Chinese teacher takes school dropout to his mother’s construction site to learn value of education

Student who discontinued studies over addiction to mobile games plans to return to school

Chinese teacher praised online for ‘useful strategy’ to reform school dropout (Weibo)

A Chinese teacher convinced a school dropout to continue his education by taking the 12-year-old to the construction site where his mother worked as a manual labourer.

The student, described only by his surname Yang, reportedly dropped out of school 20 days ago over his addiction to internet mobile games, according to reports.

It was then that his teacher decided to intervene to teach him the value of an education.

The teacher explained his unorthodox method to the mainland news platform Xibu Juece and said: “When Yang’s mother said she earned around 100 yuan (US$15) a day, Yang replied that ‘was easy peasy’.”

So he decided to bring Yang to the site where his mother worked as a manual labourer and teach him the importance of a quality education for a comfortable life.

On the day of Yang’s trip to the construction site, his teacher woke up him at 4am and made him work a full day at the site, as his mother did every day.

Now, Yang plans to return to school on Monday (6 June) and “work hard” to “repay” his mother for her hard labour.

“I’ve learned how hard my mum is working to earn a living,” he was quoted as saying.

Internet users praised the teacher for his dedication to his students, with one person calling the immersive, if harsh, field trip a “useful strategy for teaching kids”.

Earlier this year, a father from central China’s Hubei province used a similar strategy to teach his 11-year-old daughter the value of education, by making her dig for lotus by hand for four hours under the sun.