Slave driving kids is not good education

A sleepy student rubs his eyes during a ceremony held to open a new semester at Xiangming Junior High School, in Shanghai, on Sept 1. Provided to China Daily

A 15-year-old student's sudden death in class has once again brought into focus the long contentious issue of how much homework is too much for primary and middle school students.

The boy in Nanyang, a city in Central China's Henan province, was said to never have enough sleep, as he could not finish his homework until midnight and had to get up at 6:20 am in the morning.

Too much homework may not necessarily be the direct cause of his sudden death at such a young age. But for those students whose physical constitution is weak, chronic lack of sleep can be a serious risk to their health.

Is it really necessary for primary and middle school students to spend almost all their spare time on homework after school?

There may be a close connection between how much homework students do and how high they score in examinations, but is there really a close correlation between how well a student does in exams and how bright his future will be?

The reality is many of the smartest students do not spend too much time on homework, as shown by the fact that some of the highest scorers in national college entrance examinations have a wide range of interests beside schoolwork.

For students with average or poor academic performance, homework occupies almost all their spare time, which affects their health and also makes it unlikely they will develop any interest in other areas.

There have been calls for quality-oriented education for years. Yes, doing a lot of homework may possibly raise their exam scores and thus boost the overall performance of teachers and the status of schools; but for individual students, it does not equal quality education.

For teachers, what should really matter is designing good homework that is not great in quantity but good in quality. This is an issue that the majority of schools in China need to take seriously so there will be no more deaths because students are overworked. Slave driving children is never a good way to educate them, although hardwork on the part of students is always necessary.

Both schools and parents need to have a thorough understanding of what a well-rounded education means and apply reasonable strategies for children's healthy development.