■ Parents: Educational reform is playing with children's future ■ Principal: I guarantee the success of educational reform with my integrity ■ Education Bureau: Educational reform is suspended due to parents' dissatisfaction On February 14, Valentine's Day. Most online forums in China were mainly focused on Valentine's Day topics, and Changshu's most popular online community "Changshu Zero Distance" was no exception. However, that morning, after a post titled "An Open Letter to Parents of Freshmen at Changshu Foreign Languages School" was first posted in "Yu City Street," similar content posts also quickly appeared on local Changshu forums such as "Second Yu City" and "Changshu Convenient People's Network," as well as relevant forums like Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily Online. Due to their high density, it gave people a sense of "spreading like wildfire."
This post strongly criticized the principal of Changshu Foreign Languages School, You Jianzhong, for pursuing political achievements by disregarding the opposition of the majority of teachers and parents and forcibly implementing the "Life Classroom" teaching method among freshmen. "Principal You's actions will undoubtedly leave behind harmful consequences; we sincerely request all parents to pay high attention and report the situation to the media so that it can quickly attract the attention and importance from leaders at all levels."
Since the post involved Changshu Foreign Languages School, a prestigious high school in Changshu, and the content related to educational reform and college entrance exams, which directly affected the interests of parents and students, it quickly became a hot topic. Within less than a day, perhaps due to its sensitive nature, "Changshu Zero Distance" took measures to lock the thread—only allowing browsing but not commenting.
On February 16, a reporter from Kuaibao went to Changshu and, within two days, conducted intensive interviews with the principals, teachers, and parents of relevant schools, as well as the Education Bureau of Changshu, to understand the ins and outs of the matter. It was learned that the "situation" has now been resolved—the "Life Classroom" reform, which only lasted one day, had already been suspended by the Education Bureau.
"I will continue to research the 'Life Classroom'; I will not give up." Despite the suspension of the educational reform within less than a day, You Jianzhong, the principal of Changshu Foreign Languages School, stated that he still firmly believed that his chosen path was correct.
The dense barrage of online posts pushed Changshu Foreign Languages School and its principal into the spotlight of public opinion.
Comments were overwhelmingly one-sided, making the principal responsible for the reform almost a "public enemy" online.
Reading through the posts, it could be inferred that the poster was very likely one of the parents whose child was "experiencing the reform," a suspicion later confirmed by some parents interviewed by Kuaibao. The reporter also learned that the target of this reform included sophomore students at Changshu Foreign Languages School (referred to as "Changwai").
Because the content of the posts mainly criticized the school for disregarding student performance and forcing an uncertain reform, it resonated with netizens. A comprehensive review of comments across various forums showed that the vast majority of netizens stood on the side of the poster, i.e., the parents of the students.
"To avoid our children being guinea pigs, let's work together and firmly oppose the so-called Life Classroom." One netizen wrote. "Don't experiment with the hopes of over 1000 families!" Another commenter said. "Ruining students' futures, lecturing for five minutes might as well have them self-study." Another comment added.
Some netizens believed that under the current mainstream Chinese education system dominated by exam-oriented education, risky reforms were inappropriate. "If the national college entrance examination system doesn't change, what use is your curriculum reform? All of China's education revolves around the national college entrance examination system. Which parent wouldn't want their child to be carefree and happy, but can carefree and happy lead to passing the college entrance exam smoothly? Parents opposing the reform are forced to do so because they cannot afford to lose, especially not for second-year high school students. Therefore, parents definitely won't allow the school to carry out this so-called circle-sitting reform without solid preparation. No one wants their child to be a guinea pig."
Another technically insightful netizen commented, "The principal's intentions are good, but high school faces the risk of the college entrance exam, and every period in high school is precious for the students. Students who want to enter university wish to make full use of this valuable time and hope to learn more knowledge and difficult problems from teachers in school. After all, students are children with limited knowledge who need guidance from teachers. If they rely solely on self-study, the gains would certainly be small. High school involves large volumes of questions and numerous difficult problems, and achieving good results requires much guidance from experienced teachers. Which child would willingly take the risk of this kind of reform in high school? Because failure would affect a child's life, it's a risk no one dares to take. For students facing the college entrance exam, there's no room for error. If the reform subjects were elementary school students or if universities didn't look at scores and allowed direct advancement, many might be willing to try this experiment in elementary school first, building a foundation before advancing to junior high. Don't start in high school right away."
Some netizens sarcastically suggested that Principal You should become the Minister of Education and reform the "exam-oriented education" rather than serve as a middle school principal.
Of course, there were also netizens who expressed understanding and support for You Jianzhong's reform, but these voices were far fewer than the opposition.
Parents started seeking explanations a few days before posting online.
On February 14, the relevant online posts appeared, but actually, several days earlier, when some parents learned from their children that Changshu Foreign Languages School would officially implement the "Life Classroom" among freshmen and sophomores starting February 13, they took action.
Wu Ying (a pseudonym) has a daughter studying in the freshman year at Changshu Foreign Languages School. Last Friday, February 10, after her daughter came home from school, she informed her mother about the school's decision. Wu Ying had already been confused and even worried about the "Life Classroom" method, just as the online post mentioned, feeling that the school was playing with the children's grades and futures, with unpredictable consequences if implemented. Thus, she contacted other parents of classmates to discuss countermeasures. Just like many parents today, to understand and promote their children's learning, they established QQ groups for mutual communication. The parents of Wu Ying's daughter's class also formed a similar QQ group. On February 10, after discussing in the group, the parents decided to go to the school the next day to reason with Principal You.
At 3:30 PM on Saturday, February 11, Wu Ying and seven or eight other freshman parents arrived at the principal's office at Changshu Foreign Languages School. "Principal You wasn't there; we met Vice Principal Qian instead." Wu Ying said that before coming to the school, one parent had called Principal You to question him about what would happen if the reform failed and hindered the children's studies. You responded over the phone that it would definitely succeed, and if it failed, he wouldn't remain principal. Wu Ying told Vice Principal Qian about this, and Qian indicated that the principal wouldn't say such things. Since they believed Qian wasn't the decision-maker, Wu Ying and others decided to wait until Monday to reason with Principal You again.
At around 7 AM on February 13, Wu Ying and other parents returned to the school and found Principal You in his office. "He still insisted that the reform would surely succeed and guaranteed it with his integrity." Wu Ying said that during the questioning by the parents, You Jianzhong, in his excitement, even offered to sign a guarantee "contract" with the parents. After a tense standoff lasting over an hour, it ended because You had to go teach a class. Frustrated parents then decided to visit the Education Bureau together to report the matter.
Relevant personnel from the Education Bureau received them, and Wu Ying said that the Education Bureau staff assured them that they would quickly go to the school to investigate the situation. One staff member took Wu Ying's phone number and promised to contact her once there were results. On the morning of February 15, Wu Ying received a call from the Education Bureau informing her that Changshu Foreign Languages School's reform had been halted on February 13, the same day it was implemented.
Since they learned beforehand that on February 14, some sophomore classes were still conducting "group table" discussions ("Life Classroom" reform), Wu Ying and some parents felt that Principal You couldn't be trusted and decided to visit the Education Bureau again. "We hope to get a written guarantee from the Education Bureau." Wu Ying's daughter and classmate Qian Qiang (pseudonyms) expressed.
At 1:30 PM on February 15, about fifty to sixty parents gathered at the Education Bureau. Relevant personnel from the Education Bureau assured them that as long as the majority of parents and students opposed the "Life Classroom," the corresponding educational reform would certainly not be implemented.