A recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers shows more than 80 percent of teachers have decided not to join "Occupy Central"; more than 60 percent of them do not condone the use of "civil disobedience" to make political gains; and nearly 70 percent of them are opposed to teachers encouraging students to join the movement.

The survey results clearly indicate the education sector is worried that "Occupy Central" will not only erode the students' faith in the rule of law but also hoodwink innocent teenagers into trashing their own future by joining illegal activities such as "Occupy Central".

Currently the evil tentacles of "Occupy Central" are snaking into local schools as the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) is busy distributing propaganda materials about "Occupy Central" in secondary schools while a principal went so far as to invite the initiator of the illegal campaign to preach his devious idea to the students.

Schools are grounds for nurturing future elites and must not become hotbeds for lawbreakers. Parents of students and education authorities should stand up against "Occupy Central" and stop it from poisoning the younger generation.

Schools are not merely for teaching knowledge. They are also venues for feeding students with rules of conduct, the right outlook on life and values as well as cultivating a strong sense of abiding by the law in the students. No matter what fancy trimmings the advocates put on "Occupy Central" they cannot change its illegal nature or hide the fact that it subverts Hong Kong's law-abiding tradition.

Still at the early stage of intellectual maturity, school students may not be able to tell the corruptive nature of "Occupy Central" and therefore are likely to buy the rebellious notion marketed by its advocates and join, not realizing they are destroying their own future by becoming a lawbreaker. Every responsible education worker should stand up against "Occupy Central" for the younger generation's sake.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on June 13.

(HK Edition 06/14/2013 page9)