Just how deep is the dissatisfaction with teachers and the educational system among people in Shenyang was revealed in a recent poll by the Shenyang Municipal Office asking citizens to rate the professional ethics of all 30 municipal departments in Shenyang: Shenyang citizens rated education dead last.

This annual appraisal of professional ethics organized by Shenyang Municipal Office of Reform has been carried out for many years, but is drawing particular attention this year. As a barometer for reflecting the opinions and wishes of the public, it shows that ordinary people are more dissatisfied with corruption in education than they are with corruption in the judiciary.

One of deputies at the Provincial People’s Congress in Liaoning, Feng Youwei, said that the city should rectify unhealthy trends existing in education and provide society and children with a “clean” education environment. Feng added that poll results were unexpected but understandable in that they are consistent with the opinion of those People’s Congress deputies who consider that the professional ethics of teachers in middle and primary schools have deteriorated terribly.

Related departments and people concerned should give much more attention to the unhealthy phenomena in education, Feng said.

The issue of most concern related to professional ethics in education is the irregular and illegal admission fees some primary and middle schools charge, a practice that has allowed some education departments to amass fortunes.

According to the Municipal Standards Bureau of Shenyang, every new recruited student should be charged a 9000 yuan (US$1087) fee. However, this price is often ignored by schools that demand exorbitant prices of 20,000 yuan (US$2416), 30,000 yuan (US$3623) or even 50,000 yuan (US$6039). To cover their tracks, some schools accept only deposit books instead of cash, and most of the time do not provide a receipt. Parents who live on set salaries suffer an untold misery from this practice.

According to one parent who was unwilling to give her name, many parents are afraid report the school admission fee malpractice because they don’t want to involve their own children in possible trouble.

The nine-year compulsory education system has been changed into a business activity involving making a profit. Investment in education that should be supported by government is shifted to parents in an underhanded way, causing a huge burden on ordinary families.

Many schools make profits through other irregular fees by concocting various reasons. Courses that should be offered within the planned educational curriculum, for instance, are being conducted as paid courses after school. Statistics show the fee for after school courses of every middle or primary school student is over 100 yuan (US$12) per month. Taking the advantage of their power of administration, education departments also make profits by imposing certain rules. At present, all middle and primary schools in Shenyang are forced wear identical school uniforms. When the new semester begins, it is time for parents to buy school uniforms for their children. However, the uniforms brought back from schools by their children are usually of poor quality, out-of-fashion and unattractive colors. They end up in the closet since most students are unwilling to wear them unless they have to dress them for taking part in the school’s activities.

There are no detailed rules for regulating teachers’ professional ethics. A parent of a primary school student in Shenyang said with indignation, their child was unwilling to go to school on the Teachers’ Day last year because students who sent gifts to the teachers would be favored, while others would receive a cold shoulder. Many parents we talked to agreed, and we can’t help asking why September 10, the Teachers’ Day, a day to show great respect to teachers, would change into a day feared by both students and parents.

Deputies to People’s Congress are demanding that responsible Shenyang education department strengthen their management on teachers and make information channels more accessible to the public. Those teachers who lack professional ethics should be punished severely. In addition, we should increase the transparency in recruitment and fees and establish a supervision system by inviting supervisors from outside school to make basic reforms in the unhealthy trends in the educational system.

(Xinhua News Agency translated by Wang Qian for china.org.cn, March 21, 2002)