In China, one child is the rule. Preferably a male child, thank you very much. When that child arrives he is the crown jewel of the Chinese family, potentially a ticket out of poverty and security for the parents in old age. Therefore, an often dirt poor family will scrape and slave for years to make sure that child has a good education and a chance to get ahead in Chinese society.
Meticulous records of a student’s grades are kept on paper. Students who do well and excel in their classes are rightly proud of their achievements. As well, Chinese society recognizes those good efforts and rewards star students with jobs in government, sciences, industry and related fields. The record of ones’ grades are the ticket to a better life. That is unless that precious piece of paper disappears from the vaults of the Chinese educational bureaucracy.
And that’s precisely what is happening now. Student records for the very best and brightest seem to be magically disappearing from files and storage areas at an alarming clip. The presumption is that prized student records are being resold on the black market for big bucks. The loss of these records is a devastating blow to families who have invested everything they have in their children. And given the fact that education is so highly prized in China it amazes me that the government is apparently willing to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing.
When I look around at how cavalier many of our students are about school I wonder if any of them would trade places with their Chinese counterparts?
Jeremy Myers is a wedding officiant and is the owner of Lyssabeth’s Wedding Officiants. Visit his websites at: Lyssabeth’s Colorado Wedding Officiants and Lyssabeth’s Monterey Wedding Officiants .