{"id":19418,"date":"2021-11-09T11:09:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T03:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=19418"},"modified":"2021-11-11T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T04:00:17","slug":"less-tutoring-more-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2021\/11\/less-tutoring-more-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Less Tutoring, More Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite effort to ease pressure on school pupils and parents, the Chinese education system remains competitive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ella Lang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Li enrolled her eight-year-old son in English, drawing, and Lego classes when he was four. When the boy started to go to primary school, other than 40 hours per week in school, he had to spend nine hours on five after-school classes including English and Mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery parent in Shanghai does the same thing. Children will fall behind if they do not take extra classes,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li\u2019s family spends about RMB \u00a560,000 (US $9,282) a year on tutoring classes and has spent over RMB \u00a5200,000 (US $30,940) since her son started attending tutoring classes. Every year countless families fork out for off-campus classes for their children, contributing to the booming tutoring industry in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCHILDREN WILL FALL BEHIND IF THEY DO NOT TAKE EXTRA CLASSES.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The market size of China\u2019s after-school tutoring for kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) students reached RMB \u00a5800 billion (US $123.7 billion) in 2019, and was predicted to break RMB \u00a51 trillion (US $0.15 trillion) by 2025, according to a 2020 report by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China banned for-profit tutoring in core education to rein in the country\u2019s private education industry and improve school-life balance for families in July 2021. The policy, dubbed \u201cdouble reduction\u201d, aims at releasing the burden of off-campus tutoring for students at the stage of compulsory education and excessive homework assigned by schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new policy, all private tutoring institutions are banned from making profits by providing tutoring services of school curriculum subjects such as English and Mathematics during weekends, holidays, or after 9:00 p.m. on weekdays. Tutoring is only allowed on weekdays with a limited number of hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
China issued the \u201cdouble reduction\u201d policy in late July.
(Source: The State Council of The People\u2019s Republic of China)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the \u201cDouble Reduction\u201d Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li signed up her son for English and Mathematics tutoring classes on Monday and Friday respectively before the \u201cdouble reduction\u201d policy was introduced. Each lesson lasts for two hours and ends before 9:00 p.m. Her son also has calligraphy, street dance, and basketball classes during weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll arrangements can remain unchanged because they all meet the time restrictions. But I still dropped Mathematics class provided by leading training organisation Xueersi\uff08\u5b78\u800c\u601d\uff09for my son, as he has to stay in school for one more hour. That is quite tiring for him,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cdouble reduction\u201d policy came with many supporting measures. One of them is to make students stay at school longer by providing free after-school services. Teachers will either help students finish their homework or carry out extracurricular activities based on students’ interests during the extra hours after school, according to a circular issued in June by the Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut if my son fails to perform well in school when he goes to high school, I will still sign him up for private tutoring classes,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many parents in China like Li are still worried about their children\u2019s education, although the \u201cdouble reduction\u201d policy aims to reduce student\u2019s burden and ease parents’ anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another anxious parent is Zhou Chunmei in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province. The English tutoring agency her son used to go for classes has stopped offering lessons after the policy was introduced. Luckily, she received a full refund from the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her nine-year-old son Yi Zhishan feels happy about the change. His weekends used to be filled with off-campus classes since he was seven with drawing, piano, programming, tennis, and English classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe English class used to take three hours. Now I can spend time with my friends and family instead,\u201d Yi says. \u201cI am so happy that I can go to amusement parks more often!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yi Zhishan, Zhou\u2019s nine-year-old son, is doing homework.
(Photo Courtesy of Zhou Chunmei)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But his mother is still planning to sign him up for English tutoring classes later. \u201cI will wait for a while to see how the policy is implemented. If the restriction loosens, I will get my son to do English tutoring again,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhou is worried about her son falling behind his peers. \u201cIf everybody quits off-campus tutoring, then I will certainly applaud the \u2018double reduction\u2019. Both parents and students can escape from fierce competition and take a breath of relief. But in fact, the competition still exists,\u201d Zhou says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another parent, Selena Zheng, has to cancel Chinese and Mathematics private tutoring classes for her ten-year-old son because the private tutoring agency is no longer allowed to offer classes on weekends. Zheng saves RMB \u00a520,000 (US $3,094) per year by cancelling the classes, but she cannot feel any pleasure from this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am quite worried that he may not learn as well as before. Without extra classes, students\u2019 self-motivation becomes more important,\u201d Zheng says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She adds that her son is also not happy about this, as he feels stressed about fighting for a school place of an elite secondary school after becoming a fifth grade student this September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs long as there is a university entrance examination, parents will never stop feeling anxious,\u201d Zheng says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose tutoring agencies took care of my anxieties and worries about my child\u2019s education before the \u2018double reduction\u2019 policy was implemented. So, now I feel more stressed without the tutoring agencies, and I cannot find a way out,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No One Will Stop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Vickers, professor of the Department of Education at Kyushu University, thinks the new policy will not solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe competition will continue, but it will take new forms. Most families will face considerable struggles,\u201d Vickers says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vickers thinks private tutoring will continue at private homes on a one-to-one basis, in ways that are very difficult to monitor and in ways that will increase inequality. \u201cYou will have to be wealthier to afford,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adds that the South Korean government made a radical attempt to crack down private tutoring agencies years ago, but it did not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause you are not dealing with the demand for tutoring. The Chinese government is only dealing with the symptoms of the disease of educational competition by closing down tutoring agencies, but not dealing with what is causing this educational competition, which is credentialism,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Because you are not dealing with the demand for tutoring.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Vivian Cao & Gloria Wei
Sub-edited by Lynne Rao & Linn Wu<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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