Social media users wrong about Chinese boy ‘forced to do homework’ on subway train
Youngster asked his mother if he could work during the commute so he would have more time for play when he got home
A video of a young Chinese boy doing his homework on a fold-up table while riding a subway train sparked fresh fury online this week as social media users raced to rant about overworked schoolchildren and pushy parents.
“Parents are attaching too much importance to grades and turning their own social pressures on to their kids,” read a post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like blogging service.
“There has been talk about changing our examination-oriented education into a quality-oriented one in the past two decades, but in fact it’s getting worse,” the person continued.
While such comments undoubtedly have a place in the broader debate on the state of China’s education system, it would appear that in this instance they were somewhat inapposite.
A youngster was indeed videoed doing his homework on a Line 8 metro train in Shanghai on Monday evening, as reported by Thepaper.cn on Tuesday.