By Zhao Wen (
Shanghai Daily) 08:31, September 09, 2013
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Comments twitter facebook Sina Microblog reddit In the West, an “apple for the teacher” was once the epitome for expressing gratitude andrespect for the work of classroom instructors.
But it’s more than simple apples that mark Chinese Teachers’ Day, which falls tomorrow.The day has evolved into a big gift-buying event for parents trying to curry favor for theirchildren in the classroom.
The gifts may vary from cash and prepaid shopping cards to luxury items such as designerpurses, perfume and cosmetics. In an environment when the central government is waginga campaign against public ostentation, Teachers’ Day gift-giving is coming under renewedscrutiny.
Many countries in the world have days honoring teachers. The Chinese government firstdesignated September 10 as Teachers’ Day in 1985 to give recognition to the hard workand dedication of a relatively low-paid profession. It was meant as a symbolic day but hasall too often turned into a commercial one.
Perhaps to return to the original meaning of the day, the State Council, China’s Cabinet,last week released a public consultation paper about moving Teachers’ Day to September28, to coincide with the birthday of Confucius, the ancient scholar celebrated for hiscommitment to education.
But would moving the date have any effect on the gift-giving that seems to be souring thewhole point of the day?
Shanghai Daily talked to 20 parents whose children are in either local kindergartens orprimary schools and asked them about gifts for teachers.
Twelve parents said they will not give material gifts to teachers but will encourage theirchildren to make their own little gifts for them instead. Eight parents said they will givemooncake coupons, prepaid cards and small luxury gifts to teachers, without letting theirchildren know.
“We decided to give mooncake coupons because the Mid-Autumn Festival is just aroundthe corner and we don’t want to have to send gifts twice for two festivals,” said Du Xiping,whose daughter is in a kindergarten in the Minhang District.
Du said sending a gift expresses their gratitude for a teacher’s dedication in taking care ofchildren. Each mooncake coupon has a bar value of only 88 yuan (US$14.37), so Du saidshe will send two coupons each to the two teachers in her daughter’s class.
Her daughter won’t be told about the gift, Du added, because “these are adult matters.”
Teachers face dilemma
Cai Caizi, mother of a four-year-old, is planning to give a Coach purse and some Diorlipstick to her daughter’s kindergarten teacher in Songjiang District. She said she boughtthe gifts before she went on a vacation to Malaysia in July.
Cai said her daughter loves dancing but wasn’t good enough to perform. The teacherworked with her daughter, heaping praise and encouragement on her, until she advancedto performance level. That has made her daughter very happy, Cai said.
“My daughter is shy and introverted,” Cai said. “But once she saw how much the teacherliked her, she became more confident and opened up. I think the gifts are very worthwhilein helping the character development of my daughter.”
To avoid drawing attention from other teachers, Cai packed the gifts and sent them to theteacher by delivery service to look like goods ordered online.
The gifts put many teachers in a quandary. It’s hard to reject presents from warm-heartedparents but equally embarrassing if they appear too extravagant.
Kang Nini, a primary teacher in Pudong, said she was quite red-faced once when a parentinsisted she accept a prepaid card in front of other parents. Though Kang didn’t accept thecard, she said she feared the incident would leave the impression that she had acceptedgifts less publicly bestowed in the past.
Shui Bing, a first-grade teacher at Yangpu Primary School, said some enterprising parentsfind out teachers’ home addresses and send the gifts directly to their homes.
Pressure to give gifts plays on parent’s fears that their children might receive lessattention if they don’t mark Teachers’ Day. They are afraid that children whose parents dogive gifts will get the prized front row seats in class, will be chosen for class leadershippositions and awards, and will get the first crack at participating in educationalcompetitions.
The rise of social networking has only made things worse, with some parents comparingonline the gifts they send to teachers.
Tough to break custom
To curb a custom spiraling out of control, the Shanghai Education Commission has orderedthe city’s 31,289 teachers to refuse cash and other gifts from students and parents andwarned violators could be disqualified from teaching.
Some schools issued “no gift” notices before Teachers’ Day to advise parents againstsending any kind of gifts, including greeting cards and flowers. School authorities said thecustom of gift-giving is particularly unfair for migrant children, whose parents are too poorto afford presents.
However, as long as parents believe some teachers are accepting gifts and letting theminfluence how they treat students, it’s a hard custom to break.
Some parents have suggested the government follow the example of Hong Kong, whereteachers are subject to the same anti-bribery regulations as other public servants.Teachers who accept gifts there can be fined or even jailed if convicted of bribery.
Kang said she doesn’t mind small homemade gifts from students, such as hand-drawncards, little pencil jars or a small plant from home. Shui said the only thing she wants areletters from her former primary school students, letting her know how they are doing inmiddle school.
Shui said: “I just want parents to know that we treat each student equally and fairly, lovethem, care for them and help them without any discrimination.”
（Editor：ChenLidan、Gao Yinan）
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