Depress Concern on Chinese Adolescent Students under Academic High Pressure (Litericy Review)
Abstract
These years, Chinese youth students received many good academic achievements in the world competition, however, on the other side, Chinese students also face academic high pressure. According to<Report on the Development of Chinese National Mental Health (2019-2022)> in 2020, there were 24.6% of Chinese youth is suffered from depression. (1) And many Chinese adolescent students' depression comes from academic high pressure. In this article, we are going to explore how academics cause high pressure on Chinese students; the symptom of Chinses students; and discuss possible solutions or help to improve the situation. This discussion will be a basic explanation and background support to the Just Need a Hug animation story, as the animation is not long enough to explain everything and need Asian living background to understand the whole story. In the Just Need a Hug Animation, there are many details that would point out the academic pressure that made the main character depressed and collapse finally. Those details would be explained in this article.
Keywords: Depress, Chinese adolescent
students, Academic pressure, Education system, Chinese Parenting, Suicide
1. Complicated Reasons for Chinese Academic Pressure
The reasons Chinese adolescents feel extremely stressed are Complicated. There are four common perspectives that cause Chinese academic pressure high: the education system, competition in peers, cultural/society diploma disease, and parents' and students’ fragile.
1.1 Chinese Education System
Chinese education system will be the mainly reason makes the exam-related stress.
From the min-1980s, to improve Chinese economic development, Chinese government introduce “competition mechanisms” into secondary education and promotion “competition consciousness” among teachers and students. The central government control over the purposes of education, and also shift the responsibility of funding and managing school to lower levels of government and to open schools to competitive market forces (Chan &Ngok, 2001; Ngok, 2007). To compete for resources, Chinese schools involved in huge competition of comparing the average student test scores, especially on Gaokao, the annual Chinese college entrance exam. The students test scores are used to evaluate the job performances of teachers, schools‘ principals, and even local government officials. The pressure to outperform competitors exists at each level of education system, and finally passes to individual students.
To achieve the better outperform, Schools keep
students in academic classes longer hours, assign large amount of homework, and
countless mock exams. School even rank students’ scores to encourage students’
working harder. Teachers also often compliment top students and point the
bottom names of the exams in front of class, which made students in hight
pressure and lost self-esteem.
In a study with 2,191 Chinese children of 9–12 years old from urban and rural areas, Therese Hesketh and her colleagues (Hesketh, 2010) found that 81% of the children worried “a lot” about exams, 63% of them were afraid of punishment by teachers, and 73% of them were physically punished by their parents for lax academic effort. Some older Chinese adolescents had been reported in high risk of suicide ideation and attempts because the increased academic pressure from middle school to high school. (Cheng et al., 2009; Cui, Cheng, X, Chen, & Wang, 2011)
To reduce the academic burden on students, foster the development of intellect and abilities, and reach Chinese youth how to use their minds and hands and how to be a good person (Wen, 2010), China had several education reforms.“Outline for National Mid-Term and Long-Term Educational Reform and Development Planning (2010–2020)” was released in 2011 and in the spring of 2013, the Chinese government launched a national campaign called “Reduce academic burden Ten-thousand-miles journey” to assure the defective implementation of its new policies(Ministry of Education, 2013). The new policies prohibited the practice of ranking schools based on student test scores; prohibited schools from selecting students based on test scores. Also, schools reduce class hours, decrease the amount of homework and increase the time students send on extracurricular activities. Teachers were no longer allowed to make students’ ranking positions. Since 2019, China’s Education modernisation plan indicated to add sport and physical education (Outline for Building a Leading Sports Nation, 2019) and raise students’ appreciation of aesthetics and hardworking spirit. (Assessment system handbook, 2020).
However, Gaokao is remaining. It has positive
vulnerable to institutional corruption. It is considered by most people in
China to be relatively objective and fair selection system. In fact, for
student in poor rural areas, the Gaokao is almost their only opportunity to
obtain college education, gain city residency, find a white-collar job, and realize
upward social mobility (Wang & Ross, 2010). Although some Chinese scholars
(e.g. Zhang, 2013; Zhao, 2013) argue that the problem of contemporary Chinese
education lies in the loss of the tradition of self-cultivation as the goal of
education. As long as Gaokao is used as the single criterion for college
admission, the school, parents and students will in high pressure to focus on
increasing test scores. Therefore, students have been sent to tutorial classes
at spear time and have heavy homework from parents and leave little or no time
for physical activities in school. As the physical education and some special
art score could be add into the final Gaokao score, students have to work
harder. They not only need to performing good at their adamic, but also need to
learn and excise a lot of extra, such as some sports, art, music and so on in
recent year in China. Chinese adolescent students’ burden is not been reduced
but had been added more.
All above is the reason of the Jinni(main character) in Just Need a Hug, she is only satisfy on high exam score, but also pushed herself to work on sport and music.
Some top universities were given the autonomy to design their own “university-based assessments” for the independent enrolment, however, as it lacking transparency, favouring urban students, and also increase another pressure of students that have to prepare for both the university-based standardized test as well as the Gaokao.
In 2019, China announces reform the
vocational education. (Implementation plan on National
Vocational Education Reform, 2019) It is an attempt to eradicate a common mindset that vocational
education is a “second choice” to an academic degree.
For ease of understanding, the below diagram shows the vocational
education pathway in China.
(China Announces
Major Reform to Vocational Education Sector, 2019)
The realistic is that, secondary vocational school training students have no chance for further higher education as they didn’t go through Gaokao. Although the higher vocational college students may have a chance to achieve degree, but the test to most of the students are very hard, so the rate of higher vocational students go to university is still low around 20% in average.（Evaluation of China’s Higher Vocational College and Higher Vocational School, 2021）Besides, many higher vocational college in order to have a high graduate employee number, they only realise the graduate certificate when the students get a job offer. In that case, those students’ losing the ambition to achieve a higher degree. Therefore, almost all high school students still first consider achieving a higher score to enter university.
1.2 Education Competition in Peer
Students will be placed in a high competition
atmosphere, as Gaokao pitches millions of students against a relatively small
number of available places at elite universities in China. They feelings of
jealousy, distrust, and animosity were common in peer relationships. Even close
friends were also being considered as enemies in academic competition.
On an interview of an 11th-grade
girl, “I had a friend whose ranking position was similar to mine. At school our
desks were close. When I wrote my homework, she world secretly watch what I was
doing. I would give her an angry stare.” She also mentions that this is very
common among younger students in middle school.
Another 11th-grade girl in the same
study stated: I don’t think I trust anybody completely and anybody trusts me
completely. Trusting another person is very difficult...
Lacking of close friendship will make students
feel more unsecured and lonely in their young age, which will also enhance the pressure
to the students.
In Just
Need a Hug animation, Jinni had cheers from classmates, but she never has a
friend company or support. In order to achieve a better store or more awards in
all academic or competition, Jinni has to study and excise by herself in the
spare time, when other classmates are playing or gathering.
1.3 Chinese Culture and Diploma Disease
A strong culture of academic achievement famously exists in China. There are a common thinking people gaining edges in academic and they will have much more opportunity and advantage in future job competition. The fact of almost all companies will consider the applicants’ qualifications at very first. If the applicants don’t have required qualification, the applicants would not have a chance to go to next interview. However, many positions do not really need that high qualification person, such as being a monk require a master degree. Besides, many positions’ salary rate related to their qualification, such as Bank staff, Civil servants and the staff in state-owned enterprise. The overweight of qualification turn into a serious social illness, someone called it diploma disease. In a society, values of individuals are often judged, in both the job market and daily social interactions by what academic degrees they have and from which universities.
1.4 Chinese Parenting
Traditional Chinese parents have huge anxiety and sky-high expectations on academic achievement.
Chinese parents’ anxiety comes from these points: traditional Confucian beliefs emphasize parental responsibility for training their children, otherwise they lose ‘face’ in front of others (Kwok & Wong, 1999); the whole Chinese society extreme values the qualification; the lack of a functioning social security system（Social security, 2012）; Huge income gaps lined to academic degrees. Therefore, Chinese parents will push their children on academic study hardly in order to achieve high qualification and have better future life. On the other word, the Gaokao will decide their children’s fate.
As one-child policy from 1979（It had been removed in 2021, however, many Chinese adult 20-40 chose no kids or still only have one child in their family to reduce life burden.）, urban youth are often the only child in the family to look after their elderly parents. Without the safety net of a social security system, the student’ academic and future career success is their parents’ only hope.
As the huge anxiety, Chinese parent sacrifice to work all around their children and require children only concentrate on academic study. They plan everything for their children from kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and university including the major their children study in. Getting the best grades and highest honors seems to the only one path forward to their children. Many of parents are not end of their planning on university, they may continue plan their children’s jobs, marriages and even redo all to their grandchildren. The children struggle under the weight of expectations.
“They (children: don’t feel free to be anything else. You can be docile and high achieving, but you can’t have a voice. “Margaret Yee, a high school teacher in America, talked about the Asian American students.
There is another reason some Chinese parents (born in 1950-1970) with the high expectation on academic achievement, they want to pass their dream that they can’t achieve to their children. Many of them didn’t had a chance to study and achieve a good quality for their life, as they experienced the Culture Revolution in 1960-1976, which had no stander academic education in China but everyone were more focus on politic activities. During that time, their life was not stable and scary to speak any single opinion, otherwise might be punished badly. (Kasturi, 2020; Meng & Gregory, 2007; Leff & Maine, 2019) Therefore, they try to plan a stable life to their children and without listen children’s voice.
In some other cases, the parents achieved superior performance on their education and work; they would require their children study harder to achieve at least the same or higher performance than them. Edward Humes pointed out in his book <School of Dreams> (Humes, 2004) those excellent students usually worked too hard because parents’ expectation and the pressure of being better than their parents. The students’ life fills full of study plans, but their don’t study for themselves and have no idea the reason but only their parents want them to. At the same time, their parents persuade their child all their doing is for their children have best life.In <Grown-up Baby> (Wu, 2016) explained that when parents said “all my work is for my child”, it would lead to a consequence: Their children will feel extremely anxious because parents bond their life to their children.
In the Just Need Hug animation, the parents only gave the compliment to Jinni, but not showing any emotion support at beginning, which is typical parenting in China. Mum gives a hug at the end of the animation, which is stander for a wish from all the children. Children wish parents not only consider their academic achievement or competition award, but also look after more their mental health.
2. Symptoms of adolescent students Under High Academic Pressure
2.1 Students become fragile
Children become fragile and easily get depress, that most related to the pressure from parenting and school.
As parents will plan children from born, most children have no time to develop their independent think and creativity. They had been told to obedience. (Kwok & Wong, 1999) Parents sacrifice their life to work all round their children to achieve high score on academic, such as children don’t need help for any housework but only concentrate on their study.
In school, students also have been told to listen to teachers but not challenge teachers with any questions. In the campus, school also over protects students. School forbid students run in the campus ground in the rest time during the classes to reduce physical hurt. Many school buildings putting high iron fans to reduce students fall over from high level, but not only block the view but also keep them as in prison.
In <The overprotected kid> said, if you over protected the children in order to keep them safe, you may deprive the children’s sprite of independent, adventure and explore. At the same time, the children may not become safer, but lost the ability to protect themselves.
When children meet any unexpected situation, they may easy to get frustrating and depress, but don’t have ability to solve it.
There are many cases happened in China, that students dump from high buildings and suicides as they not only hadn’t finish homework and had been punished by tutors.
2.2 Insecurity inside
As the peer competition and lack of parent’s emotion support, Chinese adolescent students become insecurity inside. When they have depress, they tried to explain to their parents or tutors, most of time they may not be consider as sickness, but an excuse not study hard. Many top students also may not have time to make good friends and share their feeling. They would think the problem are their selves and need to face all by them but not ask for help anymore.
2.3 Lack of Self-motivation in Life
Most Chinese students live for their parents’ hope and general successful, but not live for themselves. Their life full of study, exercise, but they have no time to experience their life and find what they really passion about. Their life is busy, but their heart is empty without their own dream or hope. Lack of self-motivation for their life would lead to fragile or too easy to give up on their life.
2.4 Physical tired and Depression
As the heavy study task and high academic pressure, Chinese students have to reduce their sleep time for study. Short sleep duration will lead to physical tired and emotional of anxious, depress and anger. The emotion and none reduced academic pressure will also affect students’ quality of sleep. (Zhou, Cheng, Wu, Li, Li, Tian, He, Yan, 2021) The vicious scircle would significantly increased risk of the adolescent’s students’ depressive symptoms.
According to <Yearbook of Health in the People＇s Republic of China 2019> there are about 100,000 adolescent suicide every year in China, and 82% related to high academic pressure. Many of the reasons from the message from the children left to parents are related to tiredness on their study.
Jinni in Just Need a Hug, is a top student has good performance on academic and all competitions, but she has no friendship or parents support to her emotion. She is also always study and excise and only live on other’s expectation. She has not her own goal. She also lack of rest. Those are the reasons she become tired (with dark circle on her eyes) and got very emotion when she got her not good score on an exam. She even collapses because one fail, and wants to suicide to end the endless tired.
3. Suggestion to High Risk Suicide Adolescent Students
According to <Annual Report on China’s Education> report, from 79 adolescent suicides cased, 27children left suicide note. 26 of them still desire their relatives and life, and also scare and unsure the death. Only one had no nostalgia to anything but want to end of his/her life.
Besides, most of cases show the adolescent suicide accrues in strong conflict, such as high pressure from punishment by tutors, the failed of exams or parents scold and so on. The youth are in highest emotion with rebellious when they commit suicide.
As these two reasons, most adolescent commit suicide could be prevented. Here is some suggestion to prevent or reduce the possibility of adolescent student’s suicide.
3.1 Reduce the pressure from Parents
3.1.1 Parents need to stop sacrifice work or plan to their children life. Parents need to understand their children are an individual person but not their accessories or life extension. They should not pass any living pressure or their dream to their children. They should explain their love to their children without any returning or expectation and build up an easy relax environment for children growing up.
3.1.2 Listen to children’s voice patiently when their children want to explain their requirement or emotion and feeling. Parents should show more attention and care of their children rather than material reward. PhD Madeline Levine pointed that the material reward increase would not help much in mental health to children over 11-year-old.
3.1.3 Parents need to more focus on the development of children’s health (such as sleep in 8-10 hours a day), mental health and personality, and the academic score comes the second.(Zhu, 2014)
3.1.4 Parents should believe in their children’s potential; help their children to explore and find their own life meaning and passions at; encourage their children bravely walk in their own life. (Zhu, 2014)
All above are the reason Jinni’s mum gives Jinni a hug and the sun comes out. The hug is the love, caring and support from children’s parents.
3.2 School and Society
3.2.1 The school should not use the academic score as the only stander to measure a student, but also should add life meaningful education lessons to students.
1) Everyone is an individual person, and everyone should be respect and could be find their and unique advantage. The school should encourage students find what they really love to do in their life.
2) School should encourage students record their own growth, and tell student only compare with themselves but not everyone. The students need to celebrate their own development in order to find the life meaning to them.
3) School should teach student to appreciate their precious life. Students need to thanks being alive.
4) School should reduce the peer competition and more encourage the group activities and communication with each other. School should also encourage students more experience the stuff surrounds them in real life and feel the connection to the real world.
3.2.2 In school and society, set up a mental health help center in school or free health line. Seriously consider the mental health of students. If there is a place for students feel secure to talk with, they may release a lot of pressure and reduce the risk of suicide. （苗老师教育观察，2021）
3.3 The more chance than Gaokao for Chinese student to have ability of high education would be a best solution.
Conclusion, the Chinese whole society should more care about problem of depression of adolescents from the academic pressure.
The Just Need a Hug is trying to expose the phenomenon of depression among Chinese adolescent students, not only at students not good at academic, but also happened on superior students. The animation will be posted on Chinese popular social media such as WeChat video, Bilibili and WeiBo. Also, I would contact Chinese professional mental health center to promote the animation and bring more people to considerate adolescent mental health.
Reference
1. .Bo,X.L. Zhang, K. Chen, X.F. Chen,Z.Y. (2021).Report on the Development of Chinese National Mental Health (2019-2022). https://www.pishu.com.cn/skwx_ps/bookdetail?SiteID=14&ID=12369491
2.
D., & K. L. (2001). Towards centralization and decentralization in
educational development in China: The case of Shanghai. Centralization
and Decentralization, 81–97. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-0956-0_5
3.
T., Y., L., Z. X., Y. X., & Z. W. (2010). Stress and psychosomatic symptoms in Chinese school
children: Cross-sectional survey. Archives of Disease in
Childhood, 95, 136–140. https://adc.bmj.com/content/95/2/136.short
4.
Y., M., L., L., L., X., & B. (2009). Protective factors relating to decreased risks of
adolescent suicidal behaviour. Child: Care, Health and
Development, 35, 313–322. issue-3 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.00955.x
5.
Ministry of Education. (2010). Outline for national mid-term and long-term
educational reform and development planning (2010–2020) (in
Chinese). Retrieved February 12, 2010,
from http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2010-07/29/content_1667143.htm
6.
Ministry of Education. (2013, March
6). Reduce academic burden campaign: Ten
thousand miles journey (in Chinese). Retrieved Nov 18, 2013, from http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2013-03/26/content_2362840.htm [Google
Scholar]
7.
People’s Republic of China, The State Council, (2019, September
2). “国务院办公厅关于印发 体育强国建设纲要的通知 (The State Council's Publication of 'Outline for Building
a Leading Sports Nation') ”. Retrieved Aug 10,2019,
from www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2019-09/02/content_5426485.htm
8.
Ministry of Education. (2020, January 7).
《中国高考评价体系》（Assessment System Handbook）(in China). http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202001/t20200107_414611.html
9.
Y., & H. (2010). Experiencing the change and continuity of the college
entrance examination: A case study of Gaokao County, 1996–2010. Chinese
Education and Society, 43, 75–93. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/CED1061-1932430407
10. H. (2013). Individuality
beyond the dichotomy of “small self and big self” in contemporary Chinese
education: Lessons from Hu Shi and Liang Shuming. Frontiers of
Education in China, 8, 540–558. doi:10.3868/s110-002-013-1 https://brill.com/view/journals/fedc/8/4/article-p540_4.xml
11.
G. (2013). Rebuilding the Chinese soul: Some considerations for education. Frontiers
of Education in China, 8, 498–517. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03396988
12.
The State
Council of the People's Republic of China (2019, February
13). 国家职业教育改革实施方案 (Implementation plan on National Vocational Education
Reform) (in China).Retrieved February 13,2019 from http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2019-02/13/content_5365341.htm
13.
Australian Government, Department of Education, Skills and
Employment. (2019, June). China announces
major reform to vocational education sector. https://internationaleducation.gov.au/international-network/china/PolicyUpdates-China/Pages/China-announces-majer-reform-to-vocational-education-sector.aspx
14. Chinese Education Evaluation Net. (2021) 2021中国高校职业学院和高等专科学校评价 (Evaluation of China’s
Higher Vocational College and Higher Vocational School, 2021) (in China). http://www.nseac.com/eva/GZE.php
15. Kwok, S. & Wong, D. (1999, April). Mental Health of Parents with
Young Children in Hong Kong: the Roles of Parenting Stress and Parenting
Self-efficacy. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229723818
16.
Social security with Chinese characteristics. (2012, August 11). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2012/08/11/social-security-with-chinese-characteristics
17.
Kasturi, C.S. (2020, April 13). The
Mao-era School Shutdown That Forever Changed Education in China. https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-mao-era-school-shutdown-that-forever-changed-education-in-china/302846/
18.
Meng, X. Gregory, R. (2007, January).
Exploring the
Impact of Interrupted Education on Earnings: The Educational Cost of the
Chinese Cultural Revolution. Exploring
the Impact of Interrupted Education on Earnings: The Educational Cost of the
Chinese Cultural Revolution by Xin Meng, Robert Gregory :: SSRN
19. Leff, A.A. & Maine, L. ( 2019, April 5). The Impact of Interrupted Education on Earnings: The Case of China’s Cultural Revolution. Microsoft Word - Econthesis.docx (bates.edu)
20. Humes, E. (2014, September 1). School Of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School Paperback. Ecco Publications.
21. Wu, H.Z （2016）. 《巨婴国》(Grown-up Baby). 浙江人民出版社
22. Rosin, H. (2014, March 19). The Overprotected Kid. The Atlantic, April, 2014. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
23. Zhou, T. Cheng, G. Wu, X. Li, R. Li, C. Tian, G. He, S. Yan, Y.
(2021) The Associations between Sleep
Duration, Academic Pressure, and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese Adolescents:
Results from China Family Panel Studies. IJERPH | Free Full-Text | The
Associations between Sleep Duration, Academic Pressure, and Depressive Symptoms
among Chinese Adolescents: Results from China Family Panel Studies (mdpi.com)
24. 国家为甚健康委员会 (2020).
中国卫生健康统计年鉴（Yearbook
of Health in the People’s Republic of China, 2020）. https://mega.nz/file/4shiybia#N8N7RNoDNsNPhXvTlBCTSdjA2NFVft7sVYkQ8AWkBRs
25. Yang, D.P (2020, July 1). 教育蓝皮书：中国教育发展报告(2020) (Chinese Research Perspective on Education al
Development,2020). 社会科学文献出版社
Zhu, Y.X. (2014, December 8). 朱永新：是谁让中国孩子这么累？(Yongxin Zhu: Who made Chinese Children such Tired?) http://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2014-12-08/0808254072.shtml
26. 苗老师教育观察. (2021, May 14). 中国青少年“自杀率”与日俱增，却被网友吐槽无病呻吟，太冷血？(The Rate of Chinese Adolescent Suicide Increase, However, They Had Been Consider as Moaning, Would that to Ruthless?) https://www.163.com/dy/article/G9V3IAEP0546RLVM.html
Comments
Post a Comment