Children express their hearts’ desires ahead of presidential elections

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3116 Edition

November 14-20

Headline News

Children express their hearts’ desires ahead of presidential elections

Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma

“If I were President, I would improve public order so that those dearest to me 
and innocent people wouldn’t be harmed. I would make sure that they wouldn’t be 
afraid to leave their homes or go to school,” said a 10-year-old girl.

She expressed her heart-cry at an event sponsored by Taiwan Fund for Children 
and Families (TFCF), a Christian organization, wherein 2,335 school-aged 
children across Taiwan were polled randomly in a survey called “Children’s 
heart-cry questionnaire.” Survey results carry a margin of error at 95% level 
of confidence.

The report discovered that more than 70% of children thought they weren’t 
physically healthy enough. Of these children, their top 5 worries included 
public safety, bullying at school, sexual harassment, the national education 
system, and intense academic pressures experienced my students nationwide.

Following this survey, TFCF called a press conference on November 9, 2011, 
where some of the children sampled were asked the same question. The press 
conference drew attention as it was held barely 2 months before Taiwan’s 
presidential elections.

One young girl said, “If I were President, I would find a way for little kids 
to live happily every day and not have to worry about facing so much pressure 
that they can’t sleep well at night, or suffer nightmares, headaches, and 
stomachaches. I would give people time and space to decompress.

“Children’s heart-cry questionnaire” also indicated that 83% of children didn’t 
feel safe and worried about safety. It also indicated that 33% of school 
children had witnessed bullying at school.

Based on this survey, TFCF created a summary entitled “The top 5 sources of 
pressure children face.” In this summary, the top 5 sources of pressure were, 
in decreasing order, worsening social order and decreasing age in young 
offenders, bullying on school grounds, public safety in face of increasing 
sexual assaults cases, concerns that what is learned at school will not be 
applicable in life, and spending long hours at school coupled with excessive 
homework and testing.