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Pursuit of GDP turns kids' summer camp into relentless study hell
By Wan Lixin |
July 7, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
"AS the two-month-long summer vacation begins, this should have been the most anticipated, the happiest time for middle and elementary school students" - thus commented Shao Ning in the Xinmin Evening News on Tuesday.
"Tragically, for some students, no sooner are they let out of school than are they sent to shutuoban (summer camp)," the commentary went on.
Shao then detailed the curriculum of a typical camp that operates 8:30am-6pm, Monday to Friday, and is, except for less than an hour's lunch break, dominated by cramming sessions on English, arithmetic, and Chinese.
The intensity in shutuoban is even greater than during routine school instruction.
One week of such intensive instruction is enough to make children view any future "vacation" with fear and loathing.
I agreed with Shao that "these shutuoban are utterly destructive to children."
But as Shao noted, parents have few options left today.
The plain fact is that today children can no longer be safely left to their own devices, whether within or outside the home. Generally the thought of a child at home without effective supervision is highly disturbing.
Fatal addiction
The fear centers on children being easy prey for TV and online games.
Grandparents can be great help with toddlers, but most are too indulgent to exercise effective control over school kids.
To see how pernicious online gaming can be, just remember that online gaming not only preys on children, but also victimizes adults.
It was recently reported that 32-year-old Wang Gang, after playing online games for 10 years, was nearing his end. Before breathing his last on May 15, he mused: "It's really so fun" and "You will never know this."
Wang once stayed at an Internet cafe equipped with sofa for seven consecutive months.
As a matter of fact, so experienced was Wang at gaming that it earned him a modest income. It was not unlike a job.
When both Wang and the online game companies are doing their job, who's to blame?
Last year a Hawaiian man sued an online game company for damages, claiming that his compulsive urge to play a game caused him to sink more than 20,000 hours into it, and ruined his health.
Could the family of Chinese victim Wang lodge a similar complaint against Chen Tiantiao or Shi Yuzhu, who are running some of the most successful gaming companies?
According to caing.com, last year alone Chen and Shi (both among the richest men in China) had pocketed 125 million (US$19 million) and 57.4 million respectively in government subsidies.
In other words the government is using taxpayers' money to supply addiction to the taxpayers' children, or the taxpayers themselves.
One analyst for an online game developer revealed: "Whenever we are going to develop a game, we would apply for government subsidy, and generally we get it."
Because "software" development is perceived as a non-polluting, high-tech growth sector, there are numerous Chinese cities aspiring to base their future on it.
Logic of market
Moral deliberation has no place in the cool logic of marketplace.
After years of paying tribute to the market, successful officials are those who can correctly identify the consumption or productive value of people, and make the most of it.
In a society where GDP is King, being unproductive can be highly embarrassing. These people include the children and elderly people. Thus, some of the more promising children are evincing their future earning power.
Traditionally the kids could be taken care of by a mother confined to her domestic duty. Long ago that role of woman has been deemed limiting, enslaving, and reactionary.
For decades the government has openly vowed allegiance to GDP. Now, it is more fashionable to talk about job creation.
When car sales slump there are bound to be measures to stimulate sales, for a car can create so many jobs.
Moral concern cannot be more irrelevant in the temple of the market.
"Tragically, for some students, no sooner are they let out of school than are they sent to shutuoban (summer camp)," the commentary went on.
Shao then detailed the curriculum of a typical camp that operates 8:30am-6pm, Monday to Friday, and is, except for less than an hour's lunch break, dominated by cramming sessions on English, arithmetic, and Chinese.
The intensity in shutuoban is even greater than during routine school instruction.
One week of such intensive instruction is enough to make children view any future "vacation" with fear and loathing.
I agreed with Shao that "these shutuoban are utterly destructive to children."
But as Shao noted, parents have few options left today.
The plain fact is that today children can no longer be safely left to their own devices, whether within or outside the home. Generally the thought of a child at home without effective supervision is highly disturbing.
Fatal addiction
The fear centers on children being easy prey for TV and online games.
Grandparents can be great help with toddlers, but most are too indulgent to exercise effective control over school kids.
To see how pernicious online gaming can be, just remember that online gaming not only preys on children, but also victimizes adults.
It was recently reported that 32-year-old Wang Gang, after playing online games for 10 years, was nearing his end. Before breathing his last on May 15, he mused: "It's really so fun" and "You will never know this."
Wang once stayed at an Internet cafe equipped with sofa for seven consecutive months.
As a matter of fact, so experienced was Wang at gaming that it earned him a modest income. It was not unlike a job.
When both Wang and the online game companies are doing their job, who's to blame?
Last year a Hawaiian man sued an online game company for damages, claiming that his compulsive urge to play a game caused him to sink more than 20,000 hours into it, and ruined his health.
Could the family of Chinese victim Wang lodge a similar complaint against Chen Tiantiao or Shi Yuzhu, who are running some of the most successful gaming companies?
According to caing.com, last year alone Chen and Shi (both among the richest men in China) had pocketed 125 million (US$19 million) and 57.4 million respectively in government subsidies.
In other words the government is using taxpayers' money to supply addiction to the taxpayers' children, or the taxpayers themselves.
One analyst for an online game developer revealed: "Whenever we are going to develop a game, we would apply for government subsidy, and generally we get it."
Because "software" development is perceived as a non-polluting, high-tech growth sector, there are numerous Chinese cities aspiring to base their future on it.
Logic of market
Moral deliberation has no place in the cool logic of marketplace.
After years of paying tribute to the market, successful officials are those who can correctly identify the consumption or productive value of people, and make the most of it.
In a society where GDP is King, being unproductive can be highly embarrassing. These people include the children and elderly people. Thus, some of the more promising children are evincing their future earning power.
Traditionally the kids could be taken care of by a mother confined to her domestic duty. Long ago that role of woman has been deemed limiting, enslaving, and reactionary.
For decades the government has openly vowed allegiance to GDP. Now, it is more fashionable to talk about job creation.
When car sales slump there are bound to be measures to stimulate sales, for a car can create so many jobs.
Moral concern cannot be more irrelevant in the temple of the market.
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