China’s education crackdown flunks economics
- Date: 21-Jun-2021
- Source: Zawya
- Sector:Education
- Country:Middle East
China’s education crackdown flunks economics
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) HONG KONG - Beijing is mastering subtraction, but struggling with basic economics. A crackdown on the country's $120 billion tutoring industry may help address manic competition for college preparation, which distorts the labour supply and suppresses the birth rate. It's a byproduct of a widening wealth gap, however, and this approach could make it worse. Chinese tiger parents serve investors well. Families in Shanghai's Jing'an district, for example, spent around $80,000 per child on educational services before they even reached high school, a 2019 state think-tank survey found. Multiplying by 400 million middle-income people produces a massive market. TAL Education and Gaotu Techedu are among the companies that rode the thesis straight onto U.S. bourses. There's no mandate to "leave no child behind“ in China. Teachers identify the best students early and invest in them. The playing field is theoretically flat; children who score well on the all-important "gaokao“ college exam can pull a family out of poverty. Nobody likes "teaching to the test“ more than poor Chinese parents. But manic rivalry has engendered a negative feedback loop. To please competitive moms and dads, schools force advanced