A recently survey conducted by China National Statistic Bureau
shows that more than 60 percent of Chinese families spend one-third
of their income on their children's education. The survey covered
502 urban residents living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
According to the survey in Beijing, a family's spending on their
children's education is second only to their spending on food.
Many factors contribute to the rapidly increased family spending on
education, and "making sure my kid gets the best possible start" is
one of them, as witnessed by the high spending on pre-school
education. Many parents try to send their children to the best
kindergarten regardless of higher tuition fees. The tuition fees
charged by a kindergarten in Beijing can amount to 9,600 yuan
(US$1160) per year, even higher than tuition costs for Peking
University, the best university in China.
Choosing better middle school for their children also takes money.
According to China's education policy, children must attend the
middle school within the district where they live. However, many
parents want to send their kids to better known or better-equipped
schools in other districts, and thus their children's attending
those schools entails a lot of money.
Thirty-nine-year-old Ms. Liu works for an insurance company. Not
satisfied with the district school to which her son was assigned,
she sent him instead to a prestigious middle school located in the
suburb of Beijing. The entrance fee of the school came to 26,000
yuan (US$3145), a total Liu had saved for a long time to redecorate
her house.
In
recent years, going abroad to study has become a trend among young
Chinese. Chinese parents believe there are several advantages to
their children's going abroad to study getting direct exposure to
foreign languages and culture may be the most important one. As a
result, many Chinese families sent their children to study in
Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to study at
extremely high cost. Quite a number of the parents are on debt
because of the heavy expenditure.
A
case in point is a mother who recently sent her 16-year-old
daughter to the United States for her high school education. "I
have spent too much on my daughter's education over the past
years," she said. "If she continues her study in China, I again
will spend a huge amount of money for her high school, never mind
the ever-rising costs of college." But she added that with China's
WTO entry, international professional people will be much more in
demand so the study abroad should better prepare students for the
coming challenges in the years to come.
"In the US, she can easily master English language very quickly,
more importantly, with a foreign diploma, she will be more
competitive in the job market should she come back after
graduation," She Said.
With only one child to shoulder their hopes and dreams, parents are
making every efforts to shoulder any financial burden to endure
their children's future through a good education. According to
these parents, given the fierce competition behind the national
college entrance exam, as long as there are prestigious schools and
normal schools, there can be no real equal education opportunity
for students. In the eyes of both parents and their children, the
prestigious schools without question will deliver a quality
education in a good study environment with qualified teachers. More
importantly, the best schools are regarded as places that will
guarantee a bright future.
(China Today by Xiao Zhang, edited and translated for china.org.cn
by Feng Shu, November 23, 2001)