Chinese Students Protest in Beijing

The Chinese government has fallen victim to student protesting. It is commendable that the citizens of this communist country are trying to achieve what our forefathers did for us over 200 years ago. The students say that they are protesting for “democracy” and “freedom”--for better living conditions, for more dormitory space, for better food. These students are guilty of lacking every conceivable notion as to what democracy is.

One student, appearing on the CBS “Evening News” with Dan Rather from Beijing, said that she graduated from high school as a chemistry student and then subsequently entered Beijing University (one of the best in China). She is halfway through with her studies and complained to Rather that the unviersity limits her freedom by not allowing her to change majors. She fails to understand her government has invested a lot of time and money into her education that could have been spent on someone else. It cannot be wasted on her changing her mind. In the U.S., everyone is given an opportunity for a college education, but not so in China; but for the few elite that do, it is free.

The protesting students fail to realize that there is a price to pay for democracy and freedom, and it’s not just of monetary value. Our country is paying that price in the drug problems of every city, especially our nation’s capital; there is plenty of crime. The students don’t even know what democracy is, and they are crying for it.

Many of the students in Tian An Men Square are calling for the resignation of China’s senior leader, Deng Xiaoping. It is ludicrous that they don’t remember that only a decade ago Deng was able to bring reforms of modernization and relaxing of communist pressures against the people. Without such reforms, they would not be able to be protesting.

The Education Commission should not stand for the petulance of these students.

TEH-HAN P. CHOW

Northridge