All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But for some Chinese parents with young children, too much play and too little work may be even worse. At least it seems so judging by their reactions to the first official guidelines on education for preschoolers.

While emphasizing the physical, social and emotional development of children aged 3-6, the draft instructions by the Ministry of Education have set forth minimal academic requirements that are causing panic among urban middle-class parents who fear the criteria, if implemented, will shortchange their children's opportunity to learn and end the nation's time-honored tradition of tough education from an early age.

One of the most criticized study objectives given by the guidelines, which were recently posted on the Internet for input from the public, is that children aged 5-6 who are about to enter Primary One, are only required to learn to add or subtract up to 10. Another is related to their language skill, which is prescribed as "an interest in words and symbols that come with certain meaning".