JENNY Zhang looks at her eight-year-old son and sees a candle being burned at both ends. During the school year, he is burdened with homework and extracurricular classes designed to help him pass exams for entry into the best schools.

And now, during summer holidays when he is supposed to be having some fun, the boy has to attend training classes for the Mathematics Olympiad, a series of national competitions to sharpen math skills.

Participation in the Olympiad is not mandatory, but try telling parents that!

“Almost all the students in my son’s class applied for Mathematics Olympiad training classes,” says Zhang. “The classes are also a big topic on the parents’ WeChat group I belong to.”

The mathematics competition was created in 1959, with the aim to inspire young people to study mathematics, and by extension, science. It has now become a de facto compulsory course for most pre-college students in Shanghai. Doing well in the Olympiad means extra brownie points when applying for top schools.

The ultimate goal of taking the training classes is to win the “Four Cups,” or four national Mathematics Olympiad competitions held annually. The structure of training sessions is complicated. There are two general classes, four branches, such as geometry and algebra, and usually a “competition prep class” leading up to the “Four Cups.”

In their zeal to promote their children’s scholastic qualifications, many parents sign their youngsters up for multiple classes.

“We have jargon that only parents would understand, such ‘3-O’ and ‘4-O’,” Zhang says. “The number refers to how many training classes children are taking. This summer, news of one girl taking all seven classes is the most popular topic on WeChat parent sites. Many think they should follow suit. I think they’re crazy.”

According to a recent survey carried out by the Antai College of Economics and Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, about 35 percent of the students in Grade-1 of elementary school in Shanghai take Mathematics Olympiad training. The participation rate rises to about 68 percent in Grade-3 and 71 percent in Grade-5.

The Shanghai government’s attempts to damp down the zealousness of parents who overburden their children with work to heighten their chances of getting into the best schools seem to be falling on deaf ears.

“Nowadays, most outstanding junior high schools are private ones, and winning records in the Mathematics Olympiad would make my son more competitive when applying to those schools,” Zhang says. “Although the government has instructed schools to not include results of the ‘Four Cups’ in entrance requirements, most schools still list them as a ‘reference conditions.’ That comes down to the same thing.”

Zhang’s son attends the Xue’ersi training school, whose name translates as “learning and thinking.” It claims to have recruited the best teachers in China and has become one of the most popular institutes providing Mathematics Olympiad training. The school charges 2,700 yuan (US$404) for 15 classes, each lasting for three hours. It requires parents to attend the classes with their children, so they can coach them at home on the syllabus.

“My husband, my parents and I take turns going to these classes with my son,” says Zhang. “It’s like homework for everyone.”

Obviously, not all children can end up winners in the Mathematics Olympiad competitions. But even parents who know in their heart that their children will never become math whizzes still send them to the classes.

“We just don’t have any way out,” says Zhang. “At my son’s school, for example, tests and exams often have extra challenging problems for extra points, and they’re all from Mathematics Olympiad textbooks. If they don’t go to training classes, children have little chance of solving the problems.”

Pressure on parents

Zhang says teachers never explain the more complicated math in class.

“If other kids can all solve the problems but my son can’t, then we parents would be blamed for not enrolling him in Olympiad training classes,” she says.

Zhang’s son will enter Grade-3 at a public elementary school in Baoshan District when classes resume after the summer holiday. The school isn’t considered premier class, but it is a good school and competition between students is fierce, the mother says.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like for students in top-tier schools,” she says.

Li Xin, a mother in the Pudong New Area, says her seven-year-old son attends one of the best primary schools in the area, and many students in his class actually had “pre-school” Mathematics Olympiad training when they were in kindergarten.

“It’s obvious that teachers expect students to have a first-grade education even before they enter the first grade,” says Li. “Apart from mathematics, they are also expected to show basic English conversational skills.”

Li says she thought her school days 15 years ago were tough, but she finds the situation today even worse.

“I remember I just felt very tired in junior and senior high school, especially in the years before high school or college entrance examinations,” she says. “But now my son has to take extra training classes starting at Grade-1 in elementary school.”

What’s a parent to do?

“With smartphones, teachers are always on your tail,” Li says. “For example, my son’s Chinese-language teacher asked us to record videos of our children reciting stories from textbooks every day and then upload the videos to the WeChat parents’ group. It’s ridiculous.”

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of 21th Education Research Institute, a non-governmental organization, says the current education and employment systems are responsible for the overzealous attitude of parents. The government, he says, has been reluctant to undertake strong reforms.

According to Xiong, only people graduating from “key universities” can find good jobs, or find a job at all. Only people from key high schools can enter key universities. And so it goes down the educational ladder. It’s a vicious cycle guaranteed to stress out students, teachers and parents right from the start.

“As long as universities and colleges take one exam as their sole standard for student entry, the current situation won’t change for the better,” he says. “I personally don’t see the system changing anytime soon.”