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Parents' puzzle over pupil pressure

By Chang Ailing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-02 14:52

Yang Dongping, a professor with the Beijing Institute of Technology, said competition for good junior high schools has increased Chinese children's academic burden, harmed their mental and physical health, and widened inequality in education.

He said nine-year compulsory education aimed to provide equal educational opportunities, but the current practice has pushed them into the misery of numerous after-school classes, contests and training for certificates.

"It has legalized money-for-education and power-for-education," Yang complained in a blog entry on enrollment-oriented classes, such as "Olympic math", in which he said the harm of such extra-curricular activities to children was even worse than "pornography, gambling and drug abuse".

"Why did I say so? Because pornography, gambling and drug abuse only affect a limited number of people. But the 'Olympic math' class, as well as other out-of-school classes in the name of selecting elite students, has made prisoners of numerous children, harming a whole generation."

His blog ignited a massive public response, with many also airing their complains about the classes and overall education system. So far, his blog has received more than 480,000 visits and nearly 7,000 comments.

In response to the outcry, Xu Mei, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, said it opposed selecting students through tests during the compulsory education years.

"To link primary or high school enrollment with the 'Olympic math' class or other certificates for special talents is against the intention of the Ministry of Education," she said.

Yang said compulsory education mainly fell under the jurisdiction of local educational authorities. But he added: "Local authorities have taken measures to stop schools from selecting students, but most of the measures do not have long-term effects."

China has about 107 million primary students, about 40 percent of whom live in urban areas. But for about 67 million primary school students in rural areas, Yang said: "It's a totally different story. The key problem there is to prevent rural students from dropping out and rural compulsory education from withering (due to insufficient funding)."

Sun Yunxiao, deputy head of the China Youth and Children Research Center, has studied children's education for 37 years and said China's youth now enjoys greater material comfort than their parents' generation, but they are more emotionally fragile.

"They feel very stressed by academic pressure," he said. "Childhood in China, in general, is becoming increasingly unhappy."

A fair number of surveys found China's primary and high school pupils felt they were slaves to homework and after-school classes, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Two out of every three primary school students in Beijing does not get 10 hours of sleep a night, as required by the Ministry of Education, according to a blue paper released by the Beijing Academy of Social Science in March.

One-third also said they did not have enough sports time.

Sun said the load on students was not just a problem of education but was also a social problem. He said: "Academic pressure is a result of increasing employment pressure and the public worship of high academic credentials."

A total of 5.59 million students graduated from universities last year. About 1 million were still struggling to find a job by the end of last year, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last December.

Another 6.11 million college graduates will enter the job market this year.

"Intense competition in the job market has panicked the public," Sun said. "Most Chinese parents believe that high academic credentials mean greater job opportunities. Therefore the competition for prestigious universities was brought forward from senior high school to junior high school, primary school and even kindergarten."

Being 11 years old, Xu Xiangyu has no idea on anything like this. But he has stopped complaining to his mother about the math class.

"I don't think she cares how I feel," said the martial arts fan, unaware of his mother Huang's inner-turmoil.

"I really don't know whether I should let him quit or continue to push him," she said. "In Britain, his teacher said he was a math genius. But here his math teacher said he is just mediocre."

Xu sometimes tells his mother he misses his school in Britain, where he found all the classes interesting and his only after-school activity was playing soccer. "I miss the school, too," his mother added. "At least he was more relaxed and confident there."

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