Mother in China criticized for taking 6-year-old to postgraduate exam so he could ‘feel the atmosphere’

A mother in China took her 6-year-old son to witness “gaokao” — China’s annual college entrance examinations — so he could “feel the atmosphere of postgraduate examination.”

Sparking controversy: The mom, identified by her surname Li, drew online criticism for bringing her son to an exam spot in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, reported the state-run Global Times.

A lot of the negative feedback from social media users pointed to the pressure she might be putting on her child at a young age.
“When the child is young, you should not put too much pressure on him. It is better to take your child to museums, zoos, amusement parks to develop interests and have fun,” a Weibo user was quoted as saying.
“When a child grows up, many decisions are for him to think and make by himself,” another user wrote.
One user poked fun at the mother’s efforts, noting that her son “ will forget it in two days. I have a kid his age, and he just wants to be Batman.”

A decade and a half to go: This year’s “gaokao,” held from Dec. 25 to 27, attracted over 4.5 million applicants across China, exceeding last year’s applicant number of 3.7 million.

Considered the most important test for students in China, the entrance exam determines a student’s eligibility to attend university, the schools the student qualifies for, and career opportunities available after graduation, as NextShark previously reported.
According to Li, exposure to this test will help her son even if he has “15 years to go, about 5,400 days, to take the entrance exam.”
The child, named Youyou, has already set his sights on Tsinghua University, a prestigious institution in Beijing.

Featured Image via 犹纪

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