MATH contest that became all the rage as prerequisites for children to get into the best schools has been sidelined by authorities worried about excessive stress on young students.

FOR Shanghai Education Commission, the much-touted Math Olympiad just didn’t add up. Parents obsessed by the competition pushed young children to attend cram courses and study in their spare time, hoping that high rankings would open the doors to the best schools.

But Party Secretary Han Zheng said the whole process places too much stress on children, and the education commission duly declared once again that “burdens on students” must be reduced.

That prompted three of the most prominent local math competitions — Smart Kid’s Cup, Middle Ring Cup and the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Elementary Schools — to scrap planning for contests this year, triggering another round of intense public debate.

“Do you know how much time, effort and money I have spent on math training?” says Stella Ni, 42, the mother of an 11-year-old. “My daughter started the training from grade one and she is now in grade four, a perfect time to garner a qualified award certificate. To prepare for the coming competition, she practiced math exercises every day for one to two hours after school. Now everything is in vain.”

The contests are an offshoot of the International Mathematical Olympiad, which began in 1959. Administration of the competitions varies from country to country, but the basic idea revolves around an examination consisting of math problems for pre-college participants. The content ranges from extremely difficult algebra and calculus to problems from branches of mathematics not conventionally covered at school, such as complex geometry, functional equations and number theory.

Even many parents simply don’t have the brainpower or willpower to understand complex mathematics.

“I attended training classes after school, but I didn’t plan to join the competition because the problems were too difficult for me,” says Charlie He, a fourth-grade student.

Li Mingyan, a 11-year-old, says she is relieved the Olympiad is canceled.

“I am good at Chinese,” she says, “and I hated it when my mum pushed me to do the Math Olympiad exercises every day. Now I worry that she will want me to participate in other competitions, like Chinese and English.”

Award certificates from academic competitions are proudly included in the application process when Shanghai parents seek to get their children enrolled in prestigious schools. The Math Olympiad was viewed as one way to provide a “level playing field” for children from ordinary backgrounds to compete in school enrollment.

Despite all the hype about the value of the competition, there are parents and teachers who don’t like the idea of pushing children so hard at such a young age. “Not every primary school student is suitable for doing the Math Olympiad,” says Xu Zhiqing, a math teacher. “Only 5 percent really are, which means the rest of them are just part of the denominator.”

Costly weekend and after-school cram schools that specialize in preparing children for the competitions have been very popular, but they take their toll on students, both physically and mentally.

The Shanghai Education Commission has been saying for several years that the burden on students should be reduced, but it wasn’t until Party Secretary Han weighed into the debate last month that things started happening.

Mixed responses

“It’s really a good thing, which should have started earlier,” says John He, the 35-year-old father of a 10-year-old son. “Both my son and I hate the Math Olympiad. My son is not talented at mathematics. Even when he studied at cram schools, he only understood about half of what was being taught. I had to study the material and try to explain it to him, which proved to be a very tiring task.”

With Math Olympiad certificates now removed from the enrollment application process — at least for the moment — many are asking what replace them in application criteria?

“One father joked in a media interview that enrollment may depend on the look and temperament of a child, on the background of the parents, or even on back-door connections,” says Ni. “But those are too subjective.”

Li Siwen, a 45-year-old mother who went to live in Tokyo with her Japanese husband two years ago when her daughter started middle school, isn’t overly concerned about the demise of the Math Olympiad. “I could fully understand the mood of the parents in Shanghai, especially since many ordinary people had no social network when it came to school enrollment,” she says. “I was one of them. I actually don’t think Math Olympiad is a bad thing. I always believe that it gives everyone the chance to be on an equal footing.”

A staffer at the Four Seasons Education Group, one of the two biggest training schools for the Math Olympiad, said in a phone interview that the group hasn’t received many requests for refunds. She refused to be identified by name.

Some parents apparently think the hiatus in the Math Olympiad may be only temporary.

“I am hesitating about whether I should stop the math classes for my son,” says Wan Minghui, mother of a fourth-grade daughter. “No one knows what the future holds. What if the competition restarts next year under another name? The number of the students in every class is limited, and once you withdraw, you might not be able to re-enter. I will wait and see how private middle schools select students this year.”

The question arises: Just how many mathematical wizards does a society need?

“The current education mode smothers a child’s imagination, creativity and individuality,” says Wang Yuhong, a well-known local artist. “They have so much homework to do that they barely have time to develop their own interest in reading, art and sports. Just look at the students in middle schools. How many of them are not wearing glasses?”

Shanghai’s burgeoning population is putting strains on the education system.

“In the past, children born in Shanghai only had to compete with other natives,” says Wan.

“But now, there are many incomers from other areas who think a good education can change their destiny. Their children are more hard-working.”

With 24 million people to govern, the city is stretched to keep up with public needs.

“The conflict lies in limited resources for a growing population,” says Feng Yalan, a local psychological consultant. “Everyone wants the best services and the best education. Just imagine a situation where the denominator becomes bigger and the numerator remains the same. What would be the result?”

Feng says Chinese parents have always sacrificed everything for a better life for their children.

“Giving their children a better life than the one they had is the achievement of their lives,” she says. “For many, it’s just unbearable that their children are inferior to others, whether in study, work or marriage.”

So education is the starting point. Children as young as two or three years are now being registered in tutorial classes for math, English and Chinese. “It’s really a vicious circle,” laments Feng.

Parents don’t want “vague” requirements for school enrollment criteria. They want to know exactly how their children will be judged, so they can prepare them in advance.

“I think the cancellation of award certificates in the Math Olympiad will expand to more areas,” says Linda Xu, a 30-something white-collar worker with an 11-year-old son.

“The IQs for most children are pretty much the same, so how do you filter out the best? Chinese parents are practical, and I am no exception. Once there is a stated requirement — for example, physical ability — you will see parents rush their children into training classes for basketball, football, tennis and swimming.”

Her sentiments are echoed by Anna Chen, another 30-something mother.

“The Math Olympiad is just one requirement, and if the criteria expand, then how many other after-school classes will I need to get my child into?” she says. “The weekend has only two days, I can’t cram them all in, or I will go crazy transporting him from one class to the next.”