He Liesheng, photo/reporter Hua Jian
He Liesheng, male, 43 years old, head of a company in Nanjing. During the Spring Festival while traveling in the U.S., he made his only four-year-old child DuoDuo cry and run naked for more than five minutes in a -13℃ blizzard. After the video was uploaded online, it drew much attention from netizens. He Liesheng interpreted this as "eagle-style" extreme education. People compared him with "Tiger Mom" and "Wolf Dad", calling him "Eagle Dad". Some netizens said that "eagle-style education" was too cruel, and education should follow the rules of children's physical and mental development. He Liesheng said that "eagle-style education" had practical considerations, it was not corporal punishment education, and it could make up for the shortcomings of the existing educational model.
At 7 pm on February 7, He Liesheng's family had already finished dinner, but the food on the table was still not cleared away. They were waiting for He Liesheng to finish one interview after another.
Local, out-of-province, even overseas, He Liesheng couldn't remember how many interviews he had done. Instead, he asked the reporter: "According to your experience, when will this thing be over?"
There was no way to eat meals on time, let alone go to work. "It was originally just an entertainment move sent to friends, but I never expected such a big response."
His life rhythm was completely disrupted. He Liesheng frankly admitted that he was quite annoyed recently. But he still treated every visitor politely. The reason was that if the "naked running younger brother" triggered a discussion and reflection on educational methods, even if he was scolded, he would not regret it.
Reporter Fan Sideng, Nanjing report
If I am not cruel, if I am not heartless, I cannot save DuoDuo. You say a person with a broken bone, either let him lie in bed eating and drinking every day, or let him grit his teeth and do some training, which is better? Our current "greenhouse education", "strawberry education" is not good for children's growth. I want to establish an educational model that stands opposite to them, advocating eagle-like love, not chicken-like love.
--- "Eagle Dad" He Liesheng
Eagle-style Education
"Greenhouse Education" is not beneficial for children
Suxiang Morning Post: We saw in the video that DuoDuo was crying in the snow and wanted you to hold him, but you didn't. Didn't you feel sorry at that moment?
He Liesheng: As parents, who doesn't feel sorry for their own child? I was 40 years old when I had DuoDuo, so it's impossible that I didn't feel sorry at that time. However, if I were to hold him, it would absolutely be impossible. He has been receiving various kinds of training since he was little, like swimming, roller skating, mountain climbing, etc., and he always cried. I have become used to it.
Suxiang Morning Post: There are many ways to educate, must you use this method?
He Liesheng: I must save DuoDuo! I am not convinced, who says my child must be cerebral palsy? (DuoDuo was a premature baby, born with multiple complications. The doctor once told He Liesheng that the child might have cerebral palsy and dementia in the future.) I believe that through exercise, nutrition, and other ways, I can make him recover health, but these measures are better the earlier they start. So after he came out of the hospital, I started training him. For example, swimming, it started at about thirty degrees Celsius, then gradually lowering the water temperature, lowering it by one degree each time, until it reached 25 degrees Celsius. Using this cold stimulation method, I stimulated his functional recovery.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is this what you call "eagle-style education"?
He Liesheng: What is eagle-style education? My understanding is, when a young eagle learns to fly, the adult eagle pushes the young eagle off the cliff. In the process of the young eagle falling into the valley, maybe there are only 20 seconds, but in order to survive, it must desperately flap its wings. It is in such a process that the young eagle learns to fly.
Suxiang Morning Post: Can we understand eagle-style education as using an extreme environment to force children to tap their potential?
He Liesheng: Ouyang Feng locked Yang Guo in a dark room, Yang Guo saw a lot of green lights, and found out they were all wild wolves. At that time, he only had two choices: be eaten by the wolves, or fight the wolves. That day, after DuoDuo went out, he couldn't come back because the door could only be exited, not entered. Therefore, after he went out, he either had to endure the cold or run.
Suxiang Morning Post: Many parents are tough-talking but soft-hearted, and they can't bring themselves to do it in practice. What makes you have such a strong motivation?
He Liesheng: If I am not cruel, if I am not heartless, I cannot save DuoDuo. You say a person with a broken bone, either let him lie in bed eating and drinking every day, or let him grit his teeth and do some training, which is better? Our current "greenhouse education", "strawberry education" is not beneficial for children's growth. I want to establish an educational model that stands opposite to them, advocating eagle-like love, not chicken-like love.
Tiger Moms and Wolf Dads
Beating is a coercive, inhumane approach
Suxiang Morning Post: Many netizens criticize you, accusing you of being cruel. What do you think about it?
He Liesheng: I accept the criticism from netizens, but I will stick to my methods. Someone said, why don't you go out and run naked with your child? I told him, does Ma Junren need to run long distances with Wang Junxia? He only provides scientific methods and firm execution. However, I am happy to see everyone discussing. Without controversy, how can there be intellectual collision, without intellectual collision, how can there be progress?
Suxiang Morning Post: Now, you are mentioned alongside Tiger Moms and Wolf Dads.
He Liesheng: We have common ground, which is our love for our children. But I have objections to their methods - why must they beat their children? That is a coercive and inhumane approach. We can definitely have more advanced methods to educate our children. I think I will talk with Wolf Dad in the future.
Suxiang Morning Post: Not punishing physically, is this your difference from Wolf Dad and Tiger Mom?
He Liesheng: Eagle-style education is an educational model based on communication, negotiation, and interest, which is very different from theirs. Like that day before going out, I asked DuoDuo, "Do you want to go out and run naked with dad?" "The weather outside will be very cold, are you afraid?" After getting his agreement, we did half an hour of warm-up indoors before going out. Also, the age targets are different. They target teenagers, I target infants.
Suxiang Morning Post: You oppose beating and scolding, but eagle-style education, in a sense, is also a form of beating, just invisible.
He Liesheng: Yes, from a certain perspective, we are consistent. They use tangible slaps, I use intangible environments, letting the environment hit, not specific things. For example, waking up the child, I divide it into six steps: first playing music, then turning on the light, then asking if he wants to get up, if not, I pat his face with a warm towel, if still ineffective, I pick him up and tell him "you can sleep in daddy's arms for a while, but daddy will put you down on the ground," as soon as I put him down, he wakes up.
Suxiang Morning Post: The phenomenon of "little emperors" and "little princesses" seems to be getting worse, many parents spoil their children, what do you think about it?
He Liesheng: Let me say something that may provoke criticism, I think spoiling children is a manifestation of selfishness. Many parents simply think, if they treat their children well now, they will be taken care of when they are old. I don't care, I don't expect him to be filial to me, it's not good for him to be tied down by an old man. When he was young, he depended on his parents, when he grows up, the parents depend on him, what's good about that?
Personal Experience
"I am more grateful to those who were strict with me"
Suxiang Morning Post: I heard that DuoDuo goes to school by bus now. But the Yushuibay Primary School he attends is an elite school, where students are picked up and dropped off by car. Are you doing this deliberately to be unconventional?
He Liesheng: From home to the bus stop, 800 meters, then eight stops, then get off and walk another 1000 meters, one round trip is 3.6 kilometers. First, it is still physical exercise. But more importantly, I cannot let him have a special sense of superiority from a young age. We compete in grades, in emotional quotient, not in who has more money.
Suxiang Morning Post: Was your father strict with you?
He Liesheng: Regarding this, I actually have some thoughts about my father.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is it because your father wasn't strict with you?
He Liesheng: Looking back now, I am more grateful to those who were strict with me, like my grand-uncle, who forced me to write calligraphy, I was very annoyed at that time. But now I understand, education is strict love, true strictness is great love. I have two teachers, one teacher was particularly kind, no matter how noisy we were in class, he just lectured alone on the podium, and some students even threw chalk at him when he turned around, he ignored it. We thought this teacher was nice at the time, but now I think, at most, he was my teacher, very kind, but irresponsible to students. On the contrary, I am now very grateful to a particularly strict teacher at that time.
Suxiang Morning Post: The ancients said, read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles. The former is school education, the latter relies more on family support. Do you agree with this view?
He Liesheng: Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles, and also recognize ten thousand kinds of people.
Suxiang Morning Post: Recognize ten thousand kinds of people? What do you mean?
He Liesheng: It is emotional intelligence training. Like Liu Bei, he didn't read many books, and traveled later, but he won people's hearts.
Suxiang Morning Post: How do you train DuoDuo in this aspect when he is so young?
He Liesheng: When he was in kindergarten, I gave him homework, giving a gift to each classmate every day, it could be candy, peanuts, or gum, giving one every day, there were a total of 25 classmates in the class. Through sharing in this way, he became very popular.
For example, this year he celebrated his lunar birthday in the U.S. It is interesting in the U.S., instead of others giving you gifts, you give gifts to others. It is in such a process, sharing happiness with others, emotional intelligence gets trained.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is emotional intelligence more important than cultural courses?
He Liesheng: Of course. But moral intelligence is more important, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. If a person's thoughts go bad, it is like a train engine breaking down, then all the carriages behind it will be destroyed.
Eagle-style Bottom Line
"Do not harm life, do not destroy spirit"
Suxiang Morning Post: In China, academic performance is a hurdle that many parents cannot overcome. If a child's academic performance is poor, many parents cannot accept it.
He Liesheng: Eagle-style education also includes requirements for academic performance. Our educational system has its flaws, I want to use eagle-style education to make up for its shortcomings, but academic performance is necessary for children. I think DuoDuo, at the age of 10, can enter Tsinghua University, if he still wants to continue studying, he can finish his master's and doctorate degrees before he is 18.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is this just a casual remark, or a serious statement?
He Liesheng: Serious. I think eagle-style education can fully achieve this. The current education is more than enough for DuoDuo. He is four years old this year, but he studies with children twice his age without any problem, and he directly enters the second semester of the first grade.
Suxiang Morning Post: You are so confident about eagle-style education and DuoDuo, have you noticed that DuoDuo also struggles in his studies?
He Liesheng: Yes, indeed. For example, in Chinese language, although he knows 3000 characters, he still has difficulty in writing strokes; and in mathematics, he masters arithmetic within 10, and now is learning arithmetic within 20. However, these are not problems, I dare to say that all these can be solved within a week.
Suxiang Morning Post: Therefore, eagle-style education is not as simple as naked running, it also includes other training inside?
He Liesheng: I personally witnessed Japanese kindergarten children wearing small pants and running in the snow. In Korea, children hold wooden swords and poke each other. This kind of indomitable spirit needs to be trained from a young age. Of course, this is only part of the eagle-style education, I advocate "ten intelligences" education.
Suxiang Morning Post: It seems you particularly like taking DuoDuo to climb mountains.
He Liesheng: Yes, mountain climbing is a sport with fewer injuries, and it can also train people's willpower. I have planned this year, to take him to climb the Five Great Mountains, and also the highest peaks in Japan and South Korea, and in July this year or February next year, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is it too exaggerated for a four-year-old child to climb Mount Kilimanjaro?
He Liesheng: A healthy adult needs about four days to enter Mount Kilimanjaro. DuoDuo is small, so we will calculate more time, anyway we are not competing. Eight days, is it okay? Twelve days, is it okay? No speed required.
Suxiang Morning Post: Is there a bottom line for eagle-style education?
He Liesheng: Do not harm life, do not destroy spirit, do not coerce.