With school starting today - except in Southwest China's Chongqing, where scorching heat has delayed school until September 5 - parents are shoving their children back through the school gates. The good, the bad and the ugly of the summer holidays are gone.

While some children wish the holidays could be stretched into late September, others are in a surprising hurry to subject themselves to the tyranny of school.

The boys and girls in the first category, who slobbed around the TV and PlayStation during the summer break, will find it hard to regulate their internal clocks for the fall semester. They have to manage themselves well so as not to doze away in class and have white nights.

The children in the second group, however, are eager to escape the mountains of homework from summer vacation. They were more pressed with a long checklist of things to do - homework, music practice and summer school - in the summer holidays than they are while at school.

Many parents have devoted the entire holiday to mobilizing their children - and themselves - in preparation for the new academic year. The children were forced to preview the lessons for the next term so that they could outshine their pals.

It was sad for them to have such structured time for the holidays, though  educators argue that it is best to maintain some order, otherwise school time can come as a terrible culture shock.

The two holidays, in winter and summer, are supposed to free children from class and enable them to enjoy life. Many parents, however, do not want their children to waste a second of the free time. They find a spot in their living room for a chart upon which they create a checklist of the items their children need every day.

Unworkable homework routines have worn down the children. An investigation of the students found that two-thirds of primary students and three-fourths of high school students do not get enough sleep. It is believed that 10 hours of sleep for primary school students and nine hours for high school kids is good for children's healthy growth.

Sick of their homework, some children turn to websites that charge for answers or get them from their peers for free.

Children need balance between homework, physical activity and downtime. At some point, all of them should have a run-around to burn off their pent-up energy and enjoy the bliss of some period of free time.

Still, the educators need to make their school time a happy one so that knowledge can find its way into the young people's hearts and minds.