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Alice Yan

A mother and father in China have faced a barrage of online criticism for removing a surveillance camera from their son’s bedroom soon after he took a crucial university entrance exam.
Days after the crucial test, which is known as gaokao in the country, a video showed the teenage boy’s father standing on a stool to pull down the camera, which had been placed above an air-conditioning unit in his bedroom six years before.
The parents claimed it had helped their son study harder.
The mother, who shot the video at their home in Jiangsu province, eastern China, released the footage on Douyin, saying “thank you monitoring camera for accompanying my son”, according to a report by Today Video.
The couple clearly hoped to receive understanding and support from people online. Instead, they faced criticism.

Many people described the parents as “control freaks” and said their surveillance would have a negative psychological impact on the boy.
However, the mother defended herself by saying it was for the sake of his studies.
“It was our last choice for a solution. We did not intend to supervise the kid, but wanted to let him know there was something to restrict his behaviour. We did not often check the footage,” the mother said on Douyin.
She said she checked through the surveillance camera if her son slept late at night, or spent his time alone in the room playing on his mobile phone, rather than focusing on his studies.
“Some people asked us if my son achieved high enough scores to be admitted to Tsinghua University or Peking University with the surveillance installed.
“My answer is, he progressed a lot in his study after we installed the camera in his room,” the mother said.
“Every parent has high hopes for their child. I believe the surveillance did not negatively impact my kid,” she added.
One online observer who disagreed said on Baidu: “It’s not a good idea to have surveillance in the kid’s room. It will strengthen his reverse psychology.”

Another observer said: “The parents’ love is suffocating. If you truly love your child, you should give them basic respect. Kids also need independent private space.”
“Instead of supervising the child, you should patiently guide him with his studies, and also cultivate discipline and responsibility,” said a third person.
Controversial parenting and educational styles frequently trend on mainland social media.
Zhao Juying, a self-proclaimed education expert in China who has 300,000 followers on Douyin, encourages parents to educate their “problematic” children.
Zhao is famous for adopting aggressive approaches, such as smashing toys with a hammer or tearing up comic books and criticising children for being childish.


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People & Culture

Parents claim camera helps child study harder, but online observers are appalled at surveillance tactics


A mother and father in China have faced an avalanche of criticism for placing surveillance equipment in their child’s bedroom for the duration of the period he was studying for a crucial examination.


Parenting: teens

China education