Shan Junyi

A month ago, a video featuring a retired Chinese teacher verbally and physically abusing students went viral on TikTok. The teacher claimed this was a way to motivate students to perform better academically, which sparked widespread debate on social media. While some parents defended the teacher, arguing that children should be taught this way, the incident prompted reflection on teacher ethics, student rights, and the education system.

In China, it’s common for elders to say, “Your good days are over once school starts!” This saying suggests a negative view of school life. Antagonizing school education doesn’t help. Such attitudes can harm students’ psychological well-being in the long term and negatively influence future generations’ perception of education.

China’s education system is often seen as a “cramming” approach, where knowledge is “crammed” into students in a tedious, usually pointless manner. While this method quickly improved education levels and literacy in the mid-20th century, its limitations have become evident. Students now face issues such as burnout and mental health struggles due to academic pressure.

The rise in depression among middle and high school students has been significant over the past decade. Additionally, much of the knowledge taught at school is overly theoretical, disconnected from real-world applications, and thus feels irrelevant.

Government efforts to address these issues have yet to see much success. Although higher standards have been implemented upon college graduation to ensure academic rigor, and stress reduction strategies have been introduced to help students, these measures fail to tackle the root causes of an unsatisfactory education system.

As the competition to get into top colleges intensifies, students are stuck in the system, leading to a widespread perception that education is more of a burden than a valuable experience.

The system needs to evolve to foster a genuine love for learning rather than focusing on rote memorization and stressful competition. Only by doing so can students find joy and fulfillment in their academic pursuits.

Providing high-quality and equitable education to all students is a key priority for educators and policymakers worldwide, including in China.

(The author is a student from

dreamers Education.)