According to a widely publicized mainland Chinese media report, more than 3,000 primary school students described their mothers using words such as “chameleon,” “tigress,” “fierce,” and so on, when writing compositions for an international competition.
The Wuhan Evening News reported that, of the 4,200 compositions submitted, over 70 percent of the children chose the same topic: “Give Me A Little Time.” In their compositions, the children wrote that their mothers forced them to participate in extra after-school study sessions, that they pressured them strongly, and that they wished their mothers would give them a little bit of free time.
Zhang Dandan, an education specialist at the Central China University of Science and Technology, noted that the incident highlights the confusion faced by Chinese mothers in modern Chinese society. He stressed the importance of reconsidering how to help mothers build a harmonious relationship with their children.
Zhang’s view, however, was not readily accepted by the mothers. Following the report, the Wuhan Evening News conducted a survey of more than 450 mothers via a cell phone text message. More than 70 percent of the mothers responded that the relationship between a mother and her child cannot be viewed separately from the current social environment. They felt that the root of the problem lies with the current Chinese educational system.
“How can I not force my son to participate in extra after-school classes?” one Mom told the reporter. She said that she has to spend every penny she earns in her housekeeping job (800 yuan or approximately US$120) to pay for her son to participate in the classes. She would be very upset if a teacher did not accept her son.
Another mother related that she at first thought her son could study well by himself, and his grades were good. Then, she found out that her son was the only student in his class who did not participate in the after-school classes. Because he did not know the test questions taught in these extra classes, his grades started dropping. In the end, she felt forced to enroll him in the after-school classes, just as the other mothers had done.
She said worriedly, “The educational system is damaging our children’s inborn nature. If the problem is not corrected, sooner or later what collapses will be more than the mother-child relationship.”
Does the problem stem from the educational system? On the surface, it is reasonable that these mothers blamed the educational system in China.
The prevalent after-school classes in China are actually a way for teachers to extort money from parents. No matter how well the child learns in school or how hard the child studies, if the parents don’t send him to the extra classes—thus paying extra fees—the child cannot know what kinds of questions teachers will ask on the exams. Consequently, grades will suffer. That’s why parents not only give teachers their hard-earned money, but also worry over whether the teachers will accept their child into the classes.
How has this situation come about? The corruption of the educational system in China is deeply rooted, and the moral corruption of teachers is only one symptom of a much larger problem.
There are two issues that have led to the corruption of education in China. The first is the regime’s unprecedented monopoly on education.
The second, and more important one, is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deems its control of education as an important means of maintaining its political power—particularly at a time when it is facing a crisis of legitimacy. These two situations have fundamentally destroyed the moral foundation of public education in China.
The CCP’s privatizing of public power has negatively affected the educational system of China. On the one hand, in order to keep their jobs, teachers have to teach things they themselves don’t believe in—things such as the importance of selflessness and self-sacrifice, and the importance of heartfelt allegiance to the Communist Party.
Yet, at the same time, they extort money from the parents. In order to pass their exams, students must listen to their teachers expound on principles which are taught but not believed in. Parents are forced to yield to all kinds of shameless exploitation to insure that their children will be able to obtain a higher education. Many people clearly know the absurdity and ugly nature of this game, but under the CCP’s monopoly of the educational system, they feel trapped by it.
Perhaps a more intriguing question than why so many teachers have become greedy and degenerated, is the question of why the authorities have allowed the situation to continue. Actually, there is tacit agreement in it.
Teachers become increasingly bold in using a variety of means to extort money from parents because the CCP sets an example of manipulating the system for its own political ends. The CCP turns a blind eye to corruption among teachers because corrupt teachers are easier to control.
It’s pretty hard for young students to understand such a dirty deal among adults.
No wonder thousands of children are harshly critical of their Moms.
The phenomenon itself points to the seriousness of the problems within China’s educational system. When the CCP does things for its own selfish benefit, the poison spreads to the entire society and even affects the relationship between parents and their children.
