Schoolchildren in Taiwan are less happy

In its latest edition, which hit the newsstand yesterday, the monthly assessed the happiness index of fourth through sixth graders at 74.6 percent for 2004, a fall of 1.9 percent from the previous year.

The same study for 2003 showed the happiness index was 76.5 percent.

Against the 84.2 percent assessed for 2000, this year’s happiness index posted a whopping fall of 9.6 percent.

Altogether 1,611 children in 33 schools were interviewed in this year’s poll.

Asked what made them unhappy, one out of every four respondents, or 25.4 percent, answered it was their heavy school workload.

Another cause of unhappiness was their parents failing to keep them company. One out of every four respondents, 21.2 percent, cited it as the reason why they felt unhappy.

What would the schoolchildren do when they felt unhappy?

Three out of every ten respondents, 30.3 percent, said they would throw something or anything at somebody or anybody to give vent to their pent-up unhappy emotion.

Do they feel happy going to school?

An overwhelming 83.4 percent majority answered in the affirmative. Of them 40.4 percent said they were happy for they could learn something in school. Another 29.1 percent said they could spend time with friends.

What made the children feel happy most?

Their mother’s love topped at 25.7 percent, followed by the parents’taking them out to have fun at 16.2 percent, a warm home at 14.2 percent, and freedom of fear from starvation and other deprivations at 9.7 percent.

Who could give the kids most happiness?

Their parents were the answer given by a 51.5 percent majority, followed by other family members by 21.5 percent and friends and others by 20 percent.

Who do they think is the world’s most happy person?

Their mother was the answer given by schoolgirls and their father by schoolboys. The second most happy persons were Vice President Annette Lu and President Chen Shui-bian in the opinion of girls and boys, respectively.

The third most happy persons? The schoolchildren themselves.

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