SHANGHAI''S first all-boys public high school classes open in September as a small, 60-student pilot project to build the confidence of pampered boys and make them more manly. Wang Jie reports.
There''s a lot of talk in China today about a "boys crisis" in which young males are pampered and smothered by mothers and turn out to be weak, helpless around girls and generally socially inept in later life.
Much has been written about the problem and what should be done. Some experts dismiss it as overblown, some say boys'' problems begin at home and some saying the super-competitive educational system is largely to blame because it puts too much of a burden on both boys and girls.
In a pilot attempt to help boys become better adjusted and more masculine, the city''s first boys-only high school is under planning and discussion at Shanghai No. 8 High School. Recruitment begins in May for two pilot classes, totaling 60 students. They will be closely monitored to see whether the whole idea of boys-only school is necessary and feasible.
The pilot class plan approved by the Shanghai Education Commission will start in the coming new semester in September and will be an experimental program to pay greater attention to their development as confident, outgoing young men.
There will be more "manly" courses, according to Shanghai No. 8 High School Principal Lu Qisheng, such as wushu, Chinese chess and electronic music, than in ordinary coed schools. Several professors at Shanghai universities will design programs suitable for boys.
"I am interested and I want to take my boy for a try," says a 42-year-old mother surnamed Sun, "because now he seems too timid and shy. I hope that the high school for boys can instill a more masculine character.
"Also, I won''t be afraid that he might fall in love with a girl classmate who might distract him from studying," the mother adds.
Many parents live in terror of what is commonly (and rather dismissively) called zao lian or "puppy love," an inappropriate attachment that can stand in the way of academic and career success.
Although the idea of a boys'' high school is new to Shanghai, it''s common in many Western countries and quite common in Taipei, where there are jokes about monasteries for boys and convents for girls. Girls schools are also common elsewhere.
But the activities in Taipei boys'' and girls'' schools are varied, and the boys and girls do interact in exchange programs and activities.
The Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School (for boys) now has 80 student activity teams including its famous basket ball team.
"This boys'' high school is not an innovation, but a naive practice," notes sociologist Gu Xiaoming, from Fudan University.
"True, a boy might not have a chance to fall in love with a girl classmate, but instead he might fall in love with his female teacher! Various studies have already proved that whether it''s a boys'' or girls'' school, single-sex education hinders healthy psychological development of teenagers. Today the separation of boys and girls in an education setting should be rejected," he adds.
Shanghai has only one public girls school, the famous Shanghai No. 3 Girls'' High School with a history of 110 years, famous for nurturing Madame Soong Ching Ling.
"If I had had a choice, I wouldn''t have studied at that school," says Ren Peiwen, a 38-year-old professional. "My parents sent me there for six years, which adversely affected my communication with men at university and later in society, since I didn''t have any experience in getting along well with boys, compared with my peers."
But many parents, scholars and education officials are concerned about boys'' development.
《Shanghai Daily》 日期:2012年4月15日 版次:A10、A11 作者:Wang Jie
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