After spending more than one million dollars, my child still can’t go to a good high school

Having a second child helps the first-born child go to a good school?

This is what one of the gods told Zhou Xing. According to the “gods”, most schools prefer second-child families, and he himself really had a baby in the year of his child’s 5th grade, unannounced, and his wife carried the baby to the first child’s The first child’s primary school interview site.

Zhou Xing looked at his daughter’s resume and felt a chill at the bottom of his heart, did his child only deserve to go to a “waist” middle school ranked after 20 in Haidian District?

Zhou Xing is a Beijing parent who could never have imagined that it would be so difficult for his daughter to attend a good middle school. The child in his own eyes has a good personality, is well liked, has won a bunch of awards in equestrian competitions, has a grade 10 flute, has passed the Cambridge English PET (equivalent to college English level 4), is always in the top five in her class, and gets the district’s third best student certificate every year. But because of a famous school point recruitment selection, “school bully” into The “school dregs”.

Zhou Xing sent his child’s resume to the “gods” Parents for guidance, and was immediately thrown a pot of cold water. “No chance. “

In the “gods” to the resume, Beijing children want to go to good schools, such as Haidian District, six small strong – -The NPC Central School, Peking University Central School, Tsinghua Central School, Shougang University Central School, 101 Middle School, Eleven Schools, need to get the four cups of primary and secondary school mathematics – “Yingchun Cup “, “Hua Luo Geng Cup”, the “Hope Cup”, “Go America Cup “of the first prize ten times; English examination CAE (Cambridge Advanced Certificate in English level); calligraphy first prize; or participated in the NPC Central School early training into the camp ……

If Time was turned back, Zhou Xing would not let his children learn equestrian. more than 1 million smashed down, a little splash did not swing up. The school canceled the selection of equestrian specialties near the end of the school year, but also so delayed the examination time, “learning equestrian these 4 years, if you go to participate in a variety of subject competitions, at least seven or eight competition awards when the famous school door knocker. “

He listened to several Haidian district schooling institutions staff said that the competition for elementary school students is very easy, participate in the third prize. Want the first prize is also simple, 30,000 can be bought – input costs than 1 million to learn equestrian much cheaper.

What Zhou regrets is that he thought he would be able to prepare his children for the entrance exams from the 5th grade, but he didn’t expect to be a big step late.

From the objective point of view, Zhou Xing can be called a chicken parent. The child’s kindergarten began to hire English one-on-one tutoring, elementary school in the first grade to learn the flute, the second grade to learn equestrian, the fourth grade on the Olympic remedial classes, the sixth grade and then add essay tutoring. They never let up on their studies after school or on weekends.

It’s no different from most parents in Beijing. “Zhou Xing feels that he is not behind. Until he joined the junior high school promotion group, Zhou Xing was dumbfounded, other parents in their children’s second and third grade to take their children to participate in various subject competitions, hand a few competition awards; “god” is The first thing you need to do is to get ready to have a second child in your child’s 3rd year, which makes Zhou Xing look like a “strange” person, and the Buddhist system is too much.

He rushed to call his sister to remind her to take her 4th grade nephew to the competition before it’s too late, the more certificates the better.

And out of the impact of the Epidemic, the Education Commission suspended offline exams, most students enrolled in the lottery, some prestigious schools to increase the point recruitment link to recruit top students. The former rely on Life no way to compete, the latter can make parents across Beijing kill the red.

Some parents told Zhou Xing, a junior high school, parents and children have to take off a layer of skin.

At the beginning of the month, I heard that extracurricular training in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, Haidian District and other areas should be suspended, Zhou Xing hands up in favor, “all stop only good. Although his children are stuck in the last 2 months of school, language, mathematics and English are in extracurricular tuition, but for extracurricular training, his heart is extremely reluctant, “all forced by the environment. Not to make up is not normal. “

1

“Riding a horse is hard to get down. In retrospect, Zhou Xing let his daughter learn equestrian, is a little planted himself into the pit.

Received a sales call from the equestrian club sales, Zhou Xing did not feel how expensive equestrian, a lesson 120 yuan, 100 lessons can play half a year, much cheaper than hiring private tutors to teach children to learn swimming, learning piano.

When the child finished 3 lessons and learned to ride a horse in a circle, light and fast stride and cross the bar, the salesperson revealed to Zhou Xing that the child had a talent for riding horses and could get into a certain high school – a top secondary school in Beijing – which opened its equestrian program in 2010 and was the first in the country. The first one in China.

The salesman told Zhou that all the equestrian students in this school were trained by their club, and he was confident that the child could get in.

“Unexpected surprise. “Zhou Xing first time on the phone to check the school’s official website information, according to the school requirements, to equestrian special admission to a high school, either in the specified time to complete the 60-90 cm height 12 lane race, or in the national and above equestrian competition to obtain the top six accomplishments. “It’s not a difficult task. “Zhou Xing is confident.

He specially mapped out the surrounding environment and found that there are relatively few people learning equestrian specialties in piano and painting, and the competitive pressure is not as strong, “The child can play and help with further education. Simply earned. “

The child is also competitive, 100 horse riding lessons, repeatedly practice sitting up, correct sitting posture, body often bruises a piece of purple, but never complained of pain. The child never complained of pain. When he saw that his riding partner had broken bones and damaged his internal organs and withdrew from practice, he never flinched. Six months later to play the club friendly competition, she was the youngest among the 69 participants, and finally got third place, waving the big red packet awarded by the club to Zhou Xing, excited all afternoon.

In the red packet was 240 yuan of prize money, even though the entry fee alone for the match was 800 yuan. At least get back the money, Zhou Xing optimistic estimate, let the child learn equestrian specialty, reliable. He turned around and enrolled his child in 300 more lessons.

The official preparation for the competition became the beginning of the Zhou Family burning money. 4 years down the line, according to Zhou’s observation, only two kinds of people can persist in the equestrian competition field, one is particularly rich rich people. The second is not willing to give up the middle-class families, “too much input costs, once you stop, the money spent in front is equal to the water, you can only grit your teeth and hold on. “And the latter often do not come out well.

After entering the pit, Zhou Xing realized only after the fact that the reason why equestrian is known as a noble sport, the game of good results built on: seven points of horse, two points of people, one point of luck. “The technology is good again, did not touch the qualified horse are in vain. “Domestic horses are generally less capable of racing than European warmbloods, and European domesticated racehorses, the better the results, the more expensive, the price is usually in the hundreds of thousands, millions of levels or more. Equestrian players have to escalate according to the difficulty of the game, constantly changing horses, burning down is a bottomless pit.

Zhou calculated an account, Beijing to raise horses to send fees, conditioning fees, additives, nail hoof, thwarting teeth, vaccination, deworming and other costs of at least 150,000 per year, plus each game registration fees, coaching fees, stable fees, insurance, horse transport fees, but also to tolerate the coach blatantly eat kickbacks, originally entrusted to European friends to help, 400,000 can buy two horses, the results in the operation of the coach, the same two horses were raised to more than 600,000. The coach has to nod to the smallest selection of harnesses. “Otherwise the coach has 100 ways to make you can not ride the horse. “

“Survive the promotion on the line. “Zhou Xing comforted himself. From the child 8 years old to learn to ride a horse, Zhou Xing rain or shine, every day at 3:30 pm to pick up the child from school, riding a motorcycle to take the child to the horse farm practice 2 hours, holiday practice every day, almost every month will participate in the competition brush awards.

Although every time he asked for time off from school, the teacher seemed reluctant. Other children take time off to compete in Olympiads, badminton, orienteering, etc., the principal will praise them in front of the whole school. When her own child won first prize in equestrian, the teacher would not ask one more question.

The good news is that the child successfully passed the 60-90 cm height 12-way competition in 4th grade to meet the admission requirements and half a foot in the school door. The same year, he heard on the parent help forum school in a club test, Zhou Xing stood outside the fence all morning to observe, the more you look at the more happy, this group of sixth graders are not yet their own children will ride horses, “stable. “

Where he could have imagined that a year later, a middle school enrollment information, about the equestrian column became blank – the Education Commission regulations, no longer enrolled in equestrian special students.

The computer screen of every word, Zhou Xing know, but the brain has no way to understand. 3 years of time, energy, more than 1 million payment seems to have become a “joke”. In addition to making the child darker and not hunchbacked, it did not bring any benefit to further education.

The most important thing is to get into the right place. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The child’s performance has always been in the top five in the class, may be able to enter a high school.

Since the addition of the parents group, Zhou Xing the whole person but like a deflated ball, “into the famous school can not keep up, not more damage to the child’s self-confidence? “

2

The parents’ group is like a smaller version of “Beijing Fold”. The same life in Beijing, but the parent group can be alienated into a multi-dimensional parallel space, relying on the resume to divide the class, and easily classify the child’s IQ, potential, and future into three, six, nine, and so on.

Unfortunately, Zhou Xing’s daughter is at the bottom of the contempt chain. She has learned OU and English, but she has not taken the exam, and instead of putting her mind on the four cups, she is actually wasting time on non-mainstream stuff like equestrian studies. “Summed up in one sentence, the child learned the OU without certification, is waste. “

In the workplace for so many years, Zhou Xing can see the set-up of the group, “deliberately selling anxiety. “

He was in more than 20 primary school promotion group, parents are divided into two factions. The active speakers are cattle parents, after sharing the importance of cramming classes, buying school houses and examinations, let other parents report their children’s grade, respectively, pulling the group to open a lecture.

The other side is the Puhua parents, no courage to speak, the potential group does not speak, see the lecture sent to the group QR code to sweep, see the experience to learn, the more understanding the results, the more anxiety. “Parent groups are the Home base of training courses. How often do ordinary parents get lectures. The purpose is to allow parents to enroll their children in tutoring classes and examinations. “

Eyes look bright, Zhou Xing’s body is honest. “The mainstream promotion to look at the certificate, do not follow the crowd is equal to delay the child. “

The 2020 epidemic has catalyzed anxiety among Beijing parents. Selection by examination can still score high then win, but the next 2 years are not organized offline examinations, shaking the number can not be controlled, parents can only work on the point recruitment. Data show that Beijing’s 2020-2021 school year, 134,000 elementary school graduates in 16 districts, prestigious schools point recruitment only pick a few thousand top students, one in a thousand, award-winning certificate is hard currency, can help schools the most intuitive, simple understanding of student ability.

The previous three years, Zhou Xing’s mind was on equestrian specialties, missed the Cambridge English exams and the Olympiad competition, and wanted to get ahead later. For this reason he even wanted to take some special means.

He was told by a consulting agency in Haidian that a lot of competition certificates are paid for, including the “Four Cups” and other competitions, participants are proportionally divided into prizes, 30% of the first prize, 30% of the second prize, the rest are all third prize. 30% of the first prize, 30% of the second prize, the rest are all third prize, test scores of zero also have third prize.

Zhou Xing discussed with his wife, I’m afraid it’s too late to get a certificate, a certificate of 10,000 yuan can be considered. A week later, Zhou received several phone calls to persuade him, “to get the second and third prize is meaningless, to get the first prize, 30,000 yuan. “

Zhou line for this is a little skeptical, “we all spend money to buy the first prize, what value can have? “

“The school will not teach, the college entrance examination will not test, life can not be used, the Ao Dai is purely used to deal with further education. “OU class teacher with Zhou Xing stressed the value of OU.

Unfortunately, Zhou Xing did not grab the opportunity. The child has just enrolled in OU, early 2019, the “four cups” three discontinued, one only for high school students.

After the discontinuation of the AoM, the Cambridge English certificate has become the meat and potatoes. A few days ago, watching CCTV financial news, parents in first-tier cities competed for the opportunity to take the Cambridge English exam, and had to pay a high price for a place.

Zhou Xing felt relieved and sad. The reason for this is that he and his child worked well together and were unable to get a place in Beijing, but he was able to get the opportunity to take the exam in Cangzhou twice, and his child did not waste the opportunity to take the KET and PET exams consecutively.

The sad thing is that time waits for no one. If you hadn’t gone to learn equestrian, take the exam before it’s too late, “at least you can get to FCE (equivalent to college level 6). “The Gold content is a big step higher than PET.

3

Tossed almost 2 years, near the juncture of further education, Zhou Xing and his wife to discuss, decided to give up the point recruitment.

“To have self-awareness. “The child’s hands a certificate that can fight are not. The first two years, PET is still the meat and potatoes, now the child’s English level at least FCE, or even CAE. children just passed PET, ten PET pile up than others CAE.

Even if you pass the resume, you and your wife have an ordinary bachelor’s degree, an ordinary middle-class family, and no second child, so there is no way to give your child extra points in the interview.

Zhou Xing suspected that he was “depressed”, and every day in the worry and loss. He is worried that if he is lucky enough to get a place in a prestigious school, his child will not be able to keep up with the progress of his classmates and will not be able to cope with the pressure; he is also worried that if he is unlucky, he will only be able to go to an ordinary secondary school, but his child will be able to get into the top 20 of the year with his strength and will be able to enter the experimental class?

Zhou Xing can not understand, compulsory education stage, why parents have to give their children so much pressure? The poor family’s small rice and rifle, and the rich family’s big rocket how to compare? Can children learn to use their skills by participating in extracurricular competitions?

But there is no way to let the children receive Western education, and it is even more impossible.

Zhou and his wife do outbound travel business, from the child’s kindergarten, the couple took the child to travel abroad every year, deliberately to understand the situation of foreign school admission.

If only to mix education, foreign diplomas have lost their advantages in the country. A little ambition to go to the Ivy League is more difficult than taking the Qingbei exam in Beijing. It is better to go to an ordinary one in Beijing – in the eyes of candidates outside Beijing, Beijingers who have been brought up in Beijing’s educational environment, it is not easy to get into one?

Every time I see people flirting online, Zhou Xing can’t help but fight back: “prejudice. “

In other words, 50 percent of Beijing kids can’t go to a regular high school and have to go to a junior college or vocational high school. In previous years, parents could send their children abroad for gold-plating for their future. In the shadow of the epidemic, the number of people taking the middle school exam in Chaoyang District alone in 2021 is 70% higher than last year, and the acceptance rate for this year’s middle school exam may be the lowest ever, and there will be no repeating opportunities for the junior high school. “Secondary school exams can not get into ordinary high school, let alone 211, 985, a may be a luxury. All along, the probability of local candidates in Beijing to get into 985, 211 is less than thirty percent. “

The last month left, the primary school will be settled. Zhou decided to enroll his child in an essay tutoring class, a surprise sprint for a good score in the placement test.

He always remembered to give the child loose springs. He didn’t let the child give up horseback riding and give up competing, even though it meant burning at least another 20,000 a month, and once secondary school academics got heavier later in the year, equestrianism would stop at any time, and the initial investment was all zero. “Give the child an emotional outlet. “Zhou Xing said.

Over the past six months, he occasionally gets chills down his back. Last September, the sixth grade just started, the child’s classmates late to school, and later heard that because of the pressure to advance, the classmates had depression and self-harm behavior.

He is willing to accept his child’s mediocre life, than to get ahead, he just want his child to grow old safely.

(Zhou Xing is a pseudonym)