Students from a Middle School, experience farming during their labor course. Housework like cooking and washing always ends up at the bottom of many of our to-do lists. Some people even think that it should be taken care of by their parents.
However, these life skills are important and should be taught as part of labor education. On June 3, 2020, the Ministry of Education (MOE) (教育部) gave a revised (修订后的) course for high schools across the county. Labor education, also called education on the hardworking spirit, range from housework to school labor and community voluntary services (社会志愿服务).
"Labor education must be carried out with the aim to develop the view of the world, life and values and develop an interest in doing chores." said Zheng Fuzhi, a Vice-Minister (副部长) of Education.
According to China Youth Daily, the labor course will take six credits—the same as English and physics, Voluntary service, as part of labor education, would take two credits. The MOE also asks schools to make sure 40 hours of voluntary service during the full three school years.
According to Xinhua, adding labor education was out of care that the country's youngsters do too little housework and that they think labor jobs aren't important. Because of a lot of school stress, schools pay more attention to the educational course, and parents sometimes think that housework wastes their kids' time.
According to a survey, primary and middle school students in China only spend 12 minutes a day on chores, compared with 72 minutes in the US, 42 minutes in South Korea and 30 minutes in France.
However, doing housework does not take young people's attention away. Instead, it is necessary for developing a strong working spirit. "The earlier you start, the better..." the writer of How to Raise an Adult said.
