Hard beds and beatings: school for only children, China's "little emperors"
Schools applying rigid military methods are becoming increasingly popular to teach an entire generation of spoilt only children, a consequence of the government's demographic policy. Parents are enthusiastic about the idea because they no longer know how to bring up their children.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) A military-style school, often modelled on foreign institutions, geared towards teaching spoiled only children to respect discipline, to be self-sufficient and competitive. This is the preferred choice of school for parents of this generation created by the government birth control policy.
Zhejiang's Hangzhou Xidian Boys' School is named after the famous West Point Military Academy in the United States (Xidian means West Point in Chinese).
Set up three years ago by former kindergarten teacher Wan Guoying, the school targets the only children, "little emperors", of Chinese families: around 150 boys from rich parents, including some who live overseas in places like Italy and Hungary, and who only see their children during the two-month summer holidays.
Wan said her years of experience taught her that "parents do not know how to educate children well. So I organize children together here and I train them to be disciplined."
The school regime is as tough as that of a military college, with discomfort, hard beds, physical exercise to the point of exhaustion and corporal punishment. Discipline is applied in rigid military style and Wan insists on the need to teach children discipline, perseverance and a sense of responsibility. "That's the reason for the success of its large number of political and business elite alumni," she said.
Punishment is the "cost of making mistakes". "The boys are sent here because their parents cannot discipline them," she said. "They are from single-child families that pamper them and never know when to say 'no'. These children have never met with hardship or known the cost of making mistakes." But at Xidian, "they can use no excuse for their errors. After punishments they know the cost of misbehaving and will feel constrained because they are afraid of being punished."
The school is open only to boys as Wan thinks they "are naughtier, harder to teach, and they must shoulder more family and social responsibilities when they grow up". "Some parents take away their children when they see they will have to sleep on hard beds," but others want their sons to learn how to adapt to any situation. Teaching children that life is tough costs more than 80 yuan per day.
Jin Dongtao from Heilongjiang province sent his son to the school to build up persistence in a competitive society. But the school also teaches traditional Chinese values.
"After more than a month at the school, my son was showing respect and consideration for older generations. Previously, we had to listen to his anger over the slightest dissatisfaction."
According to a survey of 1,933 parents last month, 55% of the respondents said they would like to send their children to exercise and management classes or camps. Such institutions have emerged across the country, including in Beijing, Guangxi and Shaanxi, taking in boys and girls.
Han Xiaoyan, a family specialist from the East China Normal University in Shanghai, said parents were "enthusiastic" about these institutions mostly because they wanted "outside forces" to discipline their unruly children. "They hold a Chinese traditional education philosophy that says 'sticks can teach a good son', which means reprimanding and even beating should be adopted to discipline a naughty child," Professor Han said. "Since they have only one child now, they spoil them greatly. They want other people to 'use the stick' in their stead."
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