Opinion | Amid US-China rivalry, Chinese parents’ dragon dreams for their children need an adjustment
- By directing more young people to vocational schools, China is trying to meet future labour needs, particularly in industries where competition with the US is intense
- Parents, however, will have to recalibrate their hopes for their children and how they define success
There’s an old Chinese saying, wang zi cheng long, or wishing that one’s child becomes a dragon. It speaks volumes about Chinese parents’ desire for their children to succeed. Today, success tends to be defined as going to a good university and later securing a high-status job.
But, for many Chinese young people, this version of success has become increasingly hard to reach, because it goes against a trend in many countries in which technical skills are increasingly prized over a college degree.
Economies that wish to remain globally competitive must adapt. Recognising this, the Chinese government has been tweaking the education system, but its policy decisions have not gone down well with parents.
The Ministry of Education policy dictates that about half of all junior high graduates go to vocational schools, and the rest to academic high schools. That means that if students are to go to a university, they must be in the top 50 per cent of their cohort and get into an academic high school first.
Chinese parents already try very hard to help their children get ahead. This 50 per cent elimination rate forces them to try even harder.
