Two private primary schools in Shanghai have turned enrollment into an assessment of parents, and even grandparents, which has sparked a heated discussion on social media. The schools in question have been required to make a public apology after condemnation by the authorities.
The 2017 enrollment program of Shanghai primary schools was carried out on May 6 and 7, arranged by The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. Some parents have noticed that in some schools the enrollment was more focused on the parents rather than their children.
One parent posted a picture of a deductive reasoning test questionnaire for the parents on his WeChat moments, and noted that the test was even set a time limit. In Qingpu World Foreign Language School, the parents were required to fill out an information questionnaire about their own and the grandparents’ educational background, occupations and work titles. And after attending an enrollment session with Yangpu School, another parent posted on social media saying desperately, “I failed my daughter and my ancestors,” according to The Beijing News.
When asked the reasons behind the apparent parent vetting process, Yangpu School said the test was originally set as an interactive activity for the parents when waiting for the pupil interviews, while Qingpu World Foreign Language School claimed that the questionnaire was optional and has nothing to do with the actual intake.
There is immense pressure on parents to get their children enrolled in an elite private school, and faced with a saturated market, schools started to come up with tactics to get a targeted group of pupils. Although the parent vetting appears mainly as a result of the limited quality school options, perhaps the ever growing parents’ anxiety over children education is worth noticing too.
[Images via The Beijing News and CNN]
