The high pressure to compete for limited spots in university is a contributing factor to the high suicide rate in China among young people ages 15-34, according to this news report.
The story says:
Amid growing competition for university places and rising graduate unemployment, suicide is now the leading cause of death for Chinese people aged between 15 and 34, official media reported this week.
Nationwide, suicide is also the fifth leading cause of death across the entire population, the Beijing Evening Newsreported.
“We should prevent suicide in young people; in particular, suicides over the fact that they didn’t get high enough grades in the university entrance exam to get a place at their ideal university, and other reasons like that,” said Chinese U.S.-based medical doctor Jin Fusheng, who runs a private practice in Maryland.
“This is why we need to get the message out that all roads lead to [their goal],” he said.
“Suicide prevention requires a collective effort from communities, the media, families and the whole of society.”
According to figures from the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), 30 percent of the world’s suicides take place in China, where 250,000 people take their own lives annually.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If I were a student today, knowing what I know about the state of education and the economy my, I would not even attempt to go to college or give much credence to these tests. If there are no good jobs out there with or without a college degree, then I would not waste my time or put in the effort to graduate with excessive debt and no way to pay it back.
On top of that, those who put the economy in the tank are now looking down their noses at anyone they have victimized, calling hard working people “takers” and trying to take away social safety nets for those who had been functioning well until the vulture capitalists took over and decided to equate corporations with citizens and to claim that the givers are those with the “power” to give or take jobs from the rest.
This mess is not worth committing suicide for anyone who doesn’t catch a break. I would recommend to no one to attend college. I would tell everyone to avoid being a teacher. The only ones who truly cared more for the kids than themselves are being driven away from the possibility of rescuing those kids from the insanity.
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Right – if you’re going to kill someone, make it one of them and do some good while you’re at it.
(Kidding! I’m not recommending murder. Yet.)
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Deb – there’s nothing wrong with college. Those were the best four years of my life. Although you can be successful without college – my son-in-law makes a good living as a self taught computer programmer – a college degree gives you more choices in life. It also enlightens you to different ideas and ways of life. College is great. The debt is the problem. I recommend students choose a state school or one that offers a good package towards tuition.
That said, I agree that the teaching profession is not a good career choice at this time. Better to explore other options. It grieves me to say that, because teaching used to be an honorable way to make a living. Now we are treated like scum. Sigh!
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The outrageous expense of college is my point of objection. These tests are supposed to prove that students are ready for college that most can’t afford to begin with and that the jobs that are more and more available don’t pay enough to pay off the college debt. I have no objection to college per se … Just the expense that is never ending.
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The largest expense of attending college, at least at my institution, is not working full time, what economists call the opportunity cost. Tuition at my institution is a little under 10,000 a year, and the majority of students at my institution graduate with no student debt.
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We have an excellent State University system in NYS. Although tuition is about $7500 a year, it is doable, especially with TAP, Pell Grants, and other financial assistance based on need. Room and Board is another $7500.
In the city of Buffalo, they have a new program called Say Yes, where private funding has been raised that will pay the full tuition for any Buffalo student going to any SUNY or CUNY (state school in NYC). It also includes some other options, including Syracuse University (Go, Orange!). Hopefully this will motivate the kids to try a little harder. Of course, the reality will be that kids who are inclined to go to college will attend and be successful while kids who have no interest in higher education won’t bother – even if its affordable.
A small ray of hope for the future.
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Tuition to SUNY schools is certainly a good deal lower than tuition at public schools in New York. In the Rye School District tuition in the public school is over $20,000 dollars a year for K-5, over $25,000 for 6-12. Amazing that going to first grade is so much more expensive than going to college.
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I bet you have top notch schools in Rye. We have great schools in the suburbs, but the city of Buffalo, where the poverty is high, isn’t equitable. Although it costs more per student $25,000 vs l$15,000 or so per student, the “extras” aren’t there. Less sports, no after school programs, less technology, less music, art, gym, library, no computer instruction, less electives in high school, fewer guidance counselors or social workers, the list goes on.
Be grateful to NYS for affordable colleges. Although our taxes are high, our benefits are so much better than other states. You get what you pay for.
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When I visited Japan in the summer of 1987 (I worked with the English club at Waseda University in Tokyo), I learned that the suicide rate was high for men around 40 years old. The pressure to “succeed” made so many feel like failures once they realized there was no more career ladder for them to climb. They would invest their lives with a company, only to discover no more opportunity for them to ascend.
I also learned that the high school exit exam was everything. That determined what college one would attend (if any); once a student had the prestige of acceptance at a certain college, the Japanese students told me college was not taken seriously. All highed on that high school exam and subsequent college acceptance.
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*hinged*
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deutsch29
Thanks for your posting.
High suicide rate among 40s (and older) is still an ongoing trend in Japan.
The nation was enjoying a high time in a big economic bubble when you came in 1987. Yes, I still remember that time the then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone–an ally of Ronald Reagan just called for internationalization. Japan opened their closed national market to the US and international community. The Ministry of Education made changes on English curriculum. College graduates had a bright future. Many of those were able to get a job at a big corporate Japanese or becoming a public school teacher. They were the ones who got the benefits of bubble era most. But, certainly not for K-12 students. There was always pressure on students to succeed in academic achievement until they beat the hell out of entrance exam and got into a top-tier school like Waseda (Top 10 universities in Japan) to climb up a career ladder.
It’s just sad to see many students who get worn out after the hell of exams and lose energy for meaningful learning at college level–even learning English or any other foreign language. Today, getting into elite schools does no guarantee any promise for the students to get a job at big corporation or government ministry bureaucracy. It’s ironic that those who enjoyed the best time of national economy in the 80s are the ones who take their own life as the consequence of chronic economic recession in 2008.
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Something to consider as we aspire to emulate their “success”.
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It’s too high in this country, too. However, none of the teen suicides I’ve known killed themselves because of pressure to do well in school. There were many other factors involved.
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Chilling. But there is no evidence in the article of a cause-effect relationship between education-related pressure and suicide. There may be MANY other factors. How about the difficulty in finding a mate for heterosexual men as a result of sex-selective abortions (one child policy + preference for having a boy = high male to female ratio…see here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/14/opinion/china-challenges-one-child-brooks/).
Maybe it’s religious persecution. They’re not too fond of Christians and Muslims over there. Political oppression. Lack of human rights. The list of potential reasons for a high suicide rate goes on.
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“Maybe it’s religious persecution. They’re not too fond of Christians and Muslims over there.”
Who is the “they” and were is “over there”. Be careful with wording as Southeast Asia is quite a large area geographically with many countries, cultures, climates, histories, languages, etc. . . .
That sentence, which could have come out of any one of the right wing radio shock jock’s mouth, reeks of ASC, American (sic) Superiority Complex. C
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That ASC is the root of antiAmericanism. We are so pompous that we ignore cultural differences and create policies that are counter productive. We are still suffering from the actions of the insufferable British during the Crusades. And what were we thinking invading Iraq and then wanting to make them a democracy?
It’s the ASC that insists our children be better than those in other countries. Who cares? As parents we want our children to be well rounded and happy. We are more concerned about how they excel in their chosen sport than how they do in a global competition dominated by test scores. This whole philosophy is meaningless. Cream rises to the top – no matter where you are born.
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Ellen:
“The insufferable British during the Crusades” Can you be more specific? The “British” did not really exist at that point in time. The Crusades were a pan-European enterprise with the French, the Italian States, Holy Roman Empire/Teutons/Germans, Normans and the Byzantines playing major if not lead roles. The English were, despite the movies, a distinctly second rate power.
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Sorry Bernie. Perhaps I should have just said the English since I was referring to King Richard the Lion Hearted. I was thinking about how the Muslims still hold the nastiness of the Crusades against the Christians and Western Society in general. But it was the insufferable British who willy nilly divided up the Middle East without regards to historic or tribal boundaries. Who cares – they’re heathens.
And our country has done the same – think of our treatment of the Indians. And in 2013, Think of our treatment of the “illegals”. We don’t even think of them as human beings, they’re “aliens”. It’s okay to let them die in the desert. It’s okay to tear families apart. It’s even okay to shoot them dead.
ASC at it’s worst.
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Ellen:
First, I am British. Historically, like most Imperial powers Britain did good things, not so good things and some terrible things. Second, I was a Legal Alien and have abided by all US Immigration Laws – and I think other people should to. Third, you really need to read more about (a) the Crusades – all 8 or 9 of them depending on how you count them; (b) the emergence of the Arab Empire, the Sassanid Empire, the Seljuk Turks, the Ottoman Turks and their conflicts with the Byzantium Empire through the fall of Constantinople in 1453; (c) the Ottoman Empire and its administrative provinces, its invasions of the Balkans and Austria up to the walls of Vienna, and the Ottoman administrative boundaries, which will look familiar; (d) the role of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, British and Allied promises to secure the support of the Arabs during the War, and the League of Nations mandates after the War. In short, the Middle East has been a mess since Alexander’s destruction of the Persian Empire with plenty of bad decisions by all the major players at one time or another.
As for the attitudes of the Muslims towards the Crusades, that is a relatively modern phenomena and part of the growth of Arab Nationalism during the last 100 years. It is currently being used by Islamic Fundamentalists as anti-Western propaganda and to legitimate terrorism against the West. It is a nonsense since it ignores the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire in the area from roughly 1300 through the end of the First World War in 1918 – essentially 600 years of “control” by Muslims. (Please note that I am not questioning atrocities that occurred during the Crusades – all sides committed them.)
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I am so sorry Bernie, I did not intend to offend – which I seemed to do multiple times. In my defense, I was also hard on the US. I also broke one of my rules – not to judge the past by today’s standards. I was using a single stroke to represent the complexities of the Crusades. Your explanation was concise, and warrants further exploration on my part. The Muslim extremists have gone to great lengths to paint us as bad guys. And both the British and Americans have done a lot of good in the world. Sometimes our intentions are honorable, but the results don’t quite match the expectations. This is possibly due to our small picture vs big picture point of view. And we are full of ourselves here in the US (I just exhibited it by my previous comment). We can’t help ourselves.
For the record, my background is varied – half Jewish, half Christian with ancestors who came to this country as Puritans. French, Dutch, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, English, Austrian, German, Canadian – I’m a United Nations. Then I married a Catholic of Italian decent from Sicily. My brother (he married someone with Norwegian background) is doing our genealogy and discovered through my great, great grandmother, Lady Kincaid, that we are related to the Stewart family (I’m still waiting for my invitation to the Royal Wedding). Also King Malcolm who was killed by Macbeth. He’s also traced us to Braveheart. Even further down through Turkey and Serbia, he’s traced us back to the father of Alexander the Great. And we were on the wrong side of the conflict of the Jews who celebrate Hanukkah. It was my ancestor who made them pray the candles would last eight days. Since I’m of Jewish descent – this was playing both sides of the fence. Now, I’m not sure I believe all this nonsense, but it’s fun to think you were a part of world history (did I say we were also related to Cleopatra).
Again, my apologies. Long live the Queen. And God bless America.
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Ellen:
I was not offended in the least by what you said. My issue is precision and accuracy. The reason why I was irritated by this particular post is that it egregiously misrepresents reality by failing to provide the background necessary to interpret some superficially large numbers. All suicides, especially young suicides, are likely tragedies, but it is irresponsible to report things without providing the relevant context. Unfortunately too many people will still believe that the suicide rate in China is incredibly high among college age people. The available WHO data simply does not support this notion. Please note that it might in fact be the case — but to my knowledge there is no way of checking the assertion beyond using WHO numbers.
My response to your comment is because you presented an oversimplified and historically inaccurate picture of what happened during the Crusades and in the Middle East in general.
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Bernie, I agree that we don’t have enough data to support the theory that Chinese students are taking their lives due to high stakes tests. However, I do believe, through talks with Asian acquaintances, that suicide is common, especially in Korea. My friend has lost numerous family members who committed suicide and she said that this was not unusual.
Suicide is ugly and hurtful. There’s too much in the US. I’ve lost dear friends and my daughter has gone to two funerals (a co worker and a fellow college student) in her short life. She’s a member of a Suicide Awareness group which had a fund raising walk this past September. There are other groups as well.
Even knowing that, I was still surprised at the WHO stats indicating, what I consider, a high suicide rate in the United States. I obviously know it happens, I just didn’t realize it was so prevalent. This is not 1929. What are we doing to ourselves? Make it stop!
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Ellen:
The US data shows no material change in rate over the last 50+ years. The interesting thing is to compare change in rate by age group. In the US, the 15 to 24 rate is 10 and rises gradually to 16.8 for 75+. In China it is 6.9 per 100,000 for 15-24 year olds but rises sharply to 70.7 for those 75 and older.
Click to access unitstates.pdf
As an aside, you will note that the suicide rate for women barely changes with age. For men, it increases more dramatically. (This may provide a factual basis for the old joke about why do American men die before their wives? Because they want to. See, I do have a sense of humor. )
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Interesting! And Ha, Ha.
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Duane,
1. The article and blog post are about China, as is my reply. I didn’t feel the need to be specific since the blog post and the article were specific enough. Anyone without an agenda would know that “over there” meant “China” and “they” referred to those with power to make decisions in China”. You created a problem with my post where none existed so you could spew your talking points.
2. You attempt to lump me in (“That sentence…”) with what you sneeringly refer to as “right wing shock jocks”. How do you know what my political affiliations are? It is a fact that in China there is political and religious oppression. It is also a fact that the culture favors male children and there have been sex-selective abortions as a result of that and the one-child policy. One need not be right- or left-wing to acknowledge these negative aspects of Chinese culture.
Have an open mind, dude. Not everyone is looking to score political points here. I was just pointing out that there are myriad possible reasons for a high suicide rate in China. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Since I misinterpreted what you wrote, my advice is to be just a little more careful in how you word things as I did not interpret it in the way you have explained here and saw it as a closed minded statement by an “ignorant” (and by ignorant I mean not knowing while believing to know) American (sic). Just calling them as I read them.
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Duane:
I read SC Math Teacher’s statement exactly as he/she intended and I saw no sign of ASC – though it would not have bothered me if I had unless the expression included untrue facts or misrepresentations. The pattern of gender and age group suicides in China certainly is intriguing in its uniqueness.
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Duane, it was obvious that the writer was referencing China, perhaps she’s not the “ignorant” one.
And just because we are American doesn’t mean we are stupid. Isn’t that what all the fuss is about? We don’t feel the need to compete with other countries because we always come our on top anyway. We will compare our brightest and best to theirs any day of the week. (I’m being pompous on purpose).
And if they are so smart, why do they have to study every waking hour?
We want our children to have opportunities outside the academics. Getting an A is nice, but it’s not everything. And passing a silly test means nothing. Actually even less now than before since the questions don’t match the coursework or age level of the child.
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I generally try to read all the comments before responding to any one in particular so as to not be redundant as many times others will have already said what I was going to comment on. Considering that other countries had been already mentioned in other posts/responses my response took all those into consideration which perhaps I shouldn’t have because up to SC Math Teacher’s response only Japan had been mentioned. So, my bad in that regard.
However to suggest that religious persecution has much if anything to do with suicide rates in China seems rather ludicrous to me and I did not spell that aspect out either, again my bad.
But the they, over there and religious persecution came together in my mind (remember all communication involves a sender and a receiver) to be one of the “poor poor persecuted religious minority” that the white horse riding Americans (sic) need to save” from the forces of evil because obviously it’s causing these suicides seems to me to be “ignorant”. (And no, that doesn’t mean that because someone is American means that they are stupid-Ay ay ay).
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Duane – Religious persecution does exist in Asia and the Middle East and Africa. Whether it results in suicide – I don’t know. It does result in migration, to refugee camps in nearby countries and to western countries, including the US. The government is not specifically looking to stop religious persecution (although that is included in our call for human rights), but they are trying to provide a place for these people to live.
We have a LARGE refugee population in Buffalo. Right now the Burmese are coming in large numbers. When refugees became an issue, the United States government decided to select the Rust Belt cities, who had lost the steel industry, as a good place for their resettlement.
We have an International School in Buffalo where about 56 languages are spoken. Students are required to take the state assessments after one year of education, regardless of their background. When their school did not do well, Commissioner King threatened to close it. Instead a suburban vocational center agreed to let them sign up for programming – so half their day is spent in either automotive repair or culinary arts or cosmetology or day care skills, etc., and the rest day is spent at their school. Most of the attendees are obviously Asian – as noted by photographs in the Buffalo News. Interesting solution.
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Suicide is common not only in China, but also Japan and Korea. The stigma of bringing dishonor to ones family culminates in such strong feelings of guilt that they feel suicide is their only option. Their societal structure molds this climate and makes escape almost impossible. Even if they move to other countries, they bring their shame with them and the results (suicide) continue.
We have a suicide problem too, but not as extreme. Our pressures are to conform – but many young men who are gay feel compelled to take their life rather than be ridiculed by society. Many suffer from depression which goes undiagnosed because they are afraid to admit their problem. Some, like the Asians, can’t meet their family’s expectations.
Too many unnecessary deaths because of the rigid rules and expectations of our societies. The United States doesn’t need to add exam frenzy to the list.
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I recall our priest in a recent sermon saying that suicide in the United States among those 35 to 64 rose 30% from 1999 to 2010.
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Priest, as in Catholic?
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No, Duane. Episcopalian. I was raised Presbyterian (USA), and was reconfirmed Episcopalian when I married my husband. I have never had negative regard for my religious upbringing. I like it. I like church.
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Ellen:
You need to check the actual numbers.. They are readily available at the WHO site.
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“A small price to pay for global domination,” mused Thrix. “Efficient, too — those who elect to thus remove themselves from the gene pool are most likely the weak-minded and minimally productive, those who might otherwise have been a drain on resources. All in all, I declare this a win-win for those of us in the driver’s seat.”
His nearest associate, Mr. Wayne, nodded in thick-jowled agreement. This was repeated across the table until every one of the assembled personages were grunting and nodding vigorously.
Thrix proposed a toast. “To testing,” he said, holding aloft the blood-red contents of his goblet. “May it drive our future workforce to ever greater productivity!”
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You have to wonder – what about people like Edison who was labeled an idiot by public school standards and ended up being home schooled? Many of our brightest and best did not make good students. School was too rigid and their minds were creating instead of memorizing facts. I know a lot of “smart” kids who would be considered failures and numerous “underachieving” students who ended up millionaires.
Where does this fit in to this current philosophy of education?
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Interestingly, Gates was one of those.
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Atypical learners seem to be involved with his push for learning with out the need to have a teacher in the room. Those who shunned the education offered by public schools seem to have found collective voice via technology. Since they weren’t happy following requirements of public education, they seem to have found a way to undermine it. It is as if they think that those with learning differences should take the lead. You can look at the number of “geniuses” who couldn’t fit into a classroom of any sort. So now we are faced with their view of “what is best” for everyone.
I am not anti tech but I am antidehumanization. I simply don’t want the world to become more like Bill Gates or Einstein or Edison or Sheldon Cooper. I don’t think you can force anyone into enjoying high tech any more than you can male everyone like classical music or Picasso or to become athletic when their joints aren’t adept or artistic when they just don’t like it. I don’t even think you can make everyone want to read … Let alone read the same book.
A teacher at my school has taught 4th graders via The Lord of the Rings all year long. I would have pulled my hair out if I had been in his class. There is an obsession with some people to make everyone else see education as some static knowledge about certain things. I think we have jumped the shark.
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deb – your comment that atypical learners who could not function in a normal classroom are leading this movement – has opened my eyes.
My philosophy is: Just because you were once a student doesn’t make you an expert on education.
That’s our problem – people in power making decisions about education based on their personal experiences and not on reality. Some of these policy makers didn’t even go to public school. They are just using their childhood impressions about public education.
Oh boy! We are stuck in muck. How long will it take to get ourselves free?. (I just hope it’s not quicksand).
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deb – As a school librarian I always hated when teachers used inappropriate books for the age level. Tolkien is great, but not for the average fourth grader. There are other fantasy books out there that would have been more enjoyable. If she wanted classic she could have read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis.
My philosophy (I worked at a Gifted and Talented school): Just because you CAN read it, doesn’t mean you should!
That’s one reason I’m annoyed at CCSS – the recommended books are “miscast”.
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This is a male teacher obsessed with Lord of the Rings, even carries a metal lunch box. He is 53 years old. It is just bizarre.
I never liked having someone else’s favorite book or movie or song or era of history shoved down my throat. I developed becoming kind of a reverse snob from people who shoved their preferences at me. I’d rather that let people keep it to themselves. I love for kids to read what THEY enjoy.
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I’ve met people like that teacher. Since Tolkein is his passion, perhaps he is making this fun for the kids.
Free reading (and an accessible school library) is the best way to develop reading skills. However, there are certain baseline books that children need to read, such as Charlotte’s Web.
Being children, they tend to find one genre and stick with that, so the teacher or librarian needs to help them explore other types of books. I used to have a “Love my book” session where I would put all sorts of books for the kids to skim through. They had to rate their books – Love at first sight, I’d like to get to know you, Maybe I’ll see you later, Not my cup of tea. We shared our results, then they could pick one to check out.
I miss being a school librarian.
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” I know a lot of “smart” kids who would be considered failures and numerous “underachieving” students who ended up millionaires.”
It’s wonderful that being a millionaire is such a well-established status/achievement symbol that one doesn’t think twice about referencing it.
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I was just referencing millionaire to indicate that test scores and grades are not an indicator of success. And being a millionaire makes one comfortable. To be rich you need to be a billionaire. Although you can be successful and still be poor, I’d rather have the money.
My goal was to save a million dollars. Then, I thought, half a million would be good. After awhile I decided that a quarter of a million would do. Now I’m retired and with my bonus I’m thrilled to have an eighth of a million (sounds better than $125,000). My brother, the banker, tells me my pension is worth two million. So I guess I’m “rich” or at least be able to afford my lifestyle. I feel blessed, especially compared to the laid off and retired teachers in Detroit.
I have no idea how people live on minimum wage. (read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich).
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Diane:
This type of article is so bad it drives me absolutely nuts. The give away is the total absence of any comparative information.
While it is probably smart to be cautious about any Chines Government data, the latest available WHO numbers show that the overall rate of suicides for Males in Mainland China is 13.0 per 100,000 (1999). It is 17.7 in the US (2005), 10.9 in the UK, 29.0 in Finland(2009), 36.2 in Japan (2009), 39.9 in Korea (2009) and 53.9 in the Russian Federation.
There is no indication that suicide rates among the young in China are very different than elsewhere – given the overall level in the society – in fact they appear to be markedly lower than the US in this 2005 compilation..
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414751/
Much more disturbing is that China appears to be the only country in the world where the suicide rate among women is higher than among men. Now that is something worth exploring.
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Bernie, I was just looking at those WHO figures for suicide rates per 100,000 for young people aged 15-19:
China (selected rural and urban areas), as of 1999: Males 10, Females 14.8
Hong Kong, as of 2009: Males 19.0, Females 10.7
United States, as of 2005: Males 17.7, Females 4.5
But the data for 2006 for the US is: Males 11.57, Females 2.83
So, the Chinese numbers are much higher.
The “selected urban and rural areas” is suspicious. Who “selected” what and why?
Clearly, the Hong Kong numbers are very high.
In Japan, as of 2009, the numbers were very high: Males 36.2, females 3.2
The high female suicide rates in China is interesting. One study showed that the rates were considerably lower for women living away from home (not with their parents).
A study of school-related stress in China:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEgQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fadc.bmj.com%2Fsite%2Fmisc%2FStress_and_psychosomatic_symptoms_in_Chinese.pdf&ei=mj2iUvUo08mxBKTEgcgF&usg=AFQjCNHCze4WYuWoT4Q9Sx5TOgzbNR2pCw
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I should have said that the numbers for China appear to be much higher. Reliable data exist only for Hong Kong. The data that do exist for the rest of China show males about equal to males in the US in 2006 and females a lot higher, however, a different study that I looked at said that the figures for suicide rates in China as a whole are unreliable, though that study did not go into detail.
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Robert:
You have 10 per 100,000 for China and 17 per 100,000 for the US.
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It’s very interesting to me that
The Business Roundtable
The Chamber of Commerce
The Hoover Institution
The Heritage Foundation
The American Enterprise Institute
and
ALEC
those bastions of freedom, want to emulate the educational systems of places like the People’s Republic of China and the old Soviet Union, that they can’t wait until we have a Common Core Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth making the decisions formerly made by a free people.
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Robert:
Undoubtedly the numbers need to be looked at more carefully. But that is really the job of the author of this lousy article. Throwing out raw numbers without baseline information is close to malpractice IMHO. It took me less than 5 minutes to isolate and think about the numbers. You probably took even less – thanks to me! 😉
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You are certainly right about that, Bernie. The relevant info, in reliable form, is not available, though we do have reports that the PRC Ministry of Education is worried about the high stress levels of Chinese students and is calling for less homework and outside test prep.
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Here was my reasoning, Bernie. The 10 percent number for Chinese males is VERY close to the 11 percent (2006 number) for U.S. males, and the number for Chinese females is higher. Furthermore, the “selected” nature of the general Chinese data suggests government tinkering, so if that data is wrong, it’s probably on the low side. And then, for Hong Kong, for which there is reliable data, the numbers are quite a bit higher in China. Of course, that’s guesswork. You are right that we really don’t have the data on this.
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South Korea, which has lots of Christians, tops the world in suicide rates. Japan is also up there also Greenland. So I guess the cause is not religious persecution.
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Harold, According to the WHO the Russian Federation has the highest suicide rate.
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And that’s even on top of all the joy juice they drink!!
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I’ve learned so much by reading your comments which only confirm what I expected. However, Russia’s high suicide rate is a surprise. It must be all those people who live in Siberia (they’ve taken to using chunks of ice to make music – and those are the survivors).
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The next thing you know, they’ll be advocating this in the US as a solution to poverty, homelessness, and student debt.
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TTT:
The data in the story provides little support for the thesis that increasing competition and pressures to get into Universities are increasing the rate of suicides. The rates for young college aged Chinese are relatively low (though the most recent WHO compiled data is from 1999.)
Click to access chin.pdf
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Can you even get away from student loans by dying? I think there’s a clause that your parents, children, spouse or other surviving relations have to keep up the payments into perpetuity.
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The problem that students face is that lenders might not believe their promise to give the money back. Making it hard to break the promise makes the lenders more willing to give them the money in the first place.
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TTT:
Who will be advocating suicide in the US? I believe I have as good a sense of humor as most – but I do not find your comment remotely funny.
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Tongue in cheek! (i.e. Sarcastic like Shelley’s eat babies article).
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Wonder who tops the U.S. where mass killing and suicide by young adults & teens randomly or intentionally shoot kids and teachers out of rage (mental illness)?
I’m not concerned so much with who tops who in rates of suicide as I am more concerned with prevention of these incidents.
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