It’s body over mind as parents try to prime children for critical exam
Print Edition
SPORTS prowess accounts for only 5 percent of the points on Shanghai high school entrance exams, but the competition for high scores is so great that parents aren’t leaving anything to chance.
In increasing numbers, they are enrolling their children in expensive extracurricular sports classes, according to the operators of fitness centers.
Li Bei is one such parent. She spends 120 yuan (US$19) a week on swimming classes for her son. After six months, he is now seconds faster in the 200-meter event, she said. That could translate to two or three more points on the exam.
“We don’t regret paying the money for the class as long as it improves his scores,” Li said.
“Besides, he’s stronger now.”
Sports were added to the high school exam in 2008. They account for 30 points, compared with 600 points for scholastic subjects. The exams are held in April and May.
The trend is perhaps not surprising. Chinese parents are notoriously obsessive about the major exams that move their children up the education ladder.
Higher scores open doors to the best schools. Parents, who believe that educational achievement is the key to a successful career, can be downright pushy in preparing youngsters for the exams.
Fitness centers have been quick to capitalize on their zeal.
“We have enrolled hundreds of children in the months leading up to the tests this year as parents try to give a last-minute boost to their children’s performance in the high school entrance exams,” said Liu Liangming, a teacher at Mingfei Culture Communication.
“The numbers have been steadily increasing from year to year.”
Mingfei, like many similar companies, offers group and personal training sessions in athletic activities covered by the exams. Students choose one activity from each of four categories. They include middle-distance running, short-distance swimming, the standing long jump, sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups and basketball.
Liu said his company charges 2,580 yuan for a 10-session program, which provides classes of two hours each. Customized one-on-one training sessions cost up to 3,500 yuan, he said.
Fitness centers usually employ retired former sports professionals as teachers.
“The children need professional instruction to improve performance,” said a teacher surnamed Sun at Dedao Fitness.
“In schools, teachers don’t really have the time or the experience to provide such intensive training.”
Liu said psychological preparedness is an important element in scoring well on exams, and his center tries to build up confidence and well as bodies.
“When we ask some children to show us how well they can do certain sports, you can see from the panicked looks on their faces that they are very nervous,” he said.
Xu Agen, vice president of the Sports Association of Shanghai Middle School Students, an organization registered under the Shanghai Sports Bureau, said most schools are failing to provide adequate sports training.
It’s not surprising, he said, that many parents are seeking outside professional help in athletics. After all, many of them hire after-school tutors to help children bone up on academic subjects.
“Some schools don’t have competent teachers to cover the more technical aspects of sports, such as training on the bars or tumbling on mats, which are required to be tested,” he said.
Some athletic activities are considered too dangerous for the ordinary school curriculum.
There is a bit of paradox to the situation, Xu said.
“First parents insist that children set sports aside to spend more time studying,” he said.
“Then, as the exams approach, they suddenly revert to placing emphasis on athletics. I don’t think they really understand sports at all.”
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