(Minghui.org) As an educator in mainland China I’ve noticed some alarming phenomena. The competition between students is so intense that it affects their physical and mental health. Parents spend a lot of money, hoping their children succeed, or achieve things they hadn’t been able to themselves. I realize they do this because they love their children, but guiding students to pursue material gain without providing a moral compass may be leading the young generation in the wrong direction.
Teachers often judge their students’ success or failure based on their grades, and there’s no mention of moral or ethical qualities. I’ve also noticed that the moral and psychological condition of some teachers is worrisome.
What can we do? When I think about the guidance my parents gave me when I was young, I realize that those traditional values can help us get back on track. For example, my parents often explained that we should be good people because the divine is watching. I always remember this, and have followed it throughout my life. In modern society, especially in communist China, children are taught to believe in evolution and that the divine does not exist, so they stray further and further from mankind’s true values.
I recently provided psychological counseling for three adolescent boys, and I shared with them examples of traditional Chinese culture that my parents shared with me. People followed these values for thousands of years, but neither their parents nor teachers taught these students about them. Unfortunately these boys dismissed what I said. They did not believe in our moral connection with the divine, and based on evolution theories, they said people are no different from animals. I felt this explained their inappropriate behavior.
Another student I helped was a girl who suffered anxiety due to intense pressure from school. She said her father’s business went bankrupt during the COVID pandemic, so her family was now poor. Having to deal with these difficulties, her parents often argued, so the atmosphere at home was tense. The parents put all their expectations on the girl, encouraging her to excel and even do better than others.
I explained that my parents expected me to become a good person while doing well in school. But the girl said good grades were more important than being a good person. Otherwise, she would not have friends and would not be praised by teachers or even her own parents.
When I look back on my life, I feel thankful for what my parents told me so that I wouldn’t get lost in life. But it is no longer this case in China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) keeps pushing communism ideology starting from kindergarten. The Party alters history to fit the communist narrative, and even music and art are used to instill atheism and evolution theories into children.
Over time, the educational system in China has deprived youth of their inborn humanity. The CCP replaced traditional culture with communism’s core values: class struggle, hatred, and brutality. Living in communist China, I was also influenced by such ideology more or less, and doubted what my parents told me. This went for a long time until I came across Falun Dafa.
I like reading Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa, because the book brings me back to what parents told me, and I now understand even more. One time when I was depressed due to conflicts at work I did not know what to do. Opening Zhuan Falun, I read the section “Loss and Gain” in Chapter Four and I enlightened to many principles. The profound teachings explained why I encountered these problems and how to improve myself. I learned that this is part of cultivation practice, a process of constant self-improvement on the path of returning to my original, true self.
I had a better understanding of this after watching the movie, Once We Were Divine. Negative elements want to destroy humanity, and atheism and the theory of evolution are part of the arrangements to achieve the goal. Based on my experience and my observations, I feel that modern ideologies push people away from traditional values and our moral connection to the divine. If human beings came from the divine, doing this is essentially cutting off our roots and leading us to a future of uncertainty.
The situation is very dangerous and is explained in detail in the book, How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World. To make things worse, the CCP is also actively pushing the communist agenda across the world. Ne Zha 2, an animated movie released during the 2025 Chinese New Year, and heavily promoted by the CCP, has in fact distorted the sacred divine culture with communist ideology and degenerated elements. One quote from Ne Zha, “My fate is determined by me, not by heaven,” comes from communism, not traditional culture.
There’s an old Chinese saying, “Good is rewarded but evil is punished.” From Falun Dafa, I learned that the adversities in our lives are caused by our karmic debts, from either this or previous lifetimes. By continuing to be good and helping others, we improve ourselves and may be blessed with a better future. But if a person just competes with others for material interests or fame while ignoring moral standards, he or she could descend further on the path of no return.
Children are the future of our society. This is why I hope they embrace traditional values and get back on track.