphasized heavily on academic achievement. Most of the students in the school 
were of average ability. Tom's parents contacted Mr./Ms. Tsang, the class-teacher and Chinese teacher, for help. Tom's 
parents considered that Tom did not have any goals in life; he simply wasted time at home playing electronic games and 
did not care about study. Mr./Ms. Tsang interviewed Tom. Among other things, Tom revealed that he was a member of the 
school basketball team in P.6. He wanted to join the basketball team in this school. However, the secondary school basketball
team coach, Mr. Chu, did not think he was suitable for playing in the team so he was never chosen. He believed that Mr. Chu 
was not fair to him and he would not have any chance to play in sports in this school. He was also angry with his classmates 
and isolated himself from them. In the classroom, Tom seemed to be sleepy and withdrawn from learning activities.

A 13-yr-old F.1 girl was found dead one summer evening whilst socialising with peers in a disco at Mongkok. It was 
suspected that her death was due to drug abuse, possibly associated with peer group influence. 

School remarked that the girl was of a pleasant personality, well-behaved, courteous and academically high performing. 
She had been involved in offering voluntary remediation help to the junior students. 

The father is a truck driver. Parents got divorced months ago. The girl  and the elder brother were under the custody 
of the mother, living in Yuen Long. Family is currently on social security support. As described, the girl had recently 
started to mix with unpleasant peers, and an abrupt change in her behavior and attitude had been noted. 

(Source: Apple Daily, 27/7/2006)

Scenario 2: 

A study was conducted by the Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005 using peer influence to turn adolescents away 
from tobacco use. The project involved 350 adolescent students attending a number of small group workshops led by 
their older peers. The sessions dealt with health risks associated with tobacco use, how to set goals for a tobacco-free 
lifestyle, how to overcome peer pressure to smoke, and the influence of media and advertising on tobacco use....... 

Dr. Steven Danish, the Director of the Life Skills Centre in VCU Dep't of Psychology commented that peer pressure is the 
main reason why kids smoke, and it would be helpful to have their peers help them fight against smoking. 

(Source: Richmond Times, 8/2/2005)

Ken was an S.4 student in a secondary school with many high ability students. He studied Chinese, English, Maths, Physics, 
Chemistry, Biology, A.Maths, and Music. During S.3 he started to play music and sing in a band. He won a distinction prize 
in an inter-school singing competition. His academic results at S.3 were above average. However, at S.4 level he was not 
attentive in class and his test results were poor. Ms/Mr Tsang, his class-teacher, interviewed Ken after the first academic term. 
In the interview Ken revealed that he was not interested in Maths and Sciences but very interested in Music. He had a number 
of friends involved in playing music. His elder sister was studying Economics in the University. His father was a computer        
programmer and wanted Ken to be an engineer. His mother was a primary school teacher and was very supportive to Ken. 
In future, Ken would like to work in the music business field. He wanted to change his study to Economics and Accounting.

Here are some students' responses to the question "which social issue concerns you the most?"

Student A: The pressure faced by students concerns me the most. We have to tackle exams, tests and homework, and we 
                  face a lot of pressure to excel at school.        

Student B: I'm concerned about the adverse effects of the education system. To impress parents and teachers, students have 
                 to perform well academically. Many students lead stressful lives. I get a headache when I'm under pressure.        

Student C: Campus violence is my biggest concern. Sometimes, my classmates argue over trivial matters. My classmates 
                 fight only occasionally - most students at my school are well behaved. But some schools in my neighbourhood 
                 have a problem with violence. I've heard that there are frequent fights in those schools.        

Student D: I'm very worried about teenage suicide. I often read about teenagers jumping off buildings. They take their own 
                 lives because of study pressure, or love affairs or family problems. I feel very sad every time I read or hear such 
                 news. 

Student E: I'm concerned about teenage violence in my neighbourhood. I am sometimes bullied by my classmates and I 
                 see shady characters waiting outside our school to pick up their friends. Teenagers are easily influenced and can 
                 fall prey to triads. 

(Source: South China Morning Post, 22/2/2007) 

Scenario 1:

A 17-year-old Japanese boy, John (pseudonym) suffers from a social disorder known in Japan as hikikomori, which 
means to withdraw from society. 

Three years ago, a classmate taunted him with anonymous hate letters and scrawled abusive graffiti about him in the 
schoolyard. The bullying made John very unhappy in school and began to play  truant. Then one day, he walked into 
the family's kitchen, shut the door and refused to leave. Since then, he hasn't left the room or allowed anyone in. 

The family responded passively and softly as everybody says give it time,  it's a phase or he'll grow out of it. His mother 
takes meals to his door three times a day. The toilet is adjacent to the kitchen, but he only baths once every six months. 

One psychologist has described the condition as an "epidemic", which now claims more than a million sufferers in their 
late teens and twenties. The trigger is usually an event at school, such as bullying, an exam failure or a broken romance. 

(Source: BBC news; Japan: The Missing Million:, 20/10/2002) 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/2334893.stm
       

Scenario 2: 

The number of young people who spend their lives locked in their bedrooms has tripled in the past two years to as many 
as 18,500, a welfare group's estimate shows. 

In Hong Kong, the welfare group warned the latest figure was only the tip of the iceberg because most cases did not come 
to light until their families sought help. 

From the cases that the group handled, some had isolated themselves for as long as six years, with the youngest being just 
12. About 80 per cent would kill time surfing  the internet or playing computer games. Fifty-two per cent would watch 
television and 39 per cent would idle away the hours in a dark corner at home. 

Characterised by their lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, these young people usually did not perform well at school, 
and almost 60 per cent only had Form Three qualifications at most. Many of them become evasive and eventually choose 
to lock themselves up in their  bedrooms during the day and only came out to have food or take a shower. 

(Source: South China Morning Post, 15/1/2007)