Nowadays, it is no longer a novelty for high-end stationery such as electronic dictionaries and learning machines to sell for over a thousand yuan. Reporter Sun Chao photographed this.
A mechanical pencil for 98 yuan, a sharpener for 120 yuan, a backpack for 1298 yuan... Recently, I visited various supermarkets, bookstores, stationery stores, and electronics markets in the urban area and found that all kinds of high-end school supplies were selling well. Although most parents said they were "not short of money" for their children's schooling, spending thousands or even tens of thousands still made many parents exclaim how painful it was.
Phenomenon
Primary School Students: "Noble" Stationery Costs Thousands
"Look how beautiful my stationery is," on the first day of school, He Xu, a third-grade student at a primary school in Haidian District, proudly showed his classmates the new "treasures" he had added: a "Bobobo" backpack with multiple pockets and exquisite patterns; a pencil case that can "transform" into a robot, printed with Transformers cartoon images; and his favorite complete set of "Disney Learning Supplies Box", including pencils, erasers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, magnifying glasses... These stationery items are not only beautiful but also fun, and their prices are indeed quite expensive - the backpack costs 740 yuan, the pencil case 180 yuan, and the Disney learning supplies box 390 yuan... "All together, it cost nearly two thousand yuan." Mr. He, He Xu's father, told reporters that although the school sent out a notice before the holiday asking parents to prepare stationery for their children as "simple as possible", ordinary stationery simply does not attract the child's interest, and what they like are "high-end goods". "Once he gets hold of them, he doesn't let go, so there's nothing I can do but buy them," Mr. He helplessly expressed.
Reporters found during market visits that the "back-to-school gifts" in various malls and supermarkets are abundant in variety and mostly expensive. Leather backpacks for 1800 yuan, a set of 48-color watercolor pens for 730 yuan... Mechanical pencils, rulers, and magnifying glasses around a hundred yuan each are countless. Reporters roughly calculated that for elementary school students in lower grades, equipping themselves with a full set of supplies would cost at least several hundred yuan, and if adding a few "high-end goods", spending one or two thousand yuan is quite normal.
Middle School Students:
Electronic Devices and Name-brand Clothing Cost Thousands
Compared to younger students, older students, in addition to ordinary stationery, also have electronic dictionaries, MP4 players, tablets, and other electronic devices as part of their back-to-school purchases. In front of the digital counter at the Zhongguancun Book Tower, Mr. Meng was buying an electronic dictionary for his son, "My son is in junior high now, and his English is getting more advanced, so I'm preparing to buy him a better electronic dictionary." Mr. Meng originally thought he would spend about a thousand yuan, but after coming here, he discovered that even slightly better electronic dictionaries were priced over a thousand yuan, and the more expensive ones could cost three to four thousand yuan. In the end, Mr. Meng chose an electronic dictionary equipped with Longman, Oxford, and Collins dictionary materials, which still cost over 2700 yuan after a 10% discount.
In addition, name-brand clothing has also become a significant expense for parents before school starts. "I want a pair of James Generation 8," "I like Howard Generation 2," in the sports mall, a few teenagers who look like high school students introduced basketball shoes knowledge to reporters very knowledgably. The uniformization of school uniforms makes "shoes" a platform for children to display their individuality, and wearing a pair of basketball shoes endorsed by their favorite basketball stars has become their most desired "back-to-school gift." But reporters casually checked and found that these basketball shoes were quite expensive - Kobe VI priced at 1299 yuan, James Generation 8 priced at 1388 yuan, Howard Generation 2 priced at 1180 yuan, and without exception, all these would be paid for by their parents.
"A child is in second year of junior high, and we spent over 13,000 yuan on computers and clothes for school, thinking about it makes me dizzy," a parent posted online about their child's back-to-school expenses, with six or seven items costing over a thousand yuan, including shoes, mobile phones, MP4 players, tennis rackets, etc. And under his blog, many parents also commented that their children's back-to-school expenses exceeded ten thousand yuan.
Responses
Parents: Worried About Impact on Studies
Buying various "equipment" for children to start school makes the children happy, but many parents are uneasy inside. "Now I can't even tell if I'm buying stationery or toys." Ms. Liu introduced to reporters that she couldn't resist her son's persistent begging, so before school started, she bought him a "eraser gift box" containing 20 erasers of different shapes and scents. Her son happily went to school, but she couldn't stop worrying, "This stationery looks like a toy, I'm worried that he will play with the eraser instead of listening in class." Ms. Liu said. Many parents of primary school students expressed the same concern as Ms. Liu during interviews, worrying that if the stationery is too pretty, the children might just "play" and forget to study, "The stationery from Japan and Korea is too beautiful, beautiful enough to dazzle anyone, and adults can't resist it either, using such stationery might distract the children."
Compared to parents of primary school students, parents of middle school students who spent "big money" are even more anxious, "After buying an MP4, I'm afraid he'll only listen to music instead of studying English." After spending 1600 yuan on an MP4 for his child, Mr. Chen couldn't feel at ease every day, always checking whether his daughter had stored more songs in it. In addition, many parents worry that children overly value these external "high-end stationery" and develop a competitive mentality.
Schools: Not Advocating but Unable to Enforce Strict Requirements
Students bringing noble-style stationery to school troubles schools as well, "Teenagers use genuine leather backpacks and Mitsubishi pens, it's too luxurious." Mr. Zhang, who has been a middle school head teacher for over a decade, told reporters that in recent years, many students change their entire "equipment" every time school starts, cameras, MP4 players, and even tablet computers are brought into classrooms, but these things don't have much use in normal teaching, "These things are used by students to play with, affecting their studies, and creating competition, making them focus on these things." Mr. Zhang helplessly said, "But as private property, teachers cannot confiscate or enforce a ban on students purchasing and using them, I can't say boys' shoes must be below 50 yuan! All I can do is persuade."
A responsible person from the academic affairs office of Cuiwei Primary School also told reporters that every holiday and before school starts, the school will remind parents to buy "cost-effective" stationery for students, but with little effect, the stationery used by students is getting more and more expensive, "Each family's economic situation is different, strict regulations are obviously inappropriate, and teachers can't accurately estimate the price of each piece of stationery, so we can only guide through persuasion." This responsible person said, the school needs to guide, but the key is that parents shouldn't "spend recklessly."
Advice
Psychologists:
Need to Appropriately Reduce Children's Vanity
Professor Wu, a psychology expert from Renmin University of China, pointed out that children over the age of 7 will all develop a tendency to compare and have strong vanity, and being in a school environment where peers gather intensifies this comparative mentality. For children's vanity and competitive psychology, they should neither be indulged nor suppressed, but reasonably guided and reduced.
Professor Wu said that guiding and reducing children's vanity and competitive psychology should be approached from two aspects. On one hand, parents should not indulge their children and satisfy all their demands, which will subtly influence children and easily make them unable to correctly face setbacks in life. But some of the children's demands should be appropriately met, based on encouragement and promotion, ideally forming an exchange mechanism where children achieve certain goals and then receive certain rewards, promoting a positive competitive consciousness. On the other hand, schools should create a diversified value evaluation atmosphere, allowing students to position themselves in the school through different values and abilities, rather than satisfying their vanity through external objects. "Reducing children's vanity requires joint efforts from parents and schools, and neither side alone can achieve the best effect," Professor Wu stated.
Market Experts:
"The Back-to-School Economy" Shouldn't Go Astray
Professor Hong Tao from Beijing Technology and Business University pointed out that "the back-to-school economy" is very common in developed countries like Europe and America, and it becomes the second-largest business peak season for many merchants after Christmas. However, the most important part of the "back-to-school economy" abroad is continuous expenditure on books, training, fitness, and leisure, while stationery and electronic products as consumables account for only a small part of the "back-to-school economy." "Many merchants now only see the market corner of consumption expenditures such as stationery, taking advantage of children's competitive psychology to make short-term profits, but they don't pay enough attention to long-term investments in educational aids, ability training, and book publishing. Therefore, social forces, schools, and the government should provide correct guidance to avoid letting the 'back-to-school economy' fall into the dead end of high consumption." Professor Hong Tao said.
Our reporter, Sun Chaoyi