Children Refuse to Go to School: Parents Expose Bullying in Mainland Chinese Campuses

For years, there have been countless cases of campus bullying in mainland China. Under the distorted education system of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), many children have been unable to cope with the pressure and have resorted to suicide by jumping off buildings. Some parents have even chosen to move to the United States for the future of their children.

Ms. Pu comes from Shenzhen, China, where she worked, got married, and had children. As a parent, her greatest wish was for her child to be happy. However, since her child started elementary school, both she and her child have been subjected to constant campus bullying and various pressures imposed by teachers, leading Ms. Pu to suffer from anxiety at one point.

“Whenever I think about these past events, I feel very distressed, as if there’s a knife in my heart,” Ms. Pu shared. She explained that in Shenzhen, the education system makes everyone believe that first-tier cities are better. However, bullying has been persistent since the first grade, with classmates isolating each other, teachers making children stand on the platform for photos, criticizing them, and even physically assaulting them.

Ms. Pu believes that the most crucial factor in the formation of bullying lies within the school and teachers themselves.

Her son, Xiaorui, was initially a cheerful child who liked to play with classmates. However, whenever a teacher scolded him, classmates would start teasing him. Afraid that her son would become too stressed, Ms. Pu would teach him how to handle the pressure differently, encouraging him by saying, “If you can withstand the teasing and exclusion from others, then you will become stronger!”

However, a child’s ability to endure is limited. An incident where the homeroom teacher physically assaulted Xiaorui in the fourth grade left him completely broken, unwilling to go to school.

On December 20, 2024, at 2:00 pm, Xiaorui forgot to wear his red scarf to school. There were student monitors at the school gate checking discipline during arrival and dismissal. If a student wasn’t wearing a red scarf, points would be deducted. Xiaorui was criticized and penalized by the student monitor, and the teacher was immediately informed.

Ms. Pu described the events that followed, “The homeroom teacher called him, made him stand in punishment, informed the parents, and gave him a writing penalty. The child was frightened because he was always in a state of fear, wanting to escape. He ran to hide in the restroom, refusing to come out.

“During the break, which was only ten minutes, he dared not go back to class. The teacher asked a classmate to go find him, assuming he was intentionally skipping class. The classmate coincidentally saw a clogged toilet inside, not by Xiaorui. The student then told the teacher that Xiaorui was playing in the restroom, causing the blockage.

“The teacher dragged him back to the classroom, without question, hit him with a hard file folder. From the video, after the beating, he was made to stand in place, and after that, he was allowed to return to his seat. As the teacher walked past him to the front of the classroom, she hit him again, making his teeth loose, and his mouth bleeding and swollen. The child kept wiping with his clothes, which had bloodstains, but the teacher claimed not to have noticed, and the child dared not resist…”

Ms. Pu stated that after the incident, the teacher messaged her, claiming her child had disciplinary issues, needing strict parental discipline. However, the teacher didn’t mention hitting her child nor took him to the infirmary. It was only after school when her child called her, crying and saying, “Mom, the teacher hit me again.”

At that time, the teacher asked the parents to come to the school for a meeting, but Ms. Pu was in the hospital, and the child’s father was at work. After dismissal, she removed her IV and rushed to pick up her child, as not long before, a girl from the Salt Field Elementary School in Shenzhen had jumped off a building because a teacher wrongly accused her, without even entering her house upon returning from school.

In the evening, Xiaorui complained about his mouth and teeth hurting. Since dental clinics were closed, Ms. Pu called multiple hospitals until she found one in Longgang District that discovered Xiaorui had loose teeth, ripped lips, and swelling, so they took an X-ray the next day.

Xiaorui expressed that he didn’t want to go to school anymore, so Ms. Pu took him to see a psychologist. The fear of being bullied by classmates again and being scolded by the teacher made him unable to attend school, which prompted the decision to move to the United States.

Ms. Pu expressed, “We have always cooperated with the teachers, believing that it was for the good of the child, promoting unity between home and school. However, after all these years, I realized that we parents were wrong. The education system itself is wrong, and by condoning it, we are essentially pushing children into a dead end.”

“When my child called me and explained what happened, I realized it wasn’t his fault, but rather the misuse of power by the teachers, to the extent of bullying.”

A dramatic turn of events occurred. Ms. Pu reported the incident to the police, seeking help from the authorities. The police investigated the school leadership, reviewed surveillance footage, but advised her to communicate with the school on her own.

In a sincere conversation with the teacher, Ms. Pu hoped for her child’s healthy growth and asked the teacher to reassure her child. The teacher apologized to her and her child. At that moment, the child was happy and simply said, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Ms. Pu thought the matter had come to a temporary halt and reached a resolution.

“Unexpectedly, the next day when my child went to school, the teacher’s attitude suddenly changed 180 degrees, publicly criticizing him in front of the whole class, stating that we shouldn’t have called the police, claiming that I, his mother, didn’t understand the law. A day later, my child was again criticized by the teacher, who examined his mouth, saying that there was no blood or injury. The teacher accused us of false report and being dishonest, labeling both me and my child as liars… From then on, my child feared going to school.”

“Because whatever the teacher says, the other kids will think the teacher is right, and they will ostracize him. If the teacher doesn’t like you, then we won’t like you either – this is how the psychological and verbal bullying on campus begins.”

Previously, Xiaorui had been isolated by classmates multiple times. Ms. Pu believes that under China’s political influence, the education system is within their authoritative power. As educators, they do not serve the people but rather exercise their given power to do as they please.

“The entire education system is the same. We frequently witness children jumping off buildings, and it’s not just about a heavy workload of assignments. Compared to the bullying by teachers and students, the former is insignificant. It is due to the bullying within the education system, from students and teachers, that so many children end up taking extreme measures, ending their young lives.”

With the winter break approaching, Xiaorui stopped going to school. Ms. Pu believed that transferring him to another school wouldn’t resolve the issue. In January of that year, she took her son on a trip to the United States, where they learned about an education system that respects children’s individual development, prompting them to stay. Xiaorui now attends a new school, feeling especially happy, as “the teachers encourage and praise him daily,” Ms. Pu said.

Another immigrant, Wang Xiaofei, hails from Zhengzhou, Henan province in China, where he ran a renovation company. Last September, he brought his son to the United States after losing faith in China’s education system due to a bullying incident involving his son. His son was a middle school student in Zhongyuan District, Zhengzhou.

Wang Xiaofei recounted, “On March 13, 2024, during an art class, my son had a disagreement with a classmate over values, ending with the classmate punching him in the head without a word. He then pinned my son down and started punching and kicking him while on the ground.”

After reporting the incident and reviewing the surveillance footage, Wang Xiaofei saw the teacher seated at the front of the room, looking at a cellphone, oblivious to the fight, glancing up momentarily before returning to the phone. The ordeal subsided after a couple of minutes, with the teacher not looking up again. Ten minutes later, the bell rang, and the teacher left the classroom with his book and phone.

Enraged by this, Wang Xiaofei expressed that the teacher ignored the students fighting in class as if nothing happened. At the time, when news of a middle school student in Hebei murdering a classmate had just surfaced, on March 14, 2024, three middle school students in Handan bullied a classmate, extorted money, and brutally attacked him, leaving him unrecognizable, shocking the community.

Following the incident, Wang Xiaofei’s son felt dizzy and nauseous, diagnosed with head injuries and bruised eyebrow cartilage, requiring a week in the hospital. Despite the police, principal, counselor, and homeroom teacher suggesting to settle the matter through compensation for medical expenses from the other party, Wang Xiaofei insisted on a public apology from the art teacher in front of the whole school and a thorough educational session from the principal regarding bullying.

Due to the school’s participation in a rating assessment for a civilized school in the city, they avoided the issue from being exposed. Wang Xiaofei visited the Henan Education Bureau, where security guards blocked his entry, redirecting him to the district education bureau in Zhengzhou. Once there, security used the lack of an appointment as an excuse to deny access. In response, Wang Xiaofei filmed a video, denouncing the obstacles – highlighting the challenges faced by ordinary citizens when trying to get things done.

After a series of delays, he eventually found a leader to address the issue and contacted the school. However, the school failed to provide an explanation to the child, settling for a 4,000 yuan reimbursement for medical expenses to brush the matter under the rug.

Wang Xiaofei and his son were disturbed to see strong classmates in the class chat praising the incident, while those opposing it were viciously attacked, with even the homeroom teacher involved.

Wang Xiaofei remarked that the incident had a significant impact on his son, being a 14-year-old with a sense of dignity, the criticism from classmates, the teacher’s attitude towards him, and the school leadership’s handling of the issue – would his child have the courage to return to school? The psychologist suggested a transfer to a new environment for the child’s well-being.

Disillusioned by China’s education system, Wang Xiaofei arranged a leave of absence for his son, taking nearly three months off work to travel with his son, experiencing the world outside.

He reflected, “Everyone knows the situation in China, where social resources are monopolized by the wealthy who hold power, how can a commoner’s child have a bright future? It’s impossible. My classmates, graduates of Zhengzhou University with a master’s degree, work as low-level officials in Kaifeng, earning 4,000 yuan per month. They can’t even afford their monthly installments. What’s the point of such a life?”

Wang Xiaofei believed that China’s education system showcases the corruption within the entire CCP system, a society rampant with disorder and devoid of regulations.

Bringing his son to the United States, Wang Xiaofei noted significant changes in his son. “First, his mental health is excellent, and he only has four to five subjects, a manageable workload for a teenager. He doesn’t have to study politics, socialism, or the communist heir apparent anymore. In school, whenever he faces a challenge, classmates willingly help him, and even teachers offer free English tutoring after school – something unheard of in China. Classmates take him to museums, libraries, all out of goodwill. The positive impact on his mental health is immeasurable.”

Wang Xiaofei concluded that China’s (CCP’s) education system is deeply flawed, permeating the entire system to its core. The corruption within the system is so entrenched that it cannot be fixed, akin to a terminal cancer, requiring a complete overhaul.

By taking his son to the United States, now in a new environment, his son has transformed significantly. “He now has a healthy psyche, minimal coursework for a teenager, and an environment where everyone helps each other, from classmates to teachers providing extra support. How many schools in our country could replicate such kindness? This environment, filled with goodwill, can greatly impact a child’s mental and emotional well-being!”

Translated and rewritten news article without original author’s information.