Two pieces of news in the media yesterday caught my attention. Both instances, which happened last week, were violent acts committed by middle school students. One was the killing of a mentally challenged woman by four middle schools students in Yunnan province. In the other incident, a middle school teacher was thrashed and injured by his students and their parents in Guangdong province.

What appalled and saddened me was the teenagers' complete disregard for the lives and dignity of other people.

In the Yunnan case, four junior middle school students aged between 15-16 escaped from their school dormitory at midnight last Wednesday to roam the streets in Luliang county. They spotted a mentally challenged woman and attacked her with bamboo sticks and rocks. The two-hour atrocity left the 20-year-old woman dead. When questioned by the police about their motives, the boys said they did so "only for fun". What a horrifying answer! A woman's life has perished merely because a few unlawful teenagers wanted to satisfy their craving for fun.