Teenagers’ ability to forgive is positively correlated to their level of happiness, an education group said yesterday, calling for more interpersonal skills and conflict resolution courses to be taught in schools.
The Champion Education Association cited a recent poll conducted on 9,073 junior high school students at 63 schools in 24 counties and cities across Taiwan as showing that students who practice the principle of “forgive and forget” often experience a higher level of happiness and inner peace.
National Taipei College of Nursing professor Sam Ng (吳庶深) said the purpose of the poll was to start a discussion on what most teenagers view as hurtful and how they cope with insults or bad feelings.
Ng said the poll showed that teenagers were most often hurt by their peers when their friends or classmates gossiped behind their back, humiliated them in front of others or ostracized them.
Family-related turmoil such as divorce was the second-biggest source of hurt followed by conflicts with teachers, the professor said.
The poll also showed that teenagers were more likely to turn the other cheek when it came to being offended by their peers, but were not so forgiving of their parents and teachers.
“It is because teenagers expect their parents and teachers to care for them and love them unconditionally. They experience strong disappointment when these people fail them,” Ng said.
On the other hand, teenagers who understood and practiced the principle of “forgive and forget” often enjoyed better interpersonal relationships and hence experienced a higher level of happiness, he said.
The association recommended that more courses on emotion management be taught in schools to help students cope better with bullies or unpleasant situations at home.
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