Homeschooling in China: Socialization Rules
In what’s been touted as the first known Beijing case involving a homeschooled child, the court has determined that compulsory education laws mean compulsory public education.
The case arose from a dispute between divorced parents of a child in the custody of his divorced father, who has also been educating him at home. The mother’s suit to change custody claimed that homeschooling amounted to educational deprivation.
The mother Wang Yu, 37, who said she worked at the Beijing branch of the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wenweipo, had accused her ex-husband of isolating their son by forcing a home education on him.
“Kept at home all day with little social communication for two years, the boy’s well-being has been damaged,” said Wang.
But Hou Bo, the father, refuted this, saying home education had a lot of advantages for the boy.
A test conducted by the Galaxy Primary School in Shijingshan District this month showed the child, who should be in the second grade, had already reached the level required for grade four students. The boy said in court that he enjoyed his home education.
The mother lost the case because there was no evidence proving the child was unhappy because of the father’s education system, according to the court. (Source: China Daily.)
Nevertheless, the court decreed that the boy must attend public school in accordance with China’s newly-revised Compulsory Education Law. And why? “[H]ome education is absolutely not advocated,” said an official involved in revising the law.
*never tease someone who is dieting* *never tease someone who is dieting* *never tease...
Public schools (which parents must pay for anyway) is the best way to indoctrinate the kids here. The kids go to school all day long…often catching buses at 7am and coming home around 6pm. They get a 2 hr lunch (napping is big at lunchtime here).
Working here and trying to hire people to do a ‘creative’ or ‘innovation’ job is very, very difficult. The schools teach ‘rote’. Memorize and repeat…blah blah. There is no thought process as to ‘why’ they are learning and to solve problems on the fly. Many people I work with are parents and they understand this as a very important part of education (because they work for an American company), so they either tutor themselves or pay for additional tutoring in some sort of creative endeavor for their kids.
The decision in this case is not surprising, since the state is all-knowing here…they can do no wrong, according to themselves.
Well, yeah. If the kid is getting homeschooled, he’s going to miss out on all that essential government propaganda that the public schools deliver.
Thank you for this post. It is one of those story that helps us define and understand our own freedoms, how important they are and how they can be taken away with out fighting for them. Everyone should remember this when your state tries to pass compulsary testing requirements for homeschooled kids, exc. Go Yoders.
Interesting. So despite anti-homeschooling arguments holding no legal water, the state still says “you cannot decide this for yourself”. Ie. The state is above the law.
And Article 16 of the Compulsory Education Law is interesting:
“It shall be forbidden to insult or assault teachers. It shall be forbidden to inflict physical punishment on students.”
and…..
“No one may make use of religion to engage in activities which interfere with the implementation of compulsory education”.