Living properly in public places must be practiced from childhood.

While waiting for sanctions, should we rely on reminders from people around us and on the awareness of each individual to stop offensive behavior in the metro and public places?

A man doing chin-ups on metro train No. 1 on the afternoon of March 12 - Photo: TM

Once, while riding the train in Tokyo (Japan), I saw many children, wearing similar hats, seemingly from the same class or school, standing in neat lines and all looking at the train moving into the station.

Queuing for the metro, escalators, keeping public places clean... is that difficult?

When the train stopped, another group of students, also of kindergarten age, wearing hats like the other students, lined up neatly and boarded the train one by one with the support and guidance of two teachers.

While the train was running, the children obediently surrounded the teacher, attentively watching and listening to her, in a soft voice, sharing something.

According to my Japanese colleague's explanation, the teacher was instructing the children on how to ride the train, the instructions on the train, as well as the rules for getting on and off the train in an orderly manner, to avoid disturbing others.

This is a quite popular extracurricular activity.

Normally, students from kindergarten will be taken out to experience the world around them. This includes learning to ride a train and use public transport in a civilized manner.

Perhaps this is what has more or less created the discipline and good awareness of the majority of Japanese people on the train lines as well as on the bus: keeping clean, keeping quiet, lining up neatly and many other civilized behaviors.

Civilized cities, civilized means, so it is natural to include educational activities to equip skills, knowledge as well as how to behave in public places.

Schools, especially kindergartens and primary schools in places with metro like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, should also carry out extracurricular activities to help students gain real-life experience?

Knowing how to line up neatly on the escalator, waiting in line to board the train, keeping the train clean and orderly - these things are not too difficult.

But these things will certainly bring excitement and long-term benefits when the children themselves will become the next generation of civilized citizens when there will be dozens of metro lines covering the city.

Teach children to line up while you cut in line.

Community awareness is also another beauty that is gradually forming on the metro lines of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City when I witnessed the image of passengers sitting neatly, picking up trash on the train or holding the candy wrapper in their hands, waiting to get off the train station and then throwing it in the trash.

Good deeds should be spread and responded to by everyone, not only on the train, at the station but also outside.

It is this "learning" and "imitating" that makes many places, like in Taipei (Taiwan, China), not only train stations, but almost any public place very clean despite the lack of trash cans.

Because the government encourages people to take their garbage home, sort it and dispose of it properly.

When visitors come here, they are initially surprised because they walk forever but do not see any public trash cans.

After that, I had to pack up and bring the trash back to my place to put it in the bin according to the regulations. I didn't dare to litter because I saw no one around me doing that.

Besides, creating awareness and nurturing civilization requires the cooperation of the family, specifically parents and adults who set an example for children.

We teach children to queue, but we ourselves jostle and push to get a place.

We teach children to throw trash in the right place, but sometimes when I am on the road, I have to quickly dodge the "sprays" and spits of the drivers next to me. It is interesting to see fathers and mothers throwing milk cartons and foam boxes onto the road while still carrying their children.

Then when getting on the train or going to the hospital, you still carelessly turn on the loudspeaker loudly. How can you teach and set an example for children to keep quiet in public?

It is agreed that all of this must be accompanied by strong sanctions, with fines for violations on board being made public and used as a criterion for punishment, as Singapore has been doing.

While waiting for the above mentioned sanctions to be applied, should we rely on the reminders of those around us and on the awareness of each individual in the hope that ridiculous behaviors such as doing hoops and swinging on bars on the metro will not happen again?

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/song-chuan-o-noi-cong-cong-phai-ren-tu-be-20250313142056444.htm