关注社会:"棍棒教育"强势回潮

"Parenting with a stick" returns with a vengeance.

“棍棒教育”强势回潮。

Zhou Weili first heard about the "wolf dad" — a father who used a stick to beat three of his children into China's top Peking University — from the Internet, and the news made this vice president of Guangdong Education Press a rather queasy.

周伟励第一次听说“狼爸”是通过网络上的新闻，也正是看到这条“把三个孩子打进北大”的新闻让任广东教育出版社副社长的他内心感到一丝不舒服。

Zhou had introduced ideas of quality education to China's book publishing industry over a decade ago, and he could hardly sit still seeing "wolf dad" books flying off shelves. It is difficult for him to understand why the abandoned "parenting with a stick" is returning to the public's eye with a vengeance.

十多年前，他第一次将“素质教育”这个概念引进了中国的图书出版界。看见“狼爸”热卖，这个老出版人有点坐不住了。令他不能理解的是：为什么已遭摈弃的棍棒教育又重新高调地进入了公众视野？

"I'm not saying that parents should never discipline their kids, but I just cannot accept entire sets of educational principles built around beating them with sticks," Zhou Weili said as he punctuated every word for emphasis.

“不是说绝对不能打孩子，但‘狼爸’的理念，我不能接受。”周伟励用近乎倔强的语气一字一句地说。

Chen Hong, the director of the textbook division of Guangzhou Book Center, took the position in 1999. That year, she witnessed fevered scenes of parents rushing to buy reference books for their children before the start of the new semester and the end-of-semester exams.

陈虹现任广州购书中心教育书籍分管主任，1999年入职。那一年，她亲眼见证了开学前夕学生家长抢购教辅书籍的“火爆”场面。

But as entire floors of exam reference books emptied out, the five or six shelves reserved for quality education books were left untouched.

整层整层的教辅书籍一扫而空，只有五六面书架留给素质教育类的书籍，却无人问津。

"There were only 100 books or so on quality education," Chen said. "Even that little stock could hardly be sold out."

“不过百来本，能卖出去就算不错了。”陈虹这样描述。

In the early 1990s, however, some people had begun to realize shortcomings of examination-oriented education. Some Chinese experts and scholars began to promote quality in education. But they did not get much support from the public.

其实，早在90年代初，人们已经意识到了应试教育的弊端。国内开始有专家学者提倡素质教育，但社会普遍认同度仍不高。

"As a publisher, my thoughts were not clear about a solution," Zhou recalled. "But I did feel that China's education needed a gust of fresh air from the other side of the Pacific."

“作为出版人，当时我的思考还不太清晰，只是隐隐觉得，中国教育需要一股风，一股来自大洋彼岸清新而凛冽的风。”周伟励回忆说。

Answering the call, in 1999, would be Huang Quanyu, a Chinese author who studied in the U.S. His book, where he compared differences between Chinese and American education, was published in December 1999, with the title: "Quality Education in the U.S." It did not attract much attention until in 2000, when a murder case shocked the country.

1999年，留美学生黄全愈从大洋彼岸给周伟励带来了这股风。这本书取名《素质教育在美国》，于当年12月出版；在书中，他描述了中美教育的天差地别。直到2000年，一场震惊全国的血案爆发，才让这本书彻底“火”了。

Xu Li, a high school student in Zhejiang Province, could not bear the mounting pressures of strict rules, physical discipline and high expectations. He brought a hammer to his mother, killing her at the scene.

徐力是浙江省一名高中学生，因为不堪忍受母亲对自己管得太严、期望太高以及实行体罚的重重压力，用一把榔头将母亲砸死。

Zhou Weili realized this incident may become the turning point of China's education. After much promotional efforts, Huang's book became a hit, reprinting 13 times and selling over 220,000 copies.

周伟励意识到，这起杀母事件可能是中国教育的拐点。通过大量宣传，黄全愈的这本书畅销一时，加印了整整13次，总销售量高达22万册。

Bestseller "Good Mother Better than Good Teacher" author Yin Jianli said that the development of Chinese family education is related with both China's history and its one-child policy.

畅销书《好妈妈胜过好老师》的作者尹建莉说，中国家庭教育的发展，一方面和时代有关，另一方面和独生子女政策有关。

She believes that though China's one-child policy began thirty years ago, only in recent years people began to realize the importance of family education.

她认为，中国的独生子女政策始于三十多年前，但是直到近些年，人们才开始意识到家庭教育的功能原来如此强大。

There are several bestsellers in recent years teaching various educational concepts. Parents began to realize that the traditional way to teach children to be modest was not always right, and that they should not beat their children on their whim. Instead, they should respect their children and allow them free thinking.

这些年，出现了不少介绍各种各样教育理念的畅销书。人们开始认识到，要求孩子谦虚、动不动就打骂孩子的传统做法并不都切实可行，相反，他们应该尊重孩子，给他们一些自由思考的空间。

Yin believes that most opposing voices of good educational concepts are driven by commercial goals instead of educational expertise. She has a strong aversion to "stick parenting." "This is just the trick of authors and publishers sewing emperor's new clothes," she said.

尹建莉认为，在优质教育理念的传播中，会出现一些异样的声音，但这往往并非出自教育自身的探讨，多半是商业炒作行为。对于“棍棒教育”的做法，她更显得十分厌恶。“这不过是写书的人和书商在缝制一件惊人的皇帝的新衣。”她说。

In mid-November, the bestselling books "That's Why They Go to Peking University" by the "wolf dad" and "Good Mother Better than Good Teacher" by Yin Jianli were both displayed on the first floor of Guangzhou Book Center.

11月中旬，广州购书中心里，“狼爸”的《所以，北大兄妹》和尹建莉的《好妈妈胜过好老师》同作为畅销书籍摆在一楼大厅。

Chen Hong, a mother working at the store chose Yin's book. She said she agrees with the idea of "patience and reason" in her child's education. "But as a bookstore, we should be fair and provide a variety of options to parents."

既是母亲，又是广州购书中心工作人员的陈虹选择了尹建莉的《好妈妈胜过好老师》。用“耐心讲道理”的方式教育孩子，她表示赞同。“但作为书店，应该公平点，给家长各种各样的选择。”

Former Ministry of Education spokesman Wang Xuming said books from the "tiger moms" or "wolf dads" are not worth reading. He said these authors are only in pursuit of fame and fortune.

教育部前新闻发言人王旭明表示，诸如“虎妈”、“狼爸”这样的书籍都不值一读。他评价说，这些作者都只是在追逐名和利。

"Each family is different. There's no best education model, only the most suitable model," Wang said. "I have never seen the parents of the Nobel laureates write books. It is because the happiness and success are of many kinds."

“每个家庭之间不一样，没有最好的教育，只有最适合的教育。”王旭明说，“我从未见过诺贝尔奖获得者的父母写书，因为成功和幸福有很多种。”

Wang said Chinese parents are generally lacking in knowledge of educational methods. He said emphasis should be on fostering environments and mechanisms for the overwhelming majority of people to find their happiness, rather than fixating on the so-called happiness and success models.

王旭明表示，中国的家长普遍缺乏教育常识，我们应该致力于为最大多数的人创造幸福的条件和机制，而不是一种所谓的幸福和成功模式。