虎妈猫爸 (Question set #1)

[Sandlin]

Hi.  Having watch several episodes of 虎妈猫爸, I want to ask a few questions about city life.  I hope people can share some insights as to primary school education in a metropolis like Beijing.    I labeled #1 because I may have more questions in the future. 

 

1. The main character family, who seems fairly well-off by any standards, essentially homeschool their daughter 茜茜 from age 6-7 because they can't enroll her into their top choice for elementary school without first fulfilling a district residency requirement first. My q is:  I believe homeschooling is illegal in China, but without much enforcement.  Could a family truly homeschool a child in the capital during ages covered by compulsory education without getting into trouble?  This begs the question of which years are considered compulsory edu.

 

2. Another question is the mother's extreme and serial bitterness over the news of a young and inexperienced 1st grade teacher （赵老师）assigned to 茜茜's class . Her level of consternation and ensuing beratement of 赵老师 are completely over the top, compared to many other conflicts which I assume were presented with some exaggeration for entertainment value in other episodes.  (examples: workplace politics and backstabbing, shiftless and unemployed brother-in-law moving in, kept-woman status of a wealthy sister-in-law, country bumpkins vs. sophisticated metropolitans, etc)  Q:  Is this teacher-judging rooted in reality, or was it comedy direction gone wrong?

 

3. Monetary bribery is curiously absent from the series.  What role do you think bribery might have played in getting 茜茜 into the right school, or ensuring the right teacher for a kid?

 

4.  Last, do the portions of food shown for typical home-cooked meals seem about right? Looks small to me.

 

 Thank you for your comments.

 

[Xiao Kui]

The main character family, who seems fairly well-off by any standards, essentially homeschool their daughter 茜茜 from age 6-7 because they can't enroll her into their top choice for elementary school without first fulfilling a district residency requirement first.

 

I didn't think they were homeschooling her - thought she was just being raised by her grandparents while her parents worked. I thought Chinese kids don't start primary school till 6-7 anyway.... I don't recall anything about fulfilling a district residency requirement? I am not quite finished with the episode yet. 

[Sandlin]

 The main character tiger mother, character name: 毕胜男 , quits her managerial job in order to stay home and direct 茜茜's "gap year" of homeschooling.  After the family borrowed a lot of money to move to a different Beijing address for which the best school serves as the base school for those residents, school policy changed to require 2 years of residency in order to enroll at the base school.  This meant either send 茜茜 to a mediocre elementary school, thereby quashing 胜男's dream of putting 茜茜 on a path for success, or wait it out for a year and hope for no other policy changes.  After a lot of negotiating over academic deliverables, the mother signs a contract with everyone else describing exactly how she will homeschool 茜茜 for this year, and the non-negotiable aspect of sending 茜茜 to a school no matter what happens after a year. 

 

The above addresses XiaoKui's question. It give away plot though.

[Xiao Kui]

Ok, i didn't get along that far yet - I am halfway through the 2nd episode.  Thanks for recommending this show - I am not in China so I don't know what's available and was looking for something to watch. I really enjoyed the 1st episode. The 2nd one is a little tedious, so i don't know how long it will keep my interest. 

[Sandlin]

Yes, perhaps this series has not reeled in loads of chinese-forums readers as a result.  Indeed the series at least up to the first 18 episodes or so does not have much of a plot apart from 茜茜's schooling.  I like it because I always have a strong clue where the dialogue is supposed to go.  (as a bonus toward dialogue:  Because all of the adult characters lie a lot, you can test your skills to guess what they might say to weasel out of their lies.)

[Xiao Kui]

tiger mom needs to focus on why her kid is such a brat rather than sending her to a top school - nothing likeable about this kid! haha, i know it's just a show!