No school break for tiger parents
Early this month, one of my colleagues caused a stir among his friends on WeChat when he posted his daily plan for his 7-year-old boy on his first winter school break.
The 18-slot schedule from 6:30am iterates the routines of a typical school day. After breakfast and room-cleaning (with music on), the Primary One student starts his day by reading a Chinese textbook and practicing speaking by looking at pictures. It’s followed by math, English, drawing, more Chinese readings and listening to news broadcasts and recorded fairy tales until 8pm bedtime.
To be fair, the academic
This Day, That Year
and arts activities are also interspersed with meals, refreshments and an hourlong outdoor playtime in the afternoon. But they look a bit overwhelming for a young child in a holiday season. The father confided the schedule was made after his son’s teachers at a reputed local school warned parents against being easygoing and spoiling their children’s learning habit.
Surprisingly, nobody has told the tiger dad to ease up on his boy. Instead, the posts have triggered a stream of admiring and envious comments. They struck a chord with other parents who are also trying to figure out what’s the best parenting for their young children.
Since the end of last year, while searching for a primary school for my son who turns 6 in March, I’ve met quite a few middle-class parents who would give up a limb to get their children into top Chinese primary schools that have strict discipline and punishingly hard work. Most of them think good schools offer a better chance to students of being admitted to secondary schools that yield bumper crops of graduates that are accepted by the best colleges. They accept the extreme pressure and ordeal of cramming in such schools as necessary means for their children to succeed.
There are also non-believers who have never planned to send their children to a Chinese college or secondary school, but who scramble for a place at a top primary school. Despite their higher socio-economic standings, instilling a work ethic at a young age that serves a child his whole lifetime still haunts their psyche.
When possible, their children will study for years in a local school. They’ ll enroll their children at international schools or feeder schools for foreign universities, only before they enter the painstaking preparations for a secondary school. They hope their children will be more confident in a liberal Western-style school, after acquiring solid training in basic math and Chinese, and a motivation to ace in exams.
One result is that while admissions become increasingly competitive, good primary schools also have to keep raising standards, with the help of enthusiastic parents. I’ve always laughed at parents who prep their kindergarten children for Primary One courses.
But they seem to have got the last laugh because I plan to follow suit, after seeing my colleague’s posts. Contact the writer at dr.baiping@hotmail.com