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Can you imagine when western moms and dads are singing the praise “baby is a dancing joy of life”, Chinese parents nowadays want to “sell away” their children? Recently, an online joke posted on a WeChat Moment (i.e., equivalent of the News Feed in Facebook) has caught the public eye and struck a chord with Chinese parents.
Parents Are Suffering
As the saying goes, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Situation in China may be slightly different since it makes both Jack and his parents dull. Different from the past, “tripartite collaboration” has been a catchword in the education sector and Chinese parents have also become victims of their children’s heavy homework burden. Responding to the call for parental supervision, parents have to pick up their responsibilities for tutoring their children and checking their assignments.
It could have been a good intention to engage parents in their children’s education; however the plan has gone awry due to lack of overall consideration. First of all, parents’ backgrounds have not been considered, like their knowledge capabilities and working strength. Some parents may not be knowledgeable enough so they have to learn all lessons on their own first so as to teach their children. For the others who do not have sufficient time due to their heavy workloads, they have to sacrifice sleeping time to help their kids. Also, technology power on the “tripartite collaboration” has been underestimated. Thanks to the technological advance, the full participation of tripartite parties has been enabled. Commonly, when their children enter primary schools parents become engaged in a WeChat group chat, through which they receive all information associated with their kids, praises and criticisms included, as well as tasks assigned by teachers to themselves. These have greatly increased the burden and stress of Chinese parents, which has triggered an avalanche of complaints from them (Figure 2).
Children Are Suffering
Certainly, children are those receiving the direct impacts. Compared to counterparts from other countries, Chinese children are supposed to bear heavier academic burden. Apart from the longer hours spent at school, the time they take to do homework is also longer and Chinese students who spend over 2 hours daily on homework outnumber those from Japan, Korea and U. S. (Figure 3). As reported by a news briefing, Chinese students, on average, spend 2.82 hours per day on their schoolwork. This is triple the international average.
Source: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/53729/1/AEA_Journal_19.1_-__J_Sun.pdf
The value of assignments is undeniable; however, negative influences also derive from the heavy load of homework. First, children’s sleeping hours could not be guaranteed, let alone their leisure time. A study finds that over 60% of Chinese students aged 6 to 17 sleep less than 8 hours every night. The deprivation of sleep reduces children’s understanding abilities and negatively influences their academic performances, which draws them into a vicious loop. What is more, serious academic pressure could come with the heavy homework load, and lead to mental health problems. As indicated by a survey, 85% of Chinese student encounter homework stress, which likely manifests as a tantrum and frustration, and 75% of their parents will lose their temper when they tutor their kids. Under the excessive educational stress, some children may have serious reactions like running away from home or suicide thoughts and actions.
The Underlying Reasons for the Overload
The underlying reasons are multifaceted but the education system bears the brunt. Admittedly, the education department strives to tackle the workload problem for primary and secondary school students. In 2013, a regulation pertaining to primary school homework arrangements has been proposed, stipulating that children in grades one and two should be free of written assignment. In 2017, guidelines have also been issued in two districts as a trial to give priority to children’s sleeping hours over their homework and give them rights to refuse to do the excessive assignments. However, the moves did not seem to show obvious effects since they has not touched the virtual problem, i.e., the exam-oriented nature of education system. The out-performance in the college entrance exam and the consequent admission into a good university seem to be the most secure way for Chinese children to get admitted, which has become “the only road leading to Rome” in the public’s eyes. Thus, parents and kids have no other better choices but to surrender to homework since “practice makes perfect” have gone deep into their hearts. Without touching upon this root-cause for the excessive academic burden of Chinese adolescents, the goal could not be fundamentally achieved by just cutting homework and school hours through policies.
Actually, the education system should not be the only one to bear the blame and the underlying cultural context should also be accountable. Deeply embedded in Chinese culture, filial piety is a traditional virtue advocating extreme respect shown by children to their parents and elder family members. Under its influence, children are expected to fulfill their parents’ expectations and have to chase for academic excellence so as to bring glories to their families. As for Chinese parents, their lower tolerance for less-than-stellar performance and sometimes unrealistic expectations let them trap in a deep ambivalence about the “less homework policy”. It is paradoxical that Chinese parents hope and struggle for reducing homework pressures but also assign more extra tasks to their kids and enroll them in extra-class curricula.
Reflections on the Matter
The heavy study burden, certainly, has been a decades-old problem in Chinese educational context, which may have to take longer time to be settled. Every parties, including the government, schools and parents, has acted with good intentions but the plans have not always gone smoothly as their wishes. To replace the result-oriented education with “quality education” and provide a more children-friendly environment for their growth, more collaborative efforts, as well as more comprehensive considerations, are needed.
