Parents and their children during the entrance exam of The Elementary School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. (Photo: Li Hao/GT)
Kindergarten to primary school
In fact, the practice of parent homework starts in kindergarten. Zhao feels that the hardest homework assignments were given when her son was younger.
"I still remember the first 'parent assignment' was to make a toy steering wheel with my son, and he was only three then," Zhao searched every corner of their house for materials and finally made one from a pipe with the help of other family members. Her first attempt was graded as "unqualified," and Zhao had to buy toy materials and do the homework again.
In fact, many online posts went viral recently joking about "the weirdo homework for kids," which shows the complicated homemade projects children are required to bring to school. Zhao said she believes that those posts are true.
"The kids are too young to complete the work, and they learn nothing from it," said Zhao.
For primary education, she affirmed that schools should not transfer their responsibility to the family, but the parents need to offer guidance to build up a good foundation for their kids.
She is not totally against parent homework when the kids are young, and she also wants to help her son establish good learning habits during the first and second year of primary school. However, the kids need to learn to be more independent as they get older, she said.
"I won't do as much as I do now when he gets into third grade. That's the time he needs to depend on himself," Zhao said.
However, things are much harder for families where the grandparents play the main role in home education. In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it is quite common that parents are too busy at work, and it is often the grandparents who take care of the young children. Helping with homework is challenging for the elderly as many assignments need to be done on computers or various smartphone apps.
"I see some grandmothers who are very upset about their grandchildren's education since they can do little to help with certain subjects, say English," Zhao said, adding that some elderly in her community are trying hard to catch up with using digital devices to help the kids.
As parent homework is drawing growing criticism, many scholars and educators say that the practice is not good for a child's development. Ju Ping, a well-known children's TV program presenter and educator, is one of them.
"Too much attention and help could result in dependence on the parents," said Ju in a public lecture on November 4, stressing that home education should focus on 'parent-kid' communication and interaction, rather on helping out with assignments.
Recently, Jiangsu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have published a new school rule that forbids parent homework and called for an end to the practice of parents being required to modify kids' assignments and signing up for their work. The move earned waves of likes online.
However, Li Hongying, a mother of a primary student, said that the so-called "relieving pressure" move will not work in the long run.
"I think it is the whole social atmosphere that pushes many parents into trying so hard on their child's education. The idea of not losing at the starting line will most likely not change," Li said, stressing that it is not the schools to blame.
Parents' own initiative
However, the burden of parent homework is, to some extent, self-generated and the practice might be misunderstood by many. Wang Jianan, a teacher at the Experimental School Affiliated to National Academy of Education Administration, stresses that the homework is set up to be completed by students, but parents are too eager to help.
"All the homework is arranged within the curriculum and it might be challenging sometimes, but it's within students' capacity," said Wang. For example, only senior students in primary school will be asked to make PowerPoint presentations, since they start to learn how to use a computer in the third grade. She added that teachers do not ask students to present "perfect" work, but only encourage them to try. However, parents take the initiative to do things for them in order to make their children's work look better.
"The practice is depriving kids of trying new things themselves, and it's not fair for other students who are without parents' help. And as time passes by, more and more parents begin to join," sighed Wang.
Flora Man, a primary school teacher in Beijing, echoes Wang and stresses that "cooperation education" between parents and schools is a trend.
"On one hand, teacher hope to enhance the teaching output by cooperating with parents; on the other hand, more and more parents are willing to take a bigger part in their child's lives, which can be increasingly reflected in the child's homework," said Man.
According to Man, many parents enjoy the time they spend doing projects with their kids. She cited an example where a student's father, who has a doctoral degree, helped his son with a project that needed to be completed at home. Together they made a perfect team, and both the father and son found the process enjoyable.
"The more educated the parents are, the more willing they are to join in on their child's education. The key is good communication between parents and teachers and not to make parents' help compulsory," said Man.
