Bad influence

Zhou Jianbang (www.wfnews.com.cn): Hitting symbolic items in the emotion release room can ease students' negative emotions temporarily, but we cannot ensure that these students won't continue this kind of behavior in the real world when they have grown accustomed to dealing with situations by violence.

The essence of education is motivating positive aspects of human nature rather than exaggerating the negative. Therefore, teachers should sow seeds of goodwill and offer students a good and suitable environment for the growth of goodwill rather than letting them hit imaginary enemies in a room.

Li Jianbo (www.jyb.cn): This kind of emotion release room has many apparent side effects.

First, it may lead to an inclination to violence. When they hit hard symbolic objects in the room, students gradually form the habit of solving problems with violence. When they come out of the room and encounter anything disappointing in real life, they are likely to release negative emotions in the same way as they did in the room. Therefore, the habit of attacking things is cultivated and their desire for destruction and the inclination toward violence will be increased.

Second, students may confuse the real and virtual world after staying in these rooms for too long. Stress, a complicated issue, can arise for a multitude of reasons. Releasing stress on other objects rather than discovering any problems in oneself will cover up the truth. Although stress may disappear temporarily, it has not been eliminated. It's not releasing stress but accumulating stress, which may cause bigger problems in the future.

Finally, it will give students the bad habit of feeling impatient and irritated whenever something bad happens. This will affect their future.

When saving a person, you should save the heart. An emotion release room cures the symptoms, not the causes of the disease. For now, if students are too stressed, teachers should talk to them, give them psychological consultations and teach them scientific and rational ways to release negative emotions.

Chen Jian (www.newssc.org): Although this kind of emotional release will reduce stress to some degree, the nature of it is attaining pleasure in a way against public order. If we allow this to happen without doing anything, it will lead to great increases in students' wrong behaviors and even inclination to violence and crime.

In order to release negative emotions, students can watch plays, travel, do sports or talk to others. Emotional release should be guided in the correct way. Violence in a room is not the right choice. We can't forget the basic moral order when releasing our negative emotions.

Wei Bo (The Beijing News): I oppose setting up emotion release rooms in schools, where students can release negative emotions through violence.

Is violence the only way to release negative motions? Do schools have any scientific theoretical basis for setting up such rooms? Will students become addicted to violence if they get used to solving problems violently? Will they subconsciously consider violence lawful and rational in the future? When they lose access to this kind of room in the future, will they choose other ways to release their negative emotions violently?

I think students should ease anxiety, stress or even sorrow via colorful extracurricular activities, such as doing sports and singing. As for students with psychological problems or who are inclined to be violent, schools should consider charity education, making them volunteers and letting them visit orphanages or hospitals from time to time. When they see poor people who need help, caring and love in society, they will have greater social responsibility and the ability to feel sympathetic for others.

If conditions allow, schools can organize summer or winter camps for students and their parents to attend together. During the vacation, students can observe the rising sun or stars and get new experiences of life. These brand new and revelatory experiences will inspire their souls. These experiences are natural and in accordance with natural instincts.

Sadly, there are fewer and fewer activities enabling students to get closer to nature. Safety in the outdoors is important but we can't stop giving them greater access to nature just because it may be dangerous. Getting closer to nature is a very good way to release stress, which should be paid more attention to by schools and universities instead of establishing emotion release room.

Further, the reason students are so upset and have to go to an emotion release room is they are under too much stress in the current education system. We should do more in this respect.