Utilitarianism runs through the entire process of children's education, and spending money in the summer may not necessarily get high returns

How much does it really cost to give your child a great summer vacation? Study tours, summer camps, and hobby training are more and more colorful summer days, but what does this long list of consumer bills mean? High consumption bills make many parents feel both financially and psychologically stressed. Can the summer vacation freedom given to children be piled up with money?

As a "hardest-hit area" for parents' retaliatory consumption, the "study group" frequently exposed problems, and students could not enter the campus and clocked in at the door to take photos; Throw trainees in the museum to "herd sheep"; long queues at the entrance of attractions in the sweltering heat; There is also a "sky-high price group" that "charges 10,800 yuan per person to enter Peking University"... This has caused great controversy, and many people think that the sky-high price study camp "travels without learning, high price and low quality", which is an IQ tax; Others think that the benevolent sees the good, the wise see the wise...

Tencent Parenting "Parents Don't Have Internal Friction" invited Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of China Education Online; Liang Jie, an economist and now teaching at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, deeply analyzed the reasons for the surge in parent-child consumption in the summer and provided reasonable advice to parents in anxiety.

Core Ideas:

• 1

  Utilitarianism runs through the whole process of children's education, so China's education is actually very difficult.

• 2

  In the face of how to arrange the summer vacation, do not always limit to the original examination system, but consider more comprehensively from the perspective of the child's growth, which may be more beneficial to the child.

• 3

  If you want to "overtake in a corner", you should consider overtaking something other than a diploma.

• 4

  Parents should be rational about their children's investment, and do not think that the more money they throw, the higher the return.

Q: The high consumption in the summer exposes the speculative or utilitarian side of some parents in the process of educating their children, must the effect of high consumption on children be positive? In education, is it really "not spending money"?

Chen Zhiwen: In my opinion, parents have always been very utilitarian in their children's education, not simply a summer utilitarian issue. Why do we only focus on grades, because the college entrance examination looks at results. So when the child is ready to go abroad, for example, to the United States to engage in comprehensive evaluation, then in addition to the grades, he must also desperately package the child, this activity, that scientific and technological invention, and even spend a lot of money to send a paper with a foreign professor, get a letter of recommendation, this is also utilitarian. Utilitarianism runs through the whole process of children's education, so China's education is actually very difficult.

We have always been swayed, wrapped and twisted by this utilitarian culture, and the holiday incident fully reflects this. Parents' utilitarianism is ultimately for their children's success and future development. However, it is still necessary to establish a correct concept of talent, and we must understand what kind of people have the most prosperous and most room for development in the future. When we understand this truth, even utilitarianism must be utilitarian, not just focus on achievements.

I want to give parents a little common sense, now that higher education is popularized, the diversion of the middle school entrance examination is about 60% to 30% according to the data released by the Ministry of Education, not a five-to-five stream. The second is that middle vocational can also be admitted to university, and the positioning of middle vocational has undergone a major adjustment in 2021 called "equal emphasis on further education and employment", and now the middle vocational position in many places has actually become not much different from the general high school. About one-third of the number of college entrance examination applicants is from middle jobs, that is, the 10 million college entrance examination applicants actually include middle jobs. Therefore, parents do not have to be anxious, whether they go to general high school or vocational high school, they can enter the university, the road is smooth, and even if there is a difference between general high school and vocational high school, it is not five to five. This year we know that several provinces can go to an undergraduate with more than 200 points, junior college is about 100 points, and the lowest I see that the published score is only 120 points. If you count the second call for volunteers, which is the so-called supplementary recording, then the specialist line basically drops to 100 points, up to 150 points. From this point of view, going to college is also almost unimpeded, and you don't have to study hard to go to college.

Of course, everyone will think that there is a difference between the school, but in fact, the future is not simply the school. For example, during the college entrance examination this year, Peking University also had to make up the record (approved in advance because the minor languages were not full). For famous universities in rural areas, including Fudan University and Chinese Minmin University, they have to be supplemented, because children now care more about which major to study, and are not completely obsessed with famous schools. With the popularization of higher education, trends are changing, and a lot of our anxiety comes from incorrect cognition. For example, in the past ten years or so, there has never been a five-to-five general job stream in the documents of the Ministry of Education, and an important source of this statement is that junior high school teachers put pressure on children and parents, "You see if you don't study well, five to five, diversion, generally many people will be eliminated." About 30 years ago, it was true that the general job five-to-five stream was mentioned, but now it is only about the general balance, and then after the teachers continue to amplify, in order to put pressure on the children, in order to spread falsehoods, and finally "come true", it also brings some educational anxiety. I think this still has to be correctly understood, after the popularization of higher education in the future, finishing college does not mean that there must be a decent job, then everyone will not be so rolled up at this time. One of the most interesting news this year is Shenzhen Polytechnic University, which was originally called Shenzhen Vocational and Technical College, which has just been upgraded this year, and the admission score of a professional group exceeds that of Guangzhou University. Guangzhou University is almost the top few schools in both African schools, but the admission score of Shenzhen Vocational and Technical College in many provinces and cities far exceeds that of undergraduates, and even exceeds the score line of a book, the reason is good employment.

So from this point of view, I don't think there is a need for everyone to roll up the so-called academic qualifications in the future. This year's news said that Shandong University is recruiting dormitory administrators, and two graduate students have come: one is a master's degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, and the other is a master's degree from Australia; Shanghai Fudan High School recruited a health administrator to come to a medical doctor of Shanghai Jiaotong University. When everyone has academic qualifications, everyone cares less and less about academic qualifications, and the future may fight for other things entirely. In the era of elite education, having a diploma meant that you had a decent job, and in the 80s you went to university, and junior college students were also proud of heaven. But the popularization of higher education, a diploma from a famous university may not necessarily have a decent job, at this time everyone will think about whether to have this diploma. So from the perspective of future development trends, there is really no need to be overly volatile or overly anxious.

Q: Whether it's a full schedule for the summer vacation or for the kids to enjoy, it's always been a topic of debate or discussion. So in the eyes of the two teachers, what kind of summer vacation is the most meaningful?

Liang Jie: Different children have different expectations for summer vacation, because everyone's direction and goals are different. For example, some children especially want to learn a foreign language, usually very busy with study, and there are two months in the summer vacation, so that he can concentrate on doing what he likes. Maybe he will spend these two months learning French and improving his French ability. But for another student, maybe he would prefer to go to other places such as Tibet, and it was a good experience to leave everything and stay in Tibet for a month during the summer vacation. For example, children in Shanghai may not know anything about the countryside in the city all day, so using these two months to send the child to the countryside, so that he can contact nature and contact some life that he usually cannot contact in the city, will also have great gains.

So it seems to me that the preferences of different people are completely different. For parents, it is not only possible to look at what others are doing, the key is to see what the child likes and pursues. If you can use these two months to greatly improve one aspect of yourself, it is the best.

Therefore, the most important thing is that parents should discuss with their children what they want to do most, what their goals are, what their ideals are, and then plan a feasible summer vacation plan under all constraints. Everyone's summer vacation plans are different, because everyone has to do different things, and there is no possibility of comparison. But now everyone has become "you have been to Tibet, I have not been to Tibet, as if I am lagging behind", which is a sad situation.

Chen Zhiwen: One of the best summer vacations is the summer vacation for children. In education, we should emphasize teaching according to aptitude, and in life development, we should emphasize promoting our strengths and avoiding our weaknesses, and we should pay attention not to think about making up for our weaknesses. So at this time, it is necessary to return to what the child is better at, and appropriate arrangements should be made according to the child's characteristics and interests. The second principle is called living within your means, and spending more money does not necessarily mean that it is the best education, at least not in a positive relationship. Be sure to think clearly about what your child is suitable for, and I firmly believe that some people will not compare and blindly follow after thinking about it. Today's children generally lack the opportunity to grow, every day parents drive to school, pick up at night, there is not even the possibility of a little accident, so how to grow?

Q: Are there any indicators for parents to help them assess whether the money they have invested in their children's summer vacation is worth it?

Chen Zhiwen: Your purpose determines what kind of project and what kind of things you choose for your child, so there is no absolute satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the result, as long as you go in that direction, what you get in the end is more or less growth. The problem is back to the utilitarian point of view, the performance can be measured, for example, spending 1,000 yuan, the score increased by 50 to 60 points, spending 100 yuan, but also improving 50 to 60 points, then spending 100 yuan earned. This is a way of thinking for many parents, but this way is wrong in itself, because growth cannot be measured that way.

Liang Jie: For this question, we divide it into two perspectives, the first is that parents are unwilling to think about it, like Zhang Xuefeng fever in the past month, and even directly affect the admission score line of many universities. I personally have no opinion on Zhang Xuefeng, but I think that this parent himself completely outsourced his thinking to Zhang Xuefeng, which I do not agree with. A student studied hard for more than ten years, but in the end, when deciding what university and major to study, he patted his head to look at Zhang Xuefeng's video, and it took two hours to decide that he was too irresponsible for his life. In more than ten years of study, even if you spend an extra week thinking about what you want to do in the future, maybe the future decision will be different.

For such a relatively small decision as how to arrange summer vacation, many parents do not think about how their children should grow up at all, and think that spending money can decide. But in economics, a model called cost-benefit, that is, you spend 10,000 yuan, which is the money invested, but what can you recover? This is a very delicate question. Test scores are a goal that can be quantified, but for a child's growth, you spend money to take a picture at the north gate, go to Tibet, do something, what direct impact it has on the child's future growth and work after graduating from college, we have no way to evaluate. Therefore, in this case, it is not appropriate to use the cost-benefit analysis method, because the return cannot be calculated.

You outsource such an important life experience and such an important two months of time to Zhang Xuefeng, and outsourcing it to a research group seems to solve the problem, which is the biggest waste of time and life.

Q: When making a summer plan for your child, you must form a good interaction with your child, what do parents need to pay special attention to during the planning process?

Liang Jie: In the process of growing up children, there are many other aspects besides test scores. For example, mental performance, the ability to interact with people, organizational skills, speech skills and various aspects of the ability, these things are very important. But these indicators are difficult for us to evaluate, especially in a system such as the college entrance examination, when a child, he is very organizational or oral expression skills, we can not see it when we brush the questions, during the exam. This is why American universities use comprehensive consideration and recommendation letters when admitting them, to a certain extent, they value the quality of comprehensive personality.

When parents are nurturing their children, especially when facing how to make the most of these two months of precious summer vacation, they must think about what they want their children to improve in these two months? Everyone has the experience of travel, the real gain of tourism is not necessarily to go to that place to check in and take pictures, but may be who you see during this trip, what problems you encounter, how to solve them, bits and pieces of these may have a great impact on children, and finally taking a photo of that attraction may not matter. This is actually the case for children, during this summer vacation, if you simply go to a museum and learn some knowledge, but this knowledge may not be useful to him in the future.

For example, children can exercise well in these two months to make their bodies healthier, although the college entrance examination does not test this thing, but this is very important for the child's future growth. After a trip, the child may know that he has to do laundry every day, and only then knows how important it is to do housework, which is also a big gain. There are also plans for your own trips, learning to read maps, and take the subway, which are not involved in study tours, but these abilities may have a greater impact on children.

Therefore, for parents, when facing how to arrange the two months of summer vacation, do not always limit themselves to the original examination system, but consider this issue more comprehensively from the perspective of children's growth, which may be more suitable for children's growth.

Chen Zhiwen: First of all, it is important to think clearly about what you want. One of the principles that must be adhered to during the holidays is that since it is winter and summer vacation, what is outside the classroom is the most important.

The second point is to pay attention to the strengths and avoid the weaknesses. Many excellent parents are prone to make mistakes in the process of educating their children in a hurry to make up for shortcomings, for example, this child has no talent in mathematics, you have to let him learn an Olympiad, in fact, it is embarrassing the child. Or that the child is very thin, but desperately let him play basketball, in fact, it is also embarrassing him and hitting his self-confidence. Therefore, on this issue, I remind parents to try to pay attention to the strengths and avoid the weaknesses.

The third point is that the completely unfamiliar aspects of the child must be filled, because this is not to "make up for the short", but to give him the opportunity to contact, to know, to grow. Only by experiencing more and experiencing more can we grow more.

Q: Many parents feel that the holiday is an opportunity to "overtake on a curve", and the "cramming" summer vacation for their children is actually out of this fear of "being left behind" and "being overtaken".

Chen Zhiwen: I strongly disagree with the phrase "overtaking on curves", its subtext is "learn in advance". In my opinion, regardless of the high school entrance examination or the college entrance examination, there is actually not much difficulty, especially like the high school entrance examination, which is now completely de-difficult, everyone is approaching the full score, and "overtaking" is meaningless. The college entrance examination is no matter how much it is exceeded, because the college entrance examination pays special attention to the degree of differentiation. Tang Shangjun in Guangxi took the college entrance examination for 15 years, and in the end his score has been hovering at that level, so even if he took the college entrance examination at the age of 15 and made up for 14 years, the first two years improved greatly, but in the end it stayed at this level. One is because that training works, but he's already at his ceiling. Second, 15 years ago, the university recruited very few students, and he has made up for it now, recruiting more and more students, so it does not mean that he must be progressing, because the enrollment is large. From this point of view, I think that there is no absolute effect of make-up classes, and it is more about solving anxiety.

When everyone has a diploma, it must be something other than a diploma. So at this time, if we want to "overtake in a corner", we should consider surpassing something other than the diploma.

For example, when an employer goes to recruit people, the interview process not only looks at what you will do, but also looks at whether you are a good person to use, such as cooperation and cooperation with people. Nowadays, on the one hand, it is difficult to find employment, on the other hand, employers generally complain that they cannot recruit people, because many people have absolute ability, but "it is not easy to use". Salary cuts and layoffs like the so-called 35-year-old midlife crisis of Internet giants are actually not just mid-life crises. After writing code for more than ten years or a code farmer, what does it mean? Really good people may have moved to product manager or higher management positions early, so maybe we are missing something in some way. Some good people, even if they encounter structural layoffs, will quickly find new opportunities and quickly return to work.

Q: From an economic point of view, will parents have a high return on their children's investment in education? What is the investment in science in education?

Liang Jie: First of all, the interesting thing about education investment is that it has a long return period, unlike stock funds, which can see returns in one or two years. The investment in education has not paid off in the first ten years, and now basically children have to go to graduate school or even doctoral studies to come out to work, and they are already 25 or 28. In such a long period of time, the whole world may change drastically, China is completely different now than it was twenty years ago, who can predict what will happen in twenty years? So whether investors can take a long-term view is a very critical and important question.

The second is that the return on education is not directly related to the investment. It is not necessarily that you spend more money on a child, for example, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, you will definitely be able to smash him into Qingbei. Qingbei needs children to have talent, enthusiasm for learning and other aspects, which can not be smashed simply by throwing money.

And even if the child goes to Qingbei, he may not be able to have a high salary after graduation. After graduating from any school, there is a chance that you will not find a job. It can be said that the average income and expected income of graduates in Qingbei are significantly higher than those of the two schools, which is statistically certain. But if you randomly draw a Qingbei student and a second-book student to compare, the income of the two of them is not necessarily higher than that of Qingbei students.

The two uncertainties further magnify the uncertainty of the return on education investment indefinitely. Therefore, for parents, it is necessary to be relatively rational and try to create a good environment for their children when possible, but do not feel that this is like buying stocks and buying funds, there must be a return on investment.

Finally, whether a child can get into a good school and get a well-paid, socially beneficial job is also closely related to his other abilities. Learning is only one part of the ability, and other parts, such as dealing with others and socializing ability, all of which can not be solved simply by investing money. Therefore, parents should be rational about their children's investment, and do not think that the more money they throw, the higher the return.

Chen Zhiwen: In the issue of nurturing or raising children, in fact, to some extent, it is a social responsibility, rather than a reward. We are doing a responsibility for the society, for the country and even as small as a family, it cannot use economics to see the return on investment, if you take the return on investment in economics, most parents are doing loss-making transactions. Raising children is a very complex issue, parents invest not only money, but also a lot more important than money, such as your energy, time, emotions... For example, children are sick than adults are more anxious for parents, especially when children are young, parents are very anxious when they are sick, so it is not simply a matter of money to invest in raising children.

Guests of this issue:

Fang Ling|Roundtable host, lecturer of science popularization of the Chinese Psychological Society

Chen Zhiwen丨Editor-in-Chief of China Education Online

Liang Jie丨Economist, currently teaches at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Finishing: Zheng Xiao

Reviewed: Cai Juan