Scripture hall education leaves lad in dead end
china.org.cn / chinagate.cn by Chen Boyuan, September 2, 2016 Adjust font size:
These days, Zheng is hectically preparing for his exams. Having dropped out again -- this time from the scripture hall -- he is determined not to touch his scripture books again. His way of temporarily forgetting frustration is addiction to electronic products while the method for people like him is the Tetris game in an old Nokia or Korean TV dramas.
The young man's failed path left his mother Li Xuan confused. She said on Aug. 12 at home that she didn't know why all the hopes and promises for a scripture reading-based education had vaporized so completely.
Professor Ke Xiaogang from Tongji University in Shanghai has studied non-governmental scripture halls for a long time. In fact, he is dressed like an ancient Chinese thinker and has his own private lectures on Sinology.
He concluded that most students sent to scripture halls are from well-off families with a Buddhist mother, who would accompany the child throughout the program.
The reason, as Professor Ke analyzes it, is that mothers like Li Xuan are prone to an idealistic image about their children's future, and this coincided with the emergence of scripture halls as a supposed alternative way to success for children who have difficulty in attending ordinary schools. When their bubble of hope bursts, the mothers exhibit anxiety and frustration, regretting having ruined their children's prime youth.
Professor Ke is also frustrated. A Sinology expert, he wished to cultivate a batch of real sages. But with people like Zheng, he couldn't find any such potential.
Some parents, who were once fanatical supporters of the 'sage' education, have long since switched sides and formed a resolute opposition. In their WeChat group, they discuss every day how to persuade the government to close the scripture halls on such grounds as fire safety, lack of a license, and illegal fundraising.
In the minds of the youths, the changes are subtler. After a decade of scripture reading, they refuse to touch anything related to Sinology throughout their life. They once despised the traditional education system, calling it trash, but cannot admire enough the students who are inside.
Some, however, continue to show severe adaptation problems once back to ordinary education, and they have chosen to return to the scripture halls.