Is China poised to experience a renaissance of art after a crackdown on private education?
Everyone has been mourning the grave financial consequences for investors in private education groups such as TAL education group and Xin Dongfang. All of these are visible on the stock exchange boards. The graveness of their situation is obvious.
Nonetheless, as some of these companies are attempting to reinvent themselves with titles such as "quality parenting" and other adult-oriented education, a real window of opportunity might be opening up for Chinese students, their families, and Chinese society as a whole.?
Over the last 40 years, the economy has grown tremendously. Chinese working population has observed a hypercompetitive market which is taking advantage of both opportunities while demanding a high price from the race participants. The resulting stress has led the Chinese younger generation to take bold new positions such as "laying flat" (摊平）and "naked weddings" (裸婚） to avoid the rat race.?
In their new move to eliminate private education and prevent some of the competition, the Chinese regulators may want to encourage childbirth, improve family life or parenthood, and perhaps avoid some foreign influences in complementary education. Maybe there are also other reasons for this.
We still do not know whether a regulatory change can translate into a cultural change - less competition, and a less stressful life for young children.
I might be too optimistic over here with wishful thinking - but I'm happily envisioning debates about Daoism and China's core values, meditation and calligraphy sessions on the lakeshores, accompanied by traditional folklore songs or modern Chinese music :)
What are you seeing out there?
MA (Contemporary China) | Mandarin Teacher | Chinese-English Translator | Economist By Training | E-Business Entrepreneur [MSc (e-Biz)]
3 å¹´It looks to me that the reporting of the crackdown on Chinese 课外培è®æœºæž„ (after-school training institution) by foreign media is causing some misunderstanding. The policy is termed as "åŒå‡â€æ”¿ç– ie "double reduction" policy as highlighted in its policy paper?https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-07/24/content_5627132.htm. The two reductions are: i. First Reduction : to reduce the burden of students' schoolwork, strictly control the total amount of written homework, and to safeguard students' sleep time (è¦æ±‚å‡è½»å¦ç”Ÿè¯¾ä¸šè´Ÿæ‹…ï¼Œä¸¥æ ¼æŽ§åˆ¶ä¹¦é¢ä½œä¸šæ€»é‡ï¼Œä¿è¯å¦ç”Ÿç¡çœ 时间)ï¼› ii. Second Reduction : Fully standardise and manage after-school training institutions and demand strict governance (å…¨é¢è§„范管ç†æ ¡å¤–培è®æœºæž„，åšæŒä»Žä¸¥æ²»ç†) I have written a LN post on the detriments of Chinese parents' keeping up with Joneses here : ?https://bit.ly/2We99vX. Basically the recent moves shd be seen in the direction of å…±åŒå¯Œè£• ie common prosperity for everyone. It really started with Chinese regulator's unveiling the standards for 'too big to fail' banks in Dec last year, followed with property companies' debt rules, scrutiny on Ant Financial etc. All these moves are to reduce inequality so as to achieve å…±åŒå¯Œè£• as China hopes to become a great modern socialist country 社会主义现代化强国 by 2049.
An experienced professional widening his career horizons
3 å¹´Perhaps on foreign influence's part, one has to look into Hong Kong's case during the 2019 riots. Not all teachers are even qualified to teach
An experienced professional widening his career horizons
3 å¹´Stephen McClure, David BK Tan, 高æ鸿 Robert Vannrox, Tom Fowdy
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Multilingual Trainer. Editor. Writer. Public Speaking Coach.
3 å¹´"We still do not know whether a regulatory change can translate into a cultural change - less competition, and a less stressful life for young children." The point is that when you have a generation or two of children who have been primed to be the best, to work overtime to gain seats in prestigious universities in China, the USA, and elsewhere, how do you suddenly call off their enthusiasm, tone them down, and encourage them to return to normal? Their parents have normalized their behavior with after-school prep courses in everything you can think of to give their chosen ones an "advantage" over the others. The tectonic change in education will be felt for years to come. Don't forget about the tens of thousands of people both Chinese and foreign engaged in teaching and coaching who will lose their jobs.