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The Ministry of Education has issued several documents, calling for overcoming formalism in primary and secondary school teaching. However, Xinhua Viewpoint reporters found that formalism still exists in some local primary and secondary school homework, which has placed a burden on students, parents and teachers.

Many students often have to complete tasks such as taking photos and videos, as well as various online course check-in tasks. It is particularly noteworthy that the number of tasks for hand-written newspapers, which has troubled students for many years, is still high, so much so that "making hand-written newspapers for others" has become a hot business on e-commerce platforms, with some stores selling as many as 200,000 orders.

Formalism "appends" student assignments

Recently, many parents and students of primary and secondary schools have reported to reporters that there is an increasing trend of some formalistic homework. This kind of homework is just a formality and not a serious one, which makes students "just do it for show" and creates a lot of burden, but has no actual educational effect.

——Handwritten newspaper assignments. The reporter found that among the formalistic assignments, the most criticized one is the handwritten newspaper.

Many parents reported that during important festivals, such as Dragon Boat Festival, National Day, and Mid-Autumn Festival, schools would ask students to make handwritten newspapers. Students pushed the task to their parents, and some parents often had no choice but to buy them online.

The reporter searched on the second-hand commodity trading platform and found that the sales of "handwritten newspaper drawing and making" products were hot. A merchant who claimed to "deliver children's paintings and handwritten newspapers in half an hour" showed that it had sold more than 200,000 orders. According to a rough statistics, there are more than 100 such merchants on the platform, including some that advertise "more than 10,000 repeat customers" and "9-year-old stores".

An art teacher works part-time as a hand-painted newspaper artist on an e-commerce platform. She told the reporter, "I've received too many orders recently, all of which are homework." In her shop, an A4-sized hand-painted newspaper costs 18 yuan for painting and 5 yuan for writing. When the reporter asked, "Will the painting be too good and not look like the work of parents and students?" the teacher replied, "The teacher won't care, basically just hand it in and it's fine."

A parent who bought the handwritten newspaper assignment said that after school starts, the child needs to hand in handwritten newspapers on "holiday life" and "celebrating Teacher's Day." "My child is not good at drawing, and I am worried that his work will be too bad compared to others, so I resorted to this last resort."

——Homework that requires traces. Many parents said that many homework assignments require traces, such as video, audio recording, hand-drawing, and photography.

For example, some homework requires students to film the completion process step by step, print them out as photos and stick them on the homework book; some require parents to take photos and upload them to the App, generate a QR code and stick it on the homework book; some require parents to edit homework videos, and parents are forced to become "cameramen" and "directors."

The reporter interviewed dozens of parents of primary and secondary school students in many places across the country, and they all said that teachers had assigned homework that required parents to help leave a record. More than half of the parents said that because some homework did not meet the students' actual abilities, they had helped their children "deal with" such homework.

——Punch-in homework. The reporter learned in the interview that in order to urge students to complete their homework on time and in quantity at home, many teachers assigned online punch-in homework.

Even during summer and winter vacations, some students are required to complete daily check-ins for skipping rope, reciting ancient poems, reading, practicing calligraphy, etc. Parents are required to upload proof of their children completing their homework on time. A parent in a western region said: "I have to supervise my children every day to see if these check-ins are submitted on time."

Parents distributed the safety learning completion certificate to the class group as required. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

A parent of an elementary school student in a place in central China said that there will also be some online courses such as winter and summer safety education in the parent group, requiring students and parents to click to watch, take photos and check in and post them in the group to indicate completion; sometimes they even need to print out the completion certificate and give it to the class teacher to pack and hand it over to the school.

Who is increasing the burden on students, parents and teachers?

Many parents of primary school students reported that the heavy amount of homework assigned by teachers made their children anxious and they often cried because they were worried that they would not be able to finish it. A parent of a primary school student in a western region said that this summer the school assigned four difficult practical homeworks, one of which took about two days to complete, which not only disrupted the original holiday plans, but also took up the students' rest time.

Some parents also said that in order to complete various homework, primary school students' homes must be equipped with printers, which is a considerable expense for some low-income families.

Many teachers do not approve of this kind of formalistic homework. A primary school teacher in a western region told reporters that asking students to leave marks and punch in also increases the burden on teachers. A large part of the teacher's energy has to be spent on notifying and assigning various tasks, which takes up the energy that could have been spent on teaching.

"During the holidays, I have to take time out to check students' clock-in status and organize and pack their completion certificates during teacher training. It is meaningless and a waste of time." said a primary school head teacher in central China.

What is more noteworthy is that many teachers said that formalistic homework is not conducive to children's correct outlook on life and values. Some parents reported that some videos required to be watched were of low quality and repetitive content. In order to save time, children or parents often drag the progress bar or just play without watching. As a result, children may learn to be perfunctory and coping at a young age, and are prone to distrust school education.

Why is it so difficult to stop formalistic homework?

Many teachers interviewed said that some of the hand-written newspaper and trace-leaving assignments were assigned by higher-level departments, or were to meet the requirements of higher-level departments; some were to participate in various competitions and win honors for the school; and some were to make school display boards to showcase the school's work results.

The reporter visited many places and observed that many primary and secondary schools have a classroom full of report materials, trophies and certificates, and display boards for inspection. The student handicrafts with various forms and rich contents are important display contents.

A middle school in central China displays some of the school's teaching and research results, including students' handwritten newspaper assignments. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ziwei

A primary school principal in a central region said that we have to admit that many of the homeworks claimed to be "done by the children" were actually done by teachers or parents, and everyone knows it. Schools compete with each other to show their image to supervisors and inspection leaders, and student homework is invisibly involved in this competition.

“Asking students to clock in mostly happens when they are watching online education courses produced by higher-level departments. Participation rates are often required by higher-ups, and teachers ask all students to clock in in order to complete the task,” said a middle school class teacher.

Strengthen management and improve evaluation system

The "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Homework in Compulsory Education Schools" issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Education in April 2021 directly pointed out prominent problems such as low quality of school homework and functional alienation, and clearly proposed the need to improve the homework management mechanism.

Lei Wanghong, a lecturer at the School of Public Administration of Central South University, suggested that relevant regulations should be followed to comprehensively clean up and standardize all kinds of inspection and assessment activities in schools, strictly control the number of various competitions and evaluations, and reduce formalism at the source.

Experts such as Professor Peng Zeping, Deputy Dean of the School of Education at Southwest University, believe that education departments, schools and teachers should pay more attention to the actual educational effects of homework rather than its form, pay attention to students' growth needs, and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of education and teaching.

"Education departments should improve their evaluation of schools and teachers, avoid excessive pursuit of indicators and rankings, look at students more than display boards when inspecting work, and reduce handwritten newspapers and homework that leaves traces," said Peng Zeping. "In addition, try to assign fewer online course tasks. If it is really necessary to let students know, more interesting ways should be used to attract students to participate, rather than just checking in."

The reporter learned that some schools are exploring carefully and designing homework that will interest students and parents and allow students to gain something from it.

"Watch a red movie, visit a cultural relic in the city, and go to the library" is the homework assigned to lower grade students by Xiaoma Primary School in Xiaodian District, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province this summer. Parent Xue Rongli said: "The children are looking forward to completing the homework, and they also absorb knowledge while playing in the process."

Chongqing Xiejiawan School Fengdu Xingfu Primary School regularly conducts "Parent Interviews", inviting parent representatives to the school to understand the types and forms of student homework in each class and listen to parents' opinions and suggestions on the school's homework arrangements.

Many teachers and parents have called on schools to strengthen teaching research and encourage teachers to improve the fun and quality of homework, reduce mechanical repetition and forced record-keeping content, and truly stimulate students' interest and improve their abilities.

Source: Xinhua Viewpoint

Process Editor: u070