Comment on "An antidote to money-oriented education" (China Daily, May 11)

Trying to control students' overall development and make them focus on exams and thus success is not the best form of education.

It seems that many students, especially those in high school, are not allowed enough time to get to know themselves. As a result, they spend too much time in classes where teachers try to tell them "who they should be" or "who they should try to become".

Students have almost no time for developing themselves or finding their own hobbies, or spending time with their families.

It's one thing to teach students what kind of person he/she should try to become, but it's another to lead them down that path. If teachers really want to inspire students to excel, they need to elevate themselves first.

But this burden cannot be borne by teachers alone. Parents and other members of society should also set a good example for students, or they will grow up to be the same as their forefathers.

Many older people tend to decry the moral destruction among today's youth. But they fail to recognize that it is their own shortcomings that have brought about that destruction. There is a saying that "it takes a village to raise a child", and the better the village the better will be the child.

Matt Smith, on China Daily website

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(China Daily 05/16/2011 page9)