#163 Stop the Bullying Style Education! 不要再霸凌式教育孩子了！

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese!

Recently, I saw a video that deeply saddened me. In the video, there’s a person who claims to be an education expert. In a child’s home, she instructed the child to smash all of his toys. This expert said it was for the child’s own good, so that he could focus on studying. Her video angered many Chinese netizens, and everyone said: “Stop bullying style education for children!” Today, let’s talk about what this video captured and why it made so many people angry.

The person filming the video is a woman named Zhao Juying. She is a retired teacher who taught for 33 years. She claims to be an education expert who can help parents educate their children well and make them study hard. Many parents invite her to their homes to help with their children’s education. Every time, she would film a video. In these videos, we can see Zhao Juying criticizing children, saying they are not studying seriously enough, and even using a ruler to hit their hands. There was a boy who liked playing with action figures and had bought many of them. She made the boy smash all of them. There was a girl who liked reading comic books, and she made the girl throw all of them into the trash can. Let’s listen to how she criticized the children:

“Your physics score was originally 99. The first time it was 100, the second time 99, the third time 96. I don’t want to hit you. A famous Russian educator said, education without punishment is incomplete education, kneeling teachers cannot teach children who stand up.”

I think this child did very well on his physics exam! I find physics particularly difficult, but he scored over ninety, which is impressive! But Zhaojuying thought that he was studying hard enough. Zhao Juying also said, “Education without punishment is incomplete education.” She believes that children must be disciplined in order to make them obedient. But do we really need obedient children? What we need are happy children, healthy children, independent children, and kind children. Every child has their own interests and hobbies, so why can’t we let them pursue those interests? Their lives shouldn’t be just about studying!

As a teacher myself, I feel very sad when I see videos like this. This bullying style of education will only control children and harm them. It won’t contribute to their physical and mental well-being, nor will it give them a better future. Many Chinese netizens share the same thoughts as me. They left comments under the video expressing their strong dislike for bullying style education. Some people said that they used to enjoy drawing during class, and later they went to the best art university and are now successful designers. Some said they used to like playing with action figures, and now they are successful engineers.

I also want to share my story. When I was young, I loved reading detective novels. My teacher said reading these kinds of books was useless because they weren’t on the exams. But because of detective novels, I fell in love with reading and writing novels. Later, I became a journalist, and then a teacher. In my school, I organized a detective novel club. Many students joined my club, and we read books and solved mysteries together. The students were happy, and I was happy too because we could explore our interests together.

Many young people strongly oppose bullying style education and encourage children to have hobbies. So, I believe that in the future, education for children in China will only get better and better.