Friday, March 12, 2010

Spoiled children in China

I wonder what will happen to the future of China considering what the one child policy has done to how the children are treated. Since the late 1970s, large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai implemented the one child policy in response to concerns about the social and economic consequences of continued rapid population growth. However, this has caused the birth of the little emperor or empress of many families. With one child whom the parents and grandparents put their hopes and dreams on, they end up spoiling the kid. Part of this is due to the schooling system in China. Since schools are extremely competitive, children end up studying the entire day there without any time for other activities that American children have to luxury of participating in.

Kids in the United States grow up playing soccer, basketball, throwing paper airplanes, chores, etc. and as a result have many different hobbies when they grow up. On the contrary, the children in China only study. Their prime responsibility is to do well in school since the school system is so rigorous. Due to this, the grandparents and the parents end up doing everything for the little emperor/empress. Simple chores that American kids are usually required to do such as washing dishes, laundry, mowing the lawn are not performed by Chinese. As a result, many have grown up not knowing how to cook, clean the house, etc. Because of this, I wonder what will happen after the parents are gone and the emperors who are married to the empresses have to fend for themselves and also raise their child.

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