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Children in Home Schooling Face Problems Beyond Formal Education

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Compared to other children at her age, 9-year-old Li Jingci spends less time in classroom but learns more. Her 62-year-old father, Li Tiejun, teaches her Chinese, math, painting, music and even astrology and the art of war.

Li Jingci is not alone in today's China.

Although to date there has no accurate statistics of home schoolers in China, the increasing reports of the cases in the media suggest the number is growing.

Why and how at home?

Most parents who home school their children make the decision because they do not believe their children can learn what they really need in school.

"Most courses the school provides are useless for the future of my child," said Li Tiejun. "I would rather teach her something useful myself instead of wasting money on school."

What the father means by "something useful" becomes apparent upon entering his house.

The ceiling and walls are covered with star charts Li Tiejun painted. A classical Chinese musical score hangs on the wall beside the window. The family's most prized possessions are two violins and an electronic keyboard.

Li Tiejun only graduated from primary school, but now he is his daughter's only teacher. He believes he has learned enough to teach a 9-year-old girl, but he will hire tutors when he can no longer handle the courses.

Wei Yuan, a teacher at Guangzhou Baiyun Institute, is also a home schooling father.

He decided to home school his 9-year-old daughter Wei Xiaoxi in 2000 because he felt that school education has too many shortcomings.

"An important reason we did this is that we were disappointed with the teaching methods in primary and middle schools," Wei told a local paper.

"The teaching methods there are stultifying. Kids have to do sums again and again and they are not allowed to openly express themselves in compositions," Wei said.

"Also I don't think we need nine or 12 years to fulfil the courses in primary and middle schools. Half the time will be enough if the children learn fast and the teaching is efficient," he added.

Wei bought textbooks and began teaching Chinese, English and computing himself. His wife took charge of math, music, art and sports. Armed with a detailed schedule, they embarked on their bold home schooling mission.

Wei Xiaoxi learned fast. Within a year and a half she completed the courses of first year middle school.

"We do not want to create a genius," Wei Yuan said. "We keep her at home because we believe that teaching methods should adapt to children's individual needs."

But Ding Wenjun does hope to foster a genius through home schooling.

Ding Wenjun, once a businessman in Yixing, a small city in East China's Jiangsu Province, became a quasi-celebrity after his 18- year-old son Ding Junhui defeated seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry to take the China Open snooker crown in 2005.

Ding Junhui left school at age 10 because his father believed the boy would be a snooker genius. His father said he should focus on the game.

Ding Senior gave up his hometown business, sold his house and brought his son to Dongguan, Guangdong Province, where snooker flourishes.

They rented a small house and began the eight-year training, which led to Ding Junhui's triumph in April this year.

"Life is a gamble," Ding Wenjun said. "Even if you attend school, it's a gamble. Failure is nothing, as long as you believe what you're doing is worth the effort."

But is every home schooler lucky enough to win the gamble?

Legal or not?

On March 15, Li Ansu, mother of Li Jingci and once girlfriend of Li Tiejun, sued him for violating the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China and Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors.

The case provoked great controversy.

The Compulsory Education Law states that the community, schools and families shall safeguard the right to compulsory education of school-age children and adolescents. When children have reached school age, their parents or guardians shall send them to school to receive a nine-year compulsory education.

"The law of our country has prescribed that the primary and middle school education is a compulsory one," Tan Zongze, associate professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with Chongqing TV.

"Parents and guardians should send children of school age to school. If they do not fulfil the obligations, they should be forced to," he said.

Xu Jiangyong, vice headmaster of Paotongshu Primary School in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, does not agree with Tan.

"The article does say that parents should send children at school age to school," Xu said. "But it mainly concerns those who provide no education for children at all. However, most parents who home school strive for a better education for their children. Both the motivation and practice are different."

On May 27, the court ruled against Li Tiejun, urging him to send Li Jingci to school. He responded by saying he would never send his daughter to school.

The 'S' Problem

In the United States, where home education is legal, home schoolers' parents have something else to worry about socialization.

Their concern is whether their children will be able to function well in the world without regular school experiences.

Referred to as "the S Question" in the field of home education, socialization is also a controversial issue among Chinese home education pioneers.

The parents of Wei Xiaoxi encountered this problem early in their home education experiment.

"Home education lacks communication and competition," Wei's mother said.

The parents played the role of teachers, partners and competitors at the same time.

They tried various ways to give their daughter contact with others. They took her to excursions, bookstores and friends' homes.

But is that enough? Professor Liu Yuquan from Sichuan College of Education would probably say no.

"The simple relationship in the family can hardly stimulate full development of a child's personality," he said. "In school, the interaction between teachers and students and among students, even what the kid sees on the way to school, is part of socialization."

Wei Xiaoxi spent a year and a half learning at home and returned to school in October 2001. She is studying at a senior middle school in Guangzhou.

And Ding Junhui is also thinking of returning to school.

He has applied to Fudan University in Shanghai but was refused. The snooker prodigy and his father will continue their efforts to pursue studies in a regular way.

Although many have returned to the regular schools, some experts advocate an open attitude to the new form of home education.

"It signals the educational advancement of China," Meng Siqing, a scholar in Tianjin Academy of Educational Sciences, wrote in his paper on home schooling.

"From a long-term perspective, it is necessary to establish relevant laws and give support to those involved By this, home- educated children's right to learn and the parents' right to choose how their children are educated can be protected," he said.

Source: China Daily; North American ed.

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