Student Suicide Rate In China Rising

bd popeye · Sep 5, 2006

Thanks for posting that RedMercury..Almost 12 hours a day in school? That's too much. Like I said , a kid needs to be a kid. Life should not be so structured. Those schools sound very regimented to me.

T-U-P · Sep 5, 2006

bd popeye said:
Those schools sound very regimented to me.

It's not just those schools, it's most, if not all, of the schools in China. Therefore there's nothing much to compare them to in China. Sure there are info on foreign schools, but really, no one cares because such things don't exist in China. Besides, IB is not exactly better... It's generally accepted that those not-so-bright kids would not get into universities (some not even senior highschools) and would not get a good job thus living a very low standard life.

That's what happens when you've got 1.3billion people and not nearly enough jobs.

sumdud · Sep 5, 2006

That does not leave much time for a kid to be a kid...90% grades expected?? Susposed the child is not so bright? Do they have speical education?

It's not just those schools, it's most, if not all, of the schools in China.

They've got pretty much the whole story. When I lived in Hong Kong, life was food, school, and homework. I was lucky enough to have finished it usually on weekdays. Oh yes, Saturday school is still a big thing in the region. To get an A is a very big subject in China. Students do fool around, some of them, but not always. Let's just say you wouldn't go there as a child for its education.

I think this obsession with school and academics is present throughout East Asia excluding the Phillipines. (Don't know about over the Himalayas in the Hindu and Moslim world, or across the sea in the Phillipines.)

My niece only had a 2 week summer vacation since she needs to go back toprepare for college.

bd popeye · Sep 5, 2006

think this obsession with school and academics is present throughout East Asia excluding the Phillipines.

Interesting you should mention the Philippines. My experience from living there(30+ years ago) that school is a soical event. As long as you attend you will pass. If you go to a private school as long as your parents pay the tuition you will pass. The main subjet they concentrate on is English. Spoken and written. They do a pretty good job of that. A lot of kids drop out in the Philippines to work.

T-U-P · Sep 6, 2006

bd popeye said:
IAs long as you attend you will pass. If you go to a private school as long as your parents pay the tuition you will pass.

now that's my kind of life. unfortunately that doesn't even happen in canada, nevertheless china. of course, like i said, china has 1.3 billion people and it would be impractical for everyone to have a university degree. how will the employers choose then?

bd popeye · Sep 6, 2006

how will the employers choose then?

I know in some countries if you are a realitive of the owner/boss you will be hired. If you pay the owner off. You will be hired. If you are a pretty female..well you know. And all this occurs in some countries reguardless of qualifications. That's why some countries qualified people seek overseas employment. Sad but true.

Shingy · Sep 6, 2006

bd popeye said:
I know in some countries if you are a realitive of the owner/boss you will be hired. If you pay the owner off. You will be hired. If you are a pretty female..well you know. And all this occurs in some countries reguardless of qualifications. That's why some countries qualified people seek overseas employment. Sad but true.

What you mean in some countries? that sounds like every single country in the world does that.

bd popeye · Sep 6, 2006

Shingy said:
What you mean in some countries? that sounds like every single country in the world does that.

Some countries ..In some countries this is a common practice. In others it is not. No system of any burarueacy, government or business is completly free of corruption. sad but true. Some countries are worse than others.

Delphi84 · Sep 17, 2006

RedMercury said:
The times are changing. College education used to be a hot commodity in China, now there are more graduates than employers can absorb, so opportunities are fewer. In Guangzhou the employment fairs at the college campuses are insanely packed with grads looking for jobs. Unless you're an engineer or trained in a technical field, or from a top-rated school, starting salaries are pretty low, something like 1400-2000 rmb a month. You'd probably make more as a professional hostess ("drink companions") if you had the looks.
Situation with graduates from the best colleges are better. But getting into those is extremely difficult.

I heard part of the reason is the old mentality towards a college education: in the old days any diploma was worth a lot, so when students get into college, they think they're all set for an easy life, so they don't work hard in college. I've heard it described that high school is all hard work, college is relaxing, music, parties, romance. As long as you get by, pass your classes with whatever grade, and get your diploma you're ok. The result of this is that lots of graduates come out of college having learned little. More and more graduates leave college feeling they've wasted their time; they might have been better off entering the workforce after high school and getting 4 years of work experience. The value of work experience cannot be stressed enough, if you look at the average office job requring a college education, it will say several years of work experience required. Only a very few say they will take fresh graduates (some even emphatically stress that fresh graduates not clutter them with resumes).. Practical education isn't as stressed since college is meant for theoretics, as opposed to "da zhuan" --3 year vocational school--which stresses practical skills--ironically geared for those who don't make it into college. Some vocational school graduates (I heard network technician is hot) are doing even better than college graduates. Even post graduate education is suffering from this. Recently there was an article online about some grad with a phD getting 1500 rmb/month starting salary and how he regretted going to grad school.

With the tight job market it's no wonder that graduates are feeling more pressure. Then again, colleges and high schools have been suicide-ridden for a long time, it's nothing new. High schoolers are faced with the tremendous pressure of the national college exams. There was a news story this summer about a girl who wasn't allowed into the exam room because she didn't follow the dress code, and after she fixed her clothes or whatever, she was too late--the exam room was already locked. She jumped off a bridge. The pressure of parents on kids to do well in school is probably unimaginable by westerners. Everything parents do is geared towards academics and excellence. The result is often students who are not well-rounded and well-adjusted. All they know how to do is study. In fact, some of the excellent students who make it to grad schools in the US are such people. Total bookworms with psychological problems that end up in campus murders. For some reason, my alma mater had a few such wackos.

Upon entering college, some students can't adjust. Some complain of feeling hollow: after the incredible strain of the last year of high school, college is dissapointing, they feel disenchanted and suicidal. There are school psychologists in Chinese universities and it is a growing field; my mother is such a counselor and my gf interned as one too. She was in a program to lecture all incoming freshmen about psychological counseling services at the university and common causes of anxiety. They also did a risk accessment survey on all the freshmen and asked the high-risk ones to come talk with a counselor. Still, every year around crunch time you see the stories in the papers about suicides. Most of them are jumpers, since high buildings are plentiful (most dorms will be tall enough) and other ways are harder to succeed (you can't buy sleeping pills on my gf's campus, you need a prescription from the school doc). Just before she graduated, my gf said there was a jumper at her school. A kid in the music department was practicing in a practice room late at night and lost it, broke the instrument, and dove out the window. Classes continued as usual, but there was a news lockdown. The papers didn't specify which school, but from the details it was obvious. They did an ok job of cleaning up though, no blood on the brand new multi-million dollar campus park. Ironically, that incredibly expensive college park in Guangzhou (the amount of infrastructure there is astonishing by any standard) will be wasted. The job situation is such that the government is cutting back on funding--rationale being the overabundance of graduates already. Example, from this year forward, there will be no more government funding for grad school.

Wow........ Ur description of Chinese education system is indeed Veri...VERI SCARY. I mean is there any way the students can escape this vicious and mundane education framework you described? I mean is there any alternative education system in China like private schools? I mean if I were a kid in China, I might as well cut my own throat.

I am personally studying in a local university in Singapore. No doubt being a typical Asian society that places premium on education, we do not have dat much suicide cases regarding students. I mean not to my knowledge and wide spread reading. The type of packed and cramped studying routine seems trillions worst that my own predicaments. LOL, just when I think my life as a student SUXs!!! I have once seen a physics pratice book published by a Shanghai book publisher........my, I almost FAINTED. The book was filled with so much practises, the part on Newtonian mechanics itself took up at least 3/4 of an inch in terms of paper thickness!! I can imagine how stressful the students are just to get into the uni

In Singapore, the economy is slowly evolving into one that is knowledge based and not skill-based. Thus being a champion book mugger or an examination ACE wouldn't do the trick. Bcos there is a large pool of polytechnics and University graduates per year thus the market gets saturated veri rapidly. Many young graduates has choosen the alternative route to be a young entrepreneur and being their own bosses. Many in fact do not do jobs that relevant to their own field. In fact, most successful business ppls here are in fact, not highly educated.
So wad I wanna say to those miserable beings out there suffering the same fate as me now in Uni, dun despair when u do not do well in the exams. IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. IF U DUN DO WELL NOW, JUST BUCK UP IN THE NEXT SEMESTER!!!!!

Our education structute is also changing. In the past exam based, now it is project solving based. This is better as it trains the student to be more prepared for the real industrial work and true manufacturing processes. Bcos, in the real world, EXPERIENCES COUNTS THE MOST.
The logic is you may top the batch in a naval training institute, but I'm your seamanship is nothing compared to the Coxswain that has been serving even before you are born.

renmin · Sep 17, 2006

That article has a point. Chinese parents are normally really strict on their Children. I think Im lucky. Though myp arents could be harsh sometimes. I find families that are alot worse. No doubt they give you alot of pressure in school. The thought of getting your ass kicked if you do bad on a test really bums a person out.

Student Suicide Rate In China Rising

bd popeye

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T-U-P

The Punisher

sumdud

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bd popeye

The Last Jedi

T-U-P

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bd popeye

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Shingy

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bd popeye

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Delphi84

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renmin

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