10/09/2019
- More than 40 per cent of those surveyed in an online poll say they feel they have no other choice, while just a quarter think the extra tutoring is necessary
- It reflects widespread anxiety over getting places at the top schools, according to researcher
Sixty per cent of mainland Chinese children aged from three to 15 are receiving extra tutoring outside the classroom, according to a report. Photo: Handout
More than 40 per cent of Chinese parents feel they have no choice but to send their children to after-school classes because of the intense competition in the education system, according to an online poll.
But just a quarter of the respondents said they thought the extra tutoring was actually necessary for their children.
Nearly 200,000 parents had responded to the survey, conducted by social network Weibo, by Tuesday.
It comes after a report last week said 60 per cent of children aged between three and 15 in mainland China were receiving extra tutoring outside the classroom.
That report, released by the China National Children’s Centre and the Social Sciences Academic Press, also said parents of children in the age range were spending an average of 9,200 yuan (US$1,290) per year on after-school classes to cope with growing academic pressure.
It was based on a survey of nearly 15,000 children in 10 mainland cities and rural areas.
For the children, that meant they were spending an average of less than two hours playing outside on weekends, according to the report. They were also found to be devoting an average of 88 minutes a day to homework on school days.
Chinese parents send their children to a wide range of after-school classes. Photo: Xinhua
Wu Hong, a researcher from the Dandelion Education Think Tank in Chongqing, said the findings reflected the widespread anxiety of parents over their children getting places at the top schools.
“Many parents don’t have their own ideas about how their kids should be educated and they just follow others blindly. For example, a friend of mine said she plans to send her two five-year-olds to an international school in Thailand just because several of her friends did that,” Wu said.
“It’s not that kids should not attend any after-school classes, but we are apparently giving them too much when they’re so young, and this is only limiting their imagination.”
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Studying a wider range of subjects in more depth than the public school syllabus requires and getting a head start by going over topics before they are covered in school have become common tactics used by parents trying to help their children compete in a challenging educational environment in China.
In the more affluent cities, some parents are spending a lot more than the average on their children’s extracurricular activities. Shanghai mother Emma Jin said she wanted to give her daughter, who is in Year Two, a good chance in the education system.
“Extra English classes cost 20,000 yuan for a year. She also takes dance classes, taekwondo and so on,” Jin said. “I don’t expect much from her, but I don’t want her to be the worst in the class either.”
Some parents said the pressure came from the schools.
“My child is studying at a public school. The teacher told us to have our child learn pinyin [the mainland’s system of romanisation of Mandarin script] in advance at after-school classes during the admission interview. Should I have just disregarded his advice?” one parent commented on Weibo.
‘Heavy burden’ of homework leaving Chinese children sleep-deprived, study finds
The heavy pressure on children from extra classes has meanwhile prompted the Ministry of Education to issue several directives to schools asking them to pay more attention to pupils’ well-being – including by encouraging them to get at least one hour of outdoor exercise and 10 hours’ sleep a day. Last year, it also banned cram schools from holding competitions or offering classes to children that were too advanced for their age.
Source: SCMP
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10/09/2019
- Expensive presents are officially discouraged but have become the norm at many schools on day of appreciation for educators
Students at Yangzhou Technical Vocational College form the Chinese characters for “Hello Teacher” to mark China’s Teachers’ Day. Photo: Handout
Despite a decade of official discouragement, parents in China have been struggling with one of the biggest dilemmas of the school year – how to mark the country’s annual Teacher’s Day.
Ellen Yuan agonised for a day and a night before sending her son off to kindergarten on Tuesday with a 1,000 yuan (US$140) gift card in his bag for the teacher.
It was the boy’s second week of attendance and Yuan had given no thought to any Teacher’s Day obligations –until she learned that several of her friends had been busy over the weekend preparing gifts for their children’s teachers.
“It makes me feel that I am being a drag on my son if I don’t do so,” said Yuan, who works for a foreign company in Shanghai.
Respecting teachers has traditionally been a fundamental social norm in China but gift giving on the special day for educators has gone beyond an expression of appreciation by their students, as parents have taken over with ever more expensive gifts – and sometimes cash – which they hope will mean their kids are well taken care of while at school.
What gift, how expensive it should be, and how to deliver it have become the biggest questions for many parents in the run-up to September 10 each year, even though the education ministry and its subordinate bodies have repeatedly issued directives over the past decade to ban teachers accepting gifts.
Yuan said one of her friends had bought a body care set worth more than 600 yuan for each of her child’s three teachers, another had bought an 800 yuan gift card, while a third had given the head teacher a 1,000 yuan bottle of perfume.
Some parents had delivered the presents directly to the school, while others had asked their children to take the gifts to their teachers. Yuan’s plan was to message the teacher and tell her to take the gift card from her son’s bag.
“I know it’s bad. I don’t want my kid to know that,” Yuan said.
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The question of whether parents should give gifts on Teacher’s Day was one of the hottest topics on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, attracting more than 15 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Of course we should not, but I don’t dare to ignore it,” one user said, winning more than 10,000 likes.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said the gift-giving trend had been partly driven by a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality.
“Everybody has given a gift. Would my child be specially treated if I don’t? This is a common concern,” Chu said. As a result, the purpose of gift giving on Teacher’s Day had become about protecting the children’s interests instead of a sincere expression of gratitude, he said.
But not every teacher gets presents – with gifts usually reserved for those teaching the “main subjects” of mathematics, Chinese and English, which count the most in high school and college entrance examinations.
Emily Shen, an English teacher from a middle school in Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, said she also prepared gifts for the teachers of her two kids. “Some chocolate for them to take to school. And I myself would give a gift card to each of those who teach the main subjects,” she said.
Zhuang Ke, a music teacher at a primary school in Jiaxing, also in Zhejiang province, admitted she was embarrassed by the parents’ different treatment of teachers of “less important” subjects like her’s. “It’s always nice to receive presents. But teachers who teach music, art and PE are often forgotten,” she said.
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State broadcaster CCTV said in a commentary on its website on Sunday that “all forms of behavior that attempt to ruin normal teaching order and interfere in equality by sending gifts should be resolutely abandoned”. A similar message was run by a series of official media outlets at local level.
“The most fundamental way to stop parents from sending gifts is to treat the students equally and fairly every day, so that parents conclude it makes no difference whether they give a gift,” Rednet.cn, the official news portal of Hunan province, said on Monday.
Although some teachers have made it explicit to students that they will refuse presents on Teacher’s Day, Yuan said her son’s teacher accepted the gift, as did the teachers of her three friends’ children.
Source: SCMP
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CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
Chinese parents struggle with Teacher’s Day gift etiquette
Despite a decade of official discouragement, parents in China have been struggling with one of the biggest dilemmas of the school year – how to mark the country’s annual Teacher’s Day.
Ellen Yuan agonised for a day and a night before sending her son off to kindergarten on Tuesday with a 1,000 yuan (US$140) gift card in his bag for the teacher.
It was the boy’s second week of attendance and Yuan had given no thought to any Teacher’s Day obligations –until she learned that several of her friends had been busy over the weekend preparing gifts for their children’s teachers.
“It makes me feel that I am being a drag on my son if I don’t do so,” said Yuan, who works for a foreign company in Shanghai.
Respecting teachers has traditionally been a fundamental social norm in China but gift giving on the special day for educators has gone beyond an expression of appreciation by their students, as parents have taken over with ever more expensive gifts – and sometimes cash – which they hope will mean their kids are well taken care of while at school.
What gift, how expensive it should be, and how to deliver it have become the biggest questions for many parents in the run-up to September 10 each year, even though the education ministry and its subordinate bodies have repeatedly issued directives over the past decade to ban teachers accepting gifts.
Yuan said one of her friends had bought a body care set worth more than 600 yuan for each of her child’s three teachers, another had bought an 800 yuan gift card, while a third had given the head teacher a 1,000 yuan bottle of perfume.
Some parents had delivered the presents directly to the school, while others had asked their children to take the gifts to their teachers. Yuan’s plan was to message the teacher and tell her to take the gift card from her son’s bag.
“I know it’s bad. I don’t want my kid to know that,” Yuan said.
But not every teacher gets presents – with gifts usually reserved for those teaching the “main subjects” of mathematics, Chinese and English, which count the most in high school and college entrance examinations.
Emily Shen, an English teacher from a middle school in Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, said she also prepared gifts for the teachers of her two kids. “Some chocolate for them to take to school. And I myself would give a gift card to each of those who teach the main subjects,” she said.
Zhuang Ke, a music teacher at a primary school in Jiaxing, also in Zhejiang province, admitted she was embarrassed by the parents’ different treatment of teachers of “less important” subjects like her’s. “It’s always nice to receive presents. But teachers who teach music, art and PE are often forgotten,” she said.
Chinese kindergarten teacher fired for hot sun punishment
State broadcaster CCTV said in a commentary on its website on Sunday that “all forms of behavior that attempt to ruin normal teaching order and interfere in equality by sending gifts should be resolutely abandoned”. A similar message was run by a series of official media outlets at local level.
“The most fundamental way to stop parents from sending gifts is to treat the students equally and fairly every day, so that parents conclude it makes no difference whether they give a gift,” Rednet.cn, the official news portal of Hunan province, said on Monday.
Although some teachers have made it explicit to students that they will refuse presents on Teacher’s Day, Yuan said her son’s teacher accepted the gift, as did the teachers of her three friends’ children.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Art, bag, body care set, bottle of perfume, Chinese, chinese parents, Chocolate, college entrance examination, commentary, day of appreciation, discouraged, educators, English, Expensive presents, fired, foreign company, forgotten, fundamental way, gift card, gift etiquette, Hangzhou, High school, hot sun punishment, Hunan Province, Jiaxing, keeping up with the Joneses, kindergarten, mathematics, mentality, middle school, music, music teacher, National Institute of Education Sciences, norm, official news portal, officially, PE, poor pay, primary school, Protest, Rednet.cn, schools, Shanghai, sincere expression of gratitude, state broadcaster CCTV, struggle, teacher, Teacher’s Day, Uncategorized, website, Weibo, Yangzhou Technical Vocational College, zhejiang province | Leave a Comment »