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'Troubled teens can't turn to teachers'

Published on Jun 20, 2003 The Nation

Experts yesterday blamed the distant relationships between teachers and students as a cause in the surge of aggressive behaviour among youths.

"Thai teachers rarely make themselves available to students as counsellors," said Nichet Sunthornpitak, a member of the National Culture Commission.

Nichet, speaking at a seminar at a Bangkok hotel yesterday called "Thai Society Pays Heed to Teen Behaviour", said he was shocked by a string of recent shootings in which teenagers were the offenders. He said it suggested that teens were becoming increasingly aggressive.

Nichet said he thought the aggressiveness was a result of the fact that adults have paid little attention to young people's emotional development.

"Most parents are too busy making a living, so they rarely make time to talk to their children about how they are feeling. At schools, teachers are engaged with their own business, so they can't act as a counsellors for the pupils either," Nichet said.

In fact, children spend more time at school than at home, Nichet said, but few educators can serve as mentors.

"More importantly, the academic-adviser system in schools doesn't work at all," said Nichet.

Kanokkorn Phruksakit, a youth representative from Thammasat University's faculty of liberal arts, said she felt that the relationships between students and academic advisers in institutions of higher education have become more impersonal.

"They meet only at the beginning of a new semester," she said.