Colleges and universities require freshmen to sign a "suicide liability waiver", causing controversy

Colleges and universities require freshmen to sign a "suicide liability waiver" to cause controversy. Yesterday, more than 5,000 freshmen from Guangdong Dongguan Institute of Technology City College completed their registration, and they stepped into the campus...

Colleges and universities require freshmen to sign a "suicide exemption form" causing controversy. Yesterday, more than 5,000 freshmen from the City College of Dongguan Institute of Technology in Guangdong completed their registration. The first thing they did when they stepped onto campus was to sign a "Student Management and Student Self-Discipline Agreement" with the school. The agreement clearly states: "The students themselves bear responsibility for the consequences of suicide and self-injury." Submit the agreement before entering the campus. A month ago, Li Jun from Chaozhou received the admission notice and found that it also came with the "Student Management and Student Self-Discipline Agreement." Chapter 3, Article 27 of the agreement lists five situations in which students bear responsibility. The fifth agreement stipulates that students themselves bear responsibility for the consequences of suicide and self-injury. This freshman was very disgusted: "This is equivalent to the school providing you with food and accommodation, but not caring about whether you grow up healthily. If something happens to us at school, doesn't the school have any responsibility?" During the two days of registration on the 14th and yesterday, more than 5,000 freshmen simultaneously handed over the agreement signed by the students and their parents to the school. The clause caused heated discussion among students. Not long ago, at the City College of Dongguan Institute of Technology, a boy stabbed a girl in the dormitory because he failed to court her. For this reason, the agreement has aroused renewed discussion. A new student said, "I find it strange. I feel that the school lacks humanistic care and only uses cold agreements to shirk responsibility." A parent of a new student expressed dissatisfaction with this rule. He said that he sent his children here because he hoped that the school would have a safe environment so that parents could rest assured and let their children grow up. "If something happens to the child at school, our first reaction will be to find an explanation from the school. After all, we trust this school and that is why we send our children here." However, some students expressed their understanding because college students' suicide and self-injury can be caused by many factors, such as emotional problems, family problems, interpersonal problems, etc., and these factors are not necessarily caused by the school. College students become adults after they turn 18 and have the obligation to take responsibility for themselves. Most schools will provide mental health consultation, but some students have autistic tendencies and are unwilling to seek consultation. If these students commit suicide or self-injury, they should take responsibility themselves. The school claimed that the signed agreement had existed for a long time. The reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of the school on this matter. The person in charge told reporters that the meaning of the agreement is similar to a "warm reminder" and is a civilized agreement for students. The purpose is to inform freshmen of matters they need to pay attention to in the dormitory, so as to achieve the purpose of requiring self-discipline. For example, if a student fails to abide by the dormitory rules and climbs on the balcony and falls downstairs and gets injured, he or she will be responsible for it. The person in charge said that the terms of this agreement have existed for many years and are not aimed at the "emotional injury incident" that occurred not long ago. In fact, without such an agreement, students who violate discipline will be punished accordingly, and the school will not shirk its responsibilities because of this agreement. Such clauses are invalid. "How can we reach an agreement on matters related to life?" Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, told reporters that such clauses are not unique to Dongguan Institute of Technology City College. Many universities have similar "suicide exemption" clauses. In fact, such clauses are invalid. Xiong Bingqi suggested that if students’ health is truly taken into consideration, the university’s first priority is not how to exempt students from liability in the event of an injury, but should start by improving the school’s management and creating a good learning and living environment for students. "Signing an agreement is considered a safe education method, which shows how simple and rude the school's way of educating students is. How is this different from parents who do not reason with their children and ask them to sign an agreement not to make mistakes?" Related reading: Xiong Bingqi: "Exemption-free" education makes education less humane. Relevant surveys show that this "education method" has a tendency to spread in primary and secondary schools, and there are two main reasons why "exemption-free" education is popular. First, education is heavily administrativeized, and schools are run in a completely upward-responsible manner. Because higher-level authorities regard campus safety incidents as an important indicator for assessing school leaders and evaluating school operations, safety responsibilities are implemented at all levels of the school. Under the pressure of safety responsibilities, everyone would rather not respect the laws of education than get a "bad review" from the leader that would affect their position and job. "Suicide exemption form" is more like a kind of moral kidnapping. Chinese people have always been particular about auspiciousness, and they have to sign a "life and death agreement" when they first enter university. This makes people feel awkward, just like eating a fly in the rice bowl. In fact, as long as a student commits suicide or self-injury on campus, even if he signs such a liability waiver, the school cannot absolve himself of the blame. Because the liability waiver is suspected of having an overbearing clause, it is difficult for the school to escape involvement. I believe that fair laws will not ignore the facts and disregard the lives of students.