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'Green scarf' discrimination harms kids at a tender age
“绿领巾”歧视刺痛了孩子的幼小心灵

In order to distinguish the academic achievements of its students, those 'achieving' students are permitted to continue wearing a red scarf, whilst those 'underachieving' students are forced to wear green scarves. [File photo]
为了区分学习成绩好坏，那些“成绩好”的学生依旧戴着红领巾，而学习、思想品德表现稍差的学生则被强制要求戴上绿领巾。[资料图片]

Humiliating less 'able' children by making them sit in the corner with a Dunce Hat on is surely antiquated and about as politically incorrect as believing that all Muslims are terrorists. At the First Primary Experimental School in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, however, student discrimination and humiliation is well and truly back on the agenda.	罚他们坐在角落里，给他们扣上傻瓜的帽子——用这样的方法来羞辱“能力”稍差点儿的学生当然过时了；就像断定所有的穆斯林都是恐怖分子一样，这也犯了政治上的错误。尽管如此，就在陕西省西安市第一实验小学，对学生的歧视和羞辱却在真实上演。
While all elementary students in Chinese public schools are required to wear a red scarf to symbolize the national flag and the national 'Pioneer Movement', in order to distinguish the academic achievements of its students, those 'achieving' students are permitted to continue wearing a red scarf, whilst those 'underachieving' students are forced to wear green scarves.	在中国，红领巾是中国少年先锋队的标志，代表着红旗的一角，所有的小学生都要求佩戴红领巾；可是，在西安的这所小学，为了区分学习成绩好坏，那些“成绩好”的学生依旧戴着红领巾，而学习、思想品德表现稍差的学生则被强制要求戴上绿领巾。
The discriminatory tactic, which, according to the school, aims to motivate underachieving children to study harder, gain better results, and 'upgrade' to a red scarf, has naturally been met with disdain by parents. One such parent is Ms. Su, who was shocked when her daughter, a first grade student, came home wearing a green scarf.	据校方解释，该做法旨在激励那些学习、思想品德表现稍差的学生更加努力地学习，取得更好的成绩，从而“升级”为红领巾。自然，这样的歧视引来了家长的不屑和极度不满。苏女士的女儿读一年级，那天女儿回家的时候戴了一条绿领巾，她看了很震惊。
"They [the kids] know what the green scarf means even if nobody says anything. We are always told that the red scarf is a corner of our red flag, a symbol of a young pioneer, now what role does this green scarf play?" Ms. Su said.	“就算别人不说什么，孩子也知道绿领巾是啥意思。我们从小就知道，红领巾是国旗的一角，是少先队员的象征，那现在的绿领巾起什么作用？”苏女士说。