China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Dropping teacher-height rule shouldn’t be tall order
It’s a good thing my greatgrandmother in the United States never tried to get a job as a schoolteacher in Shaanxi province. She was too short — just 137 centimeters (54 inches).
Under the rules of the Shaanxi Education Department, which were in effect until recently, a female applicant must be 150 cm tall to be accepted as a teacher. A male must be 155 cm.
Under the policy, it wouldn’t matter that the applicant was an intellectual giant: No genetics, no job.
I wonder how such policies get made. I imagine a meeting room with a large table surrounded by bureaucrats.
A discussion ensues about academic credentials, high ethical standards and the ability to inspire young students. All the while, a secretary is hurriedly writing everything down.
One of the bureaucrats suggests a terrific idea. He says: “We should not hire any teachers who are short-tempered.”
By now, the secretary is tired and innocently misses that last word. She writes: “We should not hire any teachers who are short.”
After a quick vote to approve all the suggestions, the meeting adjourns and everybody goes to lunch.
Later, an assistant refers to the secretary’s notes when typing the policy. He thinks the height measurements were left out by accident and helpfully puts them back in. “Teachers must be taller than students, or they will lose face,” he mutters.
The bureaucrats sign off without reading, and the rule goes into effect.
Far-fetched, you say? Not really. China Daily carried a news report the other day about a recent graduate of Shaanxi Normal University, surnamed Li, who wanted to be a schoolteacher. She was denied her credentials because she is 140 cm tall.
Thankfully, similar height policies have been dumped in some provinces, and in Shaanxi the public uproar over Li’s story induced officials to break down and grant her credentials.
When asked why the university was denying Li over her Randy Wright height, an official said it was “just doing what it has been told to do. … We don’t make the rules.”
A height requirement is needed for certain jobs — bus drivers, for example, their feet have to reach the pedals.
But what does height have to do with one’s ability to teach school or lead in other ways? Deng Xiaoping, for example, was just 150 cm tall.
So what does all this have to do with my great-grandmother?
Her short stature in no way disqualified her from performing her primary job, which was baking the world’s best cookies.
Her husband, my greatgrandfather, had a kitchen built especially for her, so she could cook other things, too.
In vast bureaucracies, unfortunately, initiative and common sense are seldom valued. Obvious and easy solutions are put on hold. In Shaanxi, an education official initially poured salt on the wound of the would-be teacher by saying the department “plans to drop the requirement next year”.