Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable, I'm Yong Honglin joined by Lai Ming and Yu Shen.
Guess what? On top of the usual summer and winter holidays here in China, some kids are getting spring and autumn breaks too.
No wonder even some parents want to re -enroll themselves.
What do you think, a good idea or a bit too much fun for the kids?
Let's dive right in.
Tell us a little bit about exactly what kind of spring -autumn breaks are, exactly what are we talking about here?
Well, nowadays there's been several articles online discussing this new policy in Hangzhou, the city of Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province, if I'm correct.
and this policy that grants spring and autumn breaks to primary and secondary school students, which is, surprisingly, a practice initiated ever since 2004.
Not really new. 20 years ago, yeah.
Gradually, this policy has been designed to alleviate academic pressure, promote experimental learning, and also experiential learning and strengthen family bonds for those young kids to not only spend all of their day in school but also go out a little bit.
So we say Spring and Autumn Break.
How long are these breaks?
Well, over the years this policy is practiced in Hangzhou right now.
It's basically the Spring Break typically scheduled at the end of April to coincide with the May Day holiday so that the May Day holiday is prolonged a little bit, and Autumn Break usually starts around late September to align with the National Day holiday.
How long is the spring break?
Because I know in a lot of countries, they do really have spring breaks.
We know in Japan spring break occur from late March to early April as well, marking the end of the academic year and it starts a new one.
And in South Korea, we also see that it's around a one week, it's a one week break.
In Germany is around two weeks or well actually a semester, universities have a semester break of five to eight weeks around March which is their spring break, but this is a really long spring break.
It's more like a spring holiday, like our summer holiday, because our summer holidays here in China last around two months, and the winter holiday lasts around one month.
So those are really long holidays.
And in Netherlands, we see a week -long spring break.
In Portugal, So the whole spring break is usually two weeks long, but how about in China?
So are we talking about a two week, one week break on top of the five day national holiday of a worker's day?
Not necessarily. I mean, depending on where you're talking about, for instance, in Hubei province on On March 18th, there was the notice describing their latest policy about spring break and their plan is to add two extra days in holidays and combine them with the cingming or tomb sweeping day holiday.
So the children might get five day break consecutively and this is for primary and middle schools students and then whereas in Hangzhou, like YuXian mentioned earlier, they have they have a holiday that can be added to the May Day holiday which can last for about nine days.
Yeah depending on the district.
So it really depends on where you're talking about.
But in general, it's not long holidays like two weeks or a one -week holiday on top of the existing holiday.
It's more like it's really just a break.
It's a longer break.
Sometimes schools even enroll that break with social activities where the school is the host and they bring students out from the classroom into say natural world or do some voluntary work in the community locally.
So that's all depending on the school where they are in the district and also that local say policies on how to implement this new policy.
Since we're talking about this break, let's focus on the cities or districts that are really having spring breaks, for instance this year.
What are the main reasons?
Why are they granting more holidays for students?
They already have summer holidays and winter holidays.
It's much better than my life, so how come they're having more holidays?
This is according to some municipal education bureau leaders in Hangzhou that they point that traditional long spring and autumn semesters always left students physically and mentally exhausted in some way, and on top of that, the spring and autumn period are critical growth periods for adolescents when sufficient sleep is essential for them, and also it's a good time for them to just not stay in classrooms, go out, experience the world.
So that's one big reason to kind of encourage the students to rest better and yeah, interact more with their own family and go out.
Just go out. Right?
Yeah, it's a period of time when the season is good, the weather is fine and people are longing to travel and to see, to get close to nature.
And also, it's a period of time when the daylight, the length of daylight is adjusting.
You have winter where The daytime is really short whereas in summertime it's long, but spring and autumn as things are growing, the length of the daylight is also adjusting.
And people tend to get a little fatigued in Chinese, so you tend to get very sleepy and dozy and fatigued in spring and autumn seasons.
I think I'm just being jealous that I do not get to enjoy the spring breaks.
It's not that. I do not understand the consideration behind it, because definitely, it's something nice having around nine days or around five days during beautiful springtime, there are many things that can be done using this special or this short break.
Since we're talking about the beautiful weather, actually a lot of parents are taking their kids to travel the country a little bit because this is much better time than peak season when it comes to tourism peaks, having summer holidays when it gets too hot?
and also the national holidays.
Because the entire country gets to enjoy the national holidays, meaning that the traffic would be less preferable.
The scenic spot would be full of people and kids, they're kids.
They're entitled to enjoy life a bit more in their early days.
So having a spring break would allow them to travel around with the family.
and another very interesting example I found is also in Hubei province.
It's in the countryside.
Here people or students would get the chance to engage in a little bit of family farming work, agricultural labor.
That's nice. Yes, helping their parents a little bit and also getting some family time.
According to Lee Chuan City, over the 130 compulsory schools around 91 ,000 students, 90 % of them have engaged themselves in some housework and 70 % have experienced a little bit of agricultural production activities, which is kind of nice, as well.
Yeah, it's a season for planning.
But what are some reactions here from the parents, from the students, from the schools?
Are we all loving it or we're not all in agreement with having spring breaks?
You know, some parents have actually voiced their concerns, you know, just questioning whether this whole new holiday, say spring break and autumn break system, is going to affect the student's academic performance.
And according to the expert, in this case Chu Zhao Hui, who is a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, this does not need to concern parents.
Parents out there, this does not necessarily affect the student's academic performance because he pointed out that the quality of learning depends more on the student's engagement and mental state than on the number of hours they're spent studying.
So in general, an active self -motivated learning is far more effective than passive just rotated instruction when you know the young person is all gathered together and say after school classes during the holiday you know that's mostly recalling from my childhood when during holidays even though it's called holiday we are piled up.
You are still studying That's why you're so good now.
Oh my goodness, you sound like my mom.
But, thanks, I accept that And is Mr Chu suggesting that by giving children and students spring and autumn breaks, somehow the students will become more motivated than they already are?
I love the fact that, actually they say that motivated you said?
I think so. I think so too.
If I am the kid who is constantly having breaks and holidays, just imagine that.
Imagine going out in the nature and exercising or interacting with my peers as a way of learning, as a way of imagining this abstract idea of this, the world is a classroom kind of.
Okay, the world is a classroom, then of course I'm motivated.
Does the classroom also have a teacher so that I do not have to worry about my kids if I cannot take a spring break and my kid is enjoying one?
In some cases, the schools do offer the service to take care of the children if students, if their parents are somehow entitled to spring breaks.
So that that's been the case and that in fact that's been practiced and has helped many parents in distress.
For instance, in Samsung district in Hangzhou, that's what's been what they've been doing and yes, some parents do share the concern.
If the children are giving the break and if the schools don't take them, how am I supposed to take care of them?
Because honestly, these children are not exactly the age to be traveling alone.
So just because we give them the chance to travel doesn't mean we have the means and the support system to make it happen.
And also like the kind of policies rolled out by the place, Shi and local government in Shui, they wrote out policies encouraging parents to take their annual breaks in these times.
So that they can travel with the kids and they encourage people, especially civil servants who are supposed to be good examples in the society, to take the breaks, enjoy some family time, take their kids to travel to the best classroom with no teachers, according to Yuxin.
One last question, do you think this policy should be promoted to a nation or national level?
Well, it can be recommended but I don't suggest a nationwide holiday, for instance like April the 1st begins the spring break for the entire country and all schools are supposed to take a break.
Then we are essentially looking at a national holiday like the National Day holiday and May Day holiday where the trains and flights will be overbooked and the tourist attractions will be fully crowded and that's is certainly going to be a disaster.
And let's leave the decisions to the local government and to each and every school.
We would want the kids to enjoy a bit more beautiful spring days, but let them enjoy the days in different days.
You're listening to Roundtable.
Until next time, keep the conversations going and the ideas flowing.
I'm Young Hong Lin with Lai Ming and Yu Chen.
Thank you for listening.
Bye bye.
