this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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TBH, these issues speak of far wider reaching issues than just poor special needs/mental health support, if true.
It’s originates partly from historic traditional Chinese beliefs, and from the same cutthroat individualistic mentality that has allowed China to propel itself to absurd heights in such a short timeframe.
In a society where only the best of the best are worthy and can succeed, those deemed to be intrinsically “damaged goods” will simply be tossed to the wayside, as assisting, supporting, or accommodating them is a waste of time and resources that can be better allocated elsewhere. It’s the mentality of, “Why would we bother spending limited resources on a person who is already a failure and broken, when we can use that to help other children who are far more likely to succeed.”
Further, in a lot of societies, not just China, mental illness is seen as a weakness that is not tolerated. This is a worldwide problem that has only recently begun to change.
I get where it comes from (I'm ethnic Chinese, though my family is from Singapore). Hell, my own family had/has a lot of serious issues (fear/stigma/intolerance/disbelief) around mental health/neurodivergence/etc... I used to have a lot of serious issues around such things myself- I still struggle with it though I know better. Let's just say that with my own family history, my own personal experiences, my siblings' experiences, etc- between mental health, other circumstances, and Catholicism, I'm aware how bad it gets.
But the stigma is one thing (something I think is also pretty universal and unfortunately, a natural tendency of most societies- the west has only gotten ahead in this regard due to having the money and comfort for it in the past few generations to do so). Beatings (from teachers and peers) and discrimination is another thing altogether, as is the notion of tossing the "failure/broken" people away, at least the way you make it sound. And I get where these things are coming from as well, for instance (while I wasn't raised in Singapore) corporal punishment is a thing in Singaporean schools still to my understanding (beatings on the other hand? For poor exam results, not misbehavior?).
Perhaps I'm overthinking things. In some ways, minus the medication and diagnosis bits, all the same could probably be claimed with some considerable degree of truth, here in the west (and for many people, myself and my siblings included, they'll fall through the cracks anyways due to "parents' rights" and other nonsense). It also reminds me of the particular vulnerability of kids once again, which I didn't quite have in mind- I have extensive bad experiences myself but almost a decade into adulthood (27) maybe it's become easy to forget just how hopeless and helpless the experience universally is (whether it's perceived as such) to be a kid.