North American tutors lament loss of cultural exchange amid China’s education crackdown
- Online foreign-language tutors and teaching firms have long tapped into a vast demand for English in China
- But with demand for English tutoring remaining strong, some say there is an emerging underground market
Every morning, Sam Josti logged on from her US home to teach children halfway around the world, just one of thousands of foreign language tutors giving Chinese students a rare window into Western culture.
But tutors like Massachusetts-based Josti have taken a sharp financial hit after Beijing’s strict crackdown on extracurricular classes pulled down the blinds over the world outside for Chinese students.
Foreign-language teaching firms had long tapped into a vast demand for English in China, where armies of parents are eager to get their kids ahead in a cutthroat education system in which a single exam can determine a life’s trajectory.
That came to a crashing halt in August when Beijing announced education reforms that banned tutoring firms from hiring overseas teachers.
The rules – which also forced tutoring platforms to turn their businesses non-profit and barred some classes during weekends and holidays – are framed by Beijing as necessary to alleviate stress on overworked students and reduce education costs.
Critics say they are also cutting off Chinese children from outside influences, as an increasingly nationalistic Beijing moves to reassert socialist ideology in the country’s classrooms.
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Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank
“I understand wanting to take pressure off parents … but not why it’s been so sudden and harsh,” said 44-year-old Josti, a former primary schoolteacher who switched to full-time online tutoring in 2017.