This practice, which turns parents into teachers and home into a classroom, has been dubbed a “modern private school” by the local media. In March 2000, the parents of a 10-year-old girl, Wei Xiaoxi, from Guangdong Province, made the same choice. They bought the entire set of textbooks from primary school to the third grade of senior middle school, and mapped out a detailed teaching plan. Her father is teaching Chinese, English and computer subjects, while her mother, who has been a primary school teacher for many years, is teaching mathematics, music, art and sport. Xiaoxi has now learned all the subjects from fourth grade primary school to second grade middle school.

Media reports on the modern private school have aroused public concern. The controversial points are as follows: Is this wise? Does it comply with the Law of Education? Will the education be recognized by society? Are these children allowed to participate in the graduation examinations of senior and junior middle schools, and in the university entrance examination? Can they return to school if they want to?

Education Emphasizing Individuality

Qin Zhengyi (Chen Xue’s mother): Both my husband and I graduated from Fudan University (a famous university in China). We are fully confident about educating our daughter. Nowadays, society has a growing demand for talents with strong individuality. Those who fail to follow the trend will be cast away by society. Taking account of our daughter’s future, we are trying to let her receive as much education as possible. Chen Xue’s study schedule strictly follows that of her school. The problem is we don’t have a sports ground, so she has to do all physical exercises in the exercising room. Another problem is the shortage of apparatus and materials for physics and chemistry experiments. We often borrow apparatus from a nearby middle school, and buy the necessary materials ourselves.

Wei Yuan (Wei Xiaoxi’s father, a teacher at Guangzhou Baiyun Vocational School): According to our plan, our daughter will complete her primary school courses in a short time, and will finish her middle school education within a year. So, before she is 13 years of age, she will enter university.

We do this not because we want to nurture a genius or a child prodigy, but because the education system of the present primary and middle schools is disappointing. At school, the same mathematical exercises are done four or five times, and pupils are required to make eight or 10 copies of the one text. Such uncreative and inefficient teaching methods have fettered the development of children’s characters. Also, 12 years of primary and middle school education is too long. If a child has a strong ability to absorb knowledge and the teaching method is suitable, just half this time is enough for the same education.

Ms Zheng (Retired teacher from the middle school attached to South China Teachers’College): It is wise to teach children at home. It is conducive to developing children’s vocation and enriching their knowledge. An important point of this new creative method is to teach students according to their aptitude.

Zhuang Yiding (Secretary of the Beijing Hanhai Advertising Co.): The acts of these parents are understandable. If the pace of education reform is not accelerated, more and more parents will follow suit.

Nowadays, many Chinese people have accepted advanced educational thoughts and patterns, but the existing educational methods and content are still conservative and backward. This contradiction is bound to bring about an abnormal phenomenon. Today’s examinations are increasingly difficult, despite educational reforms; to reduce the burden of students is merely empty talk. Our education still centers around examinations despite years of educational reforms.

The problems do not lie in the choice of method of education—at school or at home, but in the acceleration of educational reform and the improvement of the quality of teachers. If school-based education were satisfactory, no parent would undertake the risk and hardships of teaching their children at home. Accelerating the pace of educational reform and raising the quality of teachers are the tasks of education reform.

Du Hui (A teacher at a primary school in Beijing): In today’s society, a person is encouraged to fully display his or her individuality. With the current developed information network, school is not the only place where children can receive a formal education. But one thing must be stressed here—the parents who teach their children at home must have a good educational background and moral integrity, and they should create as many opportunities as possible to let their children communicate with other children their age.

An Unwise Action

Bao Zhicai (Professor at Southwest China Institute for Ethnic Minorities): Putting aside whether or not the Qins’educational program can meet the standard of the education program set by the State, their behavior has violated the principle of the Law of Education, which stipulates that every school-age child must receive a nine-year compulsory education.

Liu Peifeng (Psychological Worker with the Kaile Psychological Service Center, Sichuan Province): Chen Xue may master rich knowledge, but she herself may not suit society, as she is growing up in a solitary environment at home. Taking into account a child’s psychological health, home schooling should not be adopted.

Shi Ming (Doctor of Pedagogy): Seen from the angle of pedagogy, home schooling is unreasonable and unscientific; hence, it should not be encouraged. Although Wei Yuan’s parents are teachers, their knowledge is not enough to teach their child so many courses.

Ren Qun (Reader of the Yangcheng Evening News): School is the place where children can be a part of a society and exchange ideas with others. Those who estrange themselves from others for a long time are unable to have the experience of collective love and mutual help, and are unable to temper their ability to cope with complicated problems and face different kinds of people. Parents, who are well educated and skillful at teaching, may pass on their knowledge and living experience to their children, but can’t provide them with the happiness acquired from being part of a collective.

Wang Dejun (Editor of a Beijing-based newspaper): Those nurtured at a home school may excel in every aspect, but they are unlikely to fit into society.

Allowed, but not Encouraged

Officials from the Education Department of Guangdong Province: As a special education model, home schools have some functions of normal schools. They seek the development of students’individuality. This complies with the orientation of educational reform, which focuses on the development of a diverse education, and the individuality of students. In this sense, it should be allowed.

According to the Law of Education, parents have an obligation to send their school-age children to school. But parents who let their children study at home want their children to get a better education. Therefore, so long as the parents have the ability and let their children complete required courses in accordance with the Law of Education, they do not violate the law.

This new model, however, should not be encouraged due to its limitations that is not conducive to the all-round development of children. A home school should also get registered at the related department for better management. As for letting these home-schooled students participate in graduation examinations and college entrance examinations, or return to school if they want to, we cannot yet answer that, since there has been no precedent.

Regarding the graduation examination results of senior middle school, certification of a nine-year compulsory education is a must for those taking the junior middle school entrance examination. Those who have not studied at school cannot yet get such certificates. But now the related regulation seems to be relaxed. For instance, in Guangdong Province alone, several hundred young people who had not studied at junior middle school, received their junior middle school diplomas after passing the corresponding examinations. Another dozen participated in the college entrance examination. With such a relaxed policy, in future, children taught at home may also acquire diplomas through a corresponding examination.

(Beijing Review November 5, 2001)