學校放暑假，父母壓力大：“沒有自由的暑假”引發熱議

暑假時節，又到了家長叫苦不迭的時候。興趣班、夏令營、國內研學、海外遊學……賬單動輒上萬的並不少見。到底是爲了投資孩子教育，還是減輕自己的焦慮，各位家長真的想好了嗎？

As children in China look forward to their six-week summer holiday, parents are finding themselves suffering from higher levels of stress and financial strain than they do during the rest of the school year.

就在中國的孩子們期盼時長六週的暑假之際，家長們發現自己的精神和經濟壓力比一學年中任何時候都大。

“No freedom summer holiday” became a trending topic on Weibo, China’s Twitter, in May, as parents began spending much time and money planning their children’s holiday schedule. It was a similar tale last year, when “Having 30,000 yuan monthly salary cannot afford the summer holiday” also went viral online.

當父母們開始花大量時間和金錢規劃孩子的暑假時，“沒有自由的暑假”在今年5月就已成爲微博熱門話題。這與去年情形類似。當時，《月薪三萬，還是撐不起孩子的一個暑假！》在網上引發熱議。

Both trends reflect the anxiety and fear of parents that their children will lag behind other classmates during the summer break. To keep their offspring in study mode, parents try to fill the holiday with different classes and tours, at ever-increasing expense.

這兩種趨勢反映出家長的焦慮和擔心：怕孩子暑假期間落後於其他同學。爲了讓孩子始終處於學習模式，家長試圖用不同課程和出遊填滿假期，花費自然不斷增加。

According to online media platform Sohu News, parents in cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, are most willing to spend on their children’s education during the break.

據搜狐新聞調查，廣州、上海、北京等城市的父母最願意在假期爲孩子的教育花錢。

“I feel much more pressure during the summer holiday than on normal school days since I need to arrange different activities for them [her children],” said Chan Lee, a 40-year-old Guangzhou mother of two primary schoolchildren.

40歲的陳麗（音）來自廣州，有兩個在上小學的子女。她說：“我覺得暑假的壓力比平時上學大得多，因爲我需要爲孩子們安排不同的活動。”

“A study tour costs 35,000 yuan and there are also classes and tutorials which are necessary to apply for,” she said, explaining that, since schools did not assign much summer homework, she sent her children to holiday classes to better prepare them for the next academic year.

“遊學花費3.5萬元，還必須得上輔導班。”她解釋說，學校沒佈置太多暑假作業，她把孩子送到補習班，爲下學年做好更充分的準備。

Sending children on overseas tours has also become an indispensable part of the break, with nearly everyone in Chan’s children’s class joining a summer study tour to experience an overseas educational environment, culture, and language through meeting people, visiting famous universities and sightseeing.

讓孩子到海外遊學，也成爲假期不可或缺的一部分，陳麗孩子所在班級幾乎所有學生都參加了暑假海外遊學，通過與人交流、參觀著名大學和觀光，來體驗國外的教育環境、文化和語言。

indispensable [ɪndɪ'spensəb(ə)l]：adj.不可缺少的；絕對必要的

“You could feel that he had changed a lot after the tour. He was more organised and confident when communicating with others, as he knew more and had more things to share,” she said.

她說：“你可以感覺到他在遊學之後改變了很多。他在與人交流時更有條理，也更自信，因爲他知道的更多，有更多的東西可以分享。”

Cheng Guowei, a representative of a study tour centre based in Shanghai, said parents were concerned about their children’s education.

上海一家遊學機構的代表程國偉（音）表示，家長們很關心孩子的教育。

“Nearly 95 percent of our participants are students, most of them are primary and middle school kids. Yet this market is also very competitive, as there are many similar centres and institutions targeting the parents,” he said.

他說：“近95%的參團者是學生，其中大多是中小學生。市場上有很多類似的遊學機構，以學生家長爲目標客戶，競爭很激烈。”

Cheng said money was a big concern for parents, with most applying for more affordable destinations like Japan or Singapore, rather than European countries. His cheapest Asian tours cost about 10,000 yuan for six to seven days, with trips to English-speaking countries like the United States and Canada priced from 20,000, excluding air fares.

他說，對於家長們來說，錢是個大問題。多數學生申請去日本或新加坡等費用更低的國家遊學，而不是歐洲國家。最便宜的亞洲國家遊學，六七天花費約1萬元，到美國和加拿大等英語國家遊學的價格則是2萬元起步，還不包括機票。

The study tours were not about academic knowledge but broadening horizons, Cheng said.

他說，遊學不是爲了學習知識，而是爲了開拓眼界。

“To be honest, in just two weeks what kind of knowledge can they learn? But kids, of course, like study tours, which must be better than staying at home doing homework or attending classes,” he said.

他說：“說實話，兩週時間能學到什麼？但孩子們當然喜歡遊學，這肯定比呆在家裏做作業或上課外班要好。”

According to the Sohu News survey, when parents are not making travel plans for their children, they are applying for special interest classes and supplementary tutorials to fill in the spare hours of the summer holiday.

據搜狐新聞的調查，如果家長沒給孩子安排旅行計劃，就會給孩子報興趣班和課外輔導班把假期填滿。

On Weibo, a post about “Fight over 7,000 yuan summer supplementary classes” became a hot trend and attracted more than 180 million comments in July, as parents rushed to secure places for their children in the most popular holiday classes.

在微博上，一篇關於“爲花7000元報名暑期補習班打架”的帖子成爲熱議話題，並在7月份收到超過1.8億條評論，家長們爭相爲孩子在最熱門的假期補習班中報名。

Yin Jianli, a writer who specialises in family and education issues, said it was unnecessary to arrange activities for children during the summer holidays.

專門研究家庭和教育問題的作家尹建利表示，沒有必要在暑假期間爲孩子們安排活動。

“Parents are not helping their children, they are just doing it to reduce their own anxiety,” she said.

她說:“父母這樣做不是爲了幫助孩子，而是爲了減輕自己的焦慮。”

Many parents thought they could buy their children a better education, “but actually, a holiday should be a time for rest and play, not study”, she said.

她說，許多家長認爲他們可以爲孩子買到更好的教育，“但實際上，假期應該是休息和玩耍的時間，而不是學習。”