Reflection 217                       Previous reflections                   Resolution                The 16 Documents of Vatican II 

Based on the 1965 Vatican 2 document:
DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
DIGNITATIS HUMANAE - 8

"Wherefore this Vatican Council urges everyone, especially those who are charged with the task of educating others, to do their utmost to form people who, on the one hand, will respect the moral order and be obedient to lawful authority, and on the other hand, will be lovers of true freedom - people, in other words, who will come to decisions on their own judgment and in the light of truth, govern their activities with a sense of responsibility, and strive after what is true and right, willing always to join with others in cooperative effort".

The above is a hot topic in Hong Kong these days (July 2012).
On July 29 more than 30,000 people took to the streets to protest against what they (and many school administrators) fear is an attempt to brainwash children through a new program called "National Education".
One aim of the program, in its own words, is to produce children so much in love with China that they will be moved to tears each time they hear the national anthem". Parents fear that program aims to produce children who be lovers of the Communist Party rather than lovers of China.

Program purports to have the aim of producing children who think for themselves....but details of program show that such thinking really means thinking as the Party wants you to think

Jesus, please help all schools be places that truly encourage children
to think for themselves