Physical education homework becomes a mere formality; parents complain of added burden

   Starting January 1 this year, Haidian District in Beijing began assigning daily physical education homework to all 110,000 elementary school students in the area. While the move has been welcomed by most parents, it has also drawn skepticism from others. Reporters learned in interviews that some parents suspect "schools are shifting their own responsibility for physical education onto families," while others complain "the family burden has just gotten heavier."

   Ma Shouliang, director of the Physical Health Center at the Haidian District Education Commission in Beijing, had anticipated such reactions. "For a long time, many parents have believed that cultivating their children’s interest and habits in sports is solely the school’s responsibility—that’s a one-sided view. In reality, getting children to love sports requires cooperation among schools, families, and society," Ma said. "We are now promoting the Sunshine Sports campaign, where students exercise for one hour at school each day, but one hour is not enough for teenagers. Children still need time for physical activity after returning home from school."

   Ms. Li’s son is in the fourth grade at an elementary school in Haidian District, Beijing. "Late last month, I heard that starting this January, teachers would be assigning PE homework," Ms. Li said. While supportive, she also had some concerns. "My biggest worry is that the school is passing on what it should be doing to families, yet the educational burden on families is already very heavy."

   Ms. Li’s son attends two math and two English tutoring sessions every week outside of school. Recently, she signed him up for an essay writing class to attend during the winter break. Ms. Li said that ever since her son started elementary school, her free time has almost entirely been spent on him. "Taking my son to various tutoring classes, constantly exchanging class information with other parents nearby—but the more we study, the more uncertain I feel, and the more I think there’s even more that needs to be learned." Ms. Li said, "Actually, what we hope most is that our child can complete their schoolwork at school and smoothly get into their ideal school. As for the reality of having to send our child to tutoring classes, I think many parents have their own grievances and are dissatisfied with the strange phenomenon of 'the more we reduce the academic burden, the heavier the family burden becomes.' So whenever the school announces a new initiative, the first reaction of parents is often, 'What new responsibility is the school pushing onto us?'"

   Ms. Li’s concerns are not uncommon among parents. To these parents, Ma Shouliang explained, "Assigning PE homework to children is absolutely not about shifting the school’s physical education teaching responsibilities to families. The number of PE classes students have at school and the amount of physical activity they participate in will not be reduced in any way. Our starting point is that we hope parents consciously encourage their children to engage in appropriate physical exercise after returning home from school."

   Ma Shouliang said that according to relevant surveys, most urban children nowadays engage in almost no physical activity after returning home from school. "Doing homework, watching TV, playing on the computer—once children get home, they don’t go outside. This kind of lifestyle is clearly very detrimental to improving students’ physical fitness and developing their exercise habits, but many parents haven’t realized this. They pay more attention to their children’s academic performance and rarely consider whether their children are getting enough exercise."

   "The introduction of PE homework is at least a reminder to parents that after completing homework in subjects like Chinese and math, don’t forget there’s also the ‘exercise’ homework. Parents need to supervise their children in completing it, because the final step is for parents to sign off on it," Ma Shouliang said. "This process is not meant to add to the educational burden on parents, but rather to encourage, motivate, and lead children to engage in appropriate exercise after returning home. After all, children spend more time at home than at school, and fostering an interest in sports among children requires an indispensable family atmosphere."

   More than ten simple and easy physical activities such as sit-ups, push-ups, and jump rope are part of the PE homework assigned in Haidian District, Beijing. Parents can help their children choose four of them, and completing the PE homework takes about 30 minutes. After finishing, parents sign off and upload the data to a dedicated website. "This is just a formal version of PE homework," Ma Shouliang explained. "For those children who still engage in a lot of sports activities after school, parents don’t need to push them to complete it, because their exercise needs are already met. Therefore, we do not rigidly require that every student must complete PE homework; parents can make choices based on their actual situation."

   PE homework is not linked to any academic achievements such as college admissions or test scores. Ma Shouliang hopes that by avoiding utilitarian goals, parents can truly understand the meaning of PE homework, and that it will also minimize the chances of students cheating when completing it.

   But in the current educational environment, utilitarian goals such as college admissions and test scores have become the "baton" controlling all teaching activities. Can a type of "homework" that offers no help with college admissions or test scores receive full support from parents?

   "Nowadays, schools, parents, and society are paying more and more attention to students’ physical health, and many parents are more concerned about their children’s physical fitness than before. But there are still plenty of parents who only care about academic performance and ignore their children’s sports activities. From this perspective, it’s really hard to say how effective PE homework will be," Wei Bo, a PE teacher at Qinghe No. 4 Primary School in Haidian District, Beijing, told reporters.

   Wei Bo’s concerns are well-founded. "Our school tried assigning PE homework to students several years ago, but the results weren’t very good. After the PE homework was assigned, quite a few children didn’t actually complete it, and their parents didn’t take it very seriously either," Wei said.

   Cultivating children’s interest in sports and exercise habits is not just the school’s responsibility—it also requires the cooperation of parents and society. But as long as the "college entrance exam baton" exists, reversing the "exam score first" mindset will be a long journey. "It might be better to first focus on genuinely strengthening school PE classes and activities," several frontline PE teachers told reporters. "For example, increasing the number of PE teachers, improving their treatment, and continuing to raise the number of PE classes offered at schools. Elementary schools should actually have PE class every day. Extracurricular sports activities at schools