No Ha.Ha.

Too bad we can't use emoji's here.

I never did summer school, on principle. If the parents want to refry the kids brains, when they should be cooling for the summer, I didn't want to be a part of it. However, I am sure there are teachers who need the extra money.

I agree children should be able to enjoy their summers given how much pressure they have in school but if they have too much free time you know what they say.

They will develop social skills?

No. To the

contrary. They will be online playing computer games 24/7 or be on the internet not socializing.

While trying to keep the kids competitive among their peers may be the first priority for Chinese parents, I don't think that it's the only motivation to enroll them in summer programs.

Considering that Chinese parents generally do not have summer vacations, I don't know if many families would have resources to supervise their children if they didn't attend these activities monitored by (hopefully) professional educators.

In these circumstances, 24/7 glued to the screen is not the worst that could happen with children in home by themselves.

English training is not the only form of commercial activity that families here can choose from.

I don't know how popular it would be with Chinese parents, if there was equivalent commercial activity to have kids just "enjoy their summers" and "develop social skills" with no additional pressure - other than some adult supervision.

My parents didn't have summer holidays either, at least nowhere near as long as the school holidays. Didn't stop us going to the park and playing football tennis and cricket. And in China the grandparents look after the kids anyway and they're retired. There's really no excuse for all the cramming that goes on in Asia - not just China. It's a type of collective hysteria that ruins kids' lives. And I'm sorry to say that many foreign teachers are complicit in it.

@cloudtrapezer: " in China the grandparents look after the kids anyway"

I'd advice to not generalize that too much.

My observations as a parent in China are that given the economic opportunity to choose between educated caregiver and a grandparent of their own, many Chinese would choose the former even if it didn't come with added competitiveness for the kid.

I know I would, if our son's grandparents were even an option.

Chinese parents in cities are increasingly forward-thinking, and some grandparents are simply not.

Even uneducated grandparents have some wisdom to pass on. And anything that keeps kids out of the classroom is good.