On September 16, Mrs Zhou, 74, received a parcel from her young granddaughter who had just begun her college life in a remote city. To her frustration, however, it was not a thank you gift or any other thoughtful present, but a pile of dirty clothes and socks.
The grandma checked the letter included in the parcel, only to find that the college entrant was asking her to send all the clothes back once they were washed.
The 18 year-old girl did not know how to wash clothes. Her parents were quite busy with work and had little time to be with the girl, Mrs Zhou said, admitting that she loved the only child in the family too much and allowed her to do nothing but study.
But the girl is not alone in basking in the seemingly endless family comforts.
A new student, Zhang Huan, discontinued his college life after living five days on campus, and gave no valid reason for his decision. After a long conversation, his mother said that her son was not well adapted to the communal life.
“The teachers there are very responsible and the school environment is nice. But the kid has never lived on campus before. He quit partly because he can’t bathe everyday and partly because he doesn’t like the food in the canteen. We have to accept his decision and choose a college that is near our house,” his mother said.
The news intensified the popular opinion that today’s children know nothing about independence and are growingly addicted to the comfortable cocoon of family life which they take for granted.
The argument is not unfounded. Traditionally, children have been a special spectrum of treasure in Chinese society and the parents will provide whatever they can afford. They have high ambitions for the children, with a primary focus on high scores, a decent job and a happy marriage.
Only children, a product of the family control policies introduced in the 1970s, have triggered many debates in China. The children hold a high status in families and are widely labeled as a self-centered generation. They are born in an age of abundance and are not accustomed to the hardship of their parents.
橹声已逝 wrote: “The doting parenting technique has a far-reaching adverse affect, but in the case, the girl is to blame. She has no idea about adapting herself to the new environment. Today, most students belong to the only children and the boys and girls usually do nothing at home before going to college. The girl has to correct her behavior or she will become a socially disabled person.”
小k歌之王 wrote: “It clearly shows the failure of the exam-based education. Despite many years of study in the school, the children don’t know how to live independently. What can we expect them to do for the society?”
“It really goes too far to send the dirty clothes to the old grandma. I don’t know when the babysitting grandma will stop loving the kid too much. If she persists, what will the future hold for our country?” said 春梦无痕2012.
By Xu Xinlei
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