Cover news reporters: Luo Shiqian, Xu Xiangdong, Leng Yu
The summer vacation is approaching, and some research and training institutions have launched "public welfare teaching" and "public welfare research" projects, and they have begun to be marketed online. These projects mainly recruit "volunteers" for students to participate in "teaching and research" activities in relatively remote areas, such as Liangshan in Sichuan or Yiliang in Yunnan and Congjiang in Guizhou, charging tens of thousands of yuan per person for 7 days.
If it is a "public welfare", why does it charge tens of thousands of yuan a week? Is there a "business" behind it? What is the market demand for such a short-term high-priced "support for teaching and research"? Who is using Daliangshan as a "public welfare show"? In the past few days, the cover news reporter has launched an investigation in Liangshan, Sichuan, which has attracted a lot of attention.
A phenomenon
"Public welfare" becomes "business"?
"Supporting Education and Research" was denounced and removed from the shelves by netizens
Before the summer vacation arrives this year, some research and tourism advertisements that attract students to participate have begun to appear intensively on the Internet. Among them, the short-term "public welfare teaching" and "public welfare research" projects launched by some businesses for about 7 days are relatively popular.
The reporter's investigation found that on multiple online social platforms, there are many similar "teaching and research" recruitment and publicity. Its organizers include research institutions, training institutions, public welfare organizations, and travel agencies. Recruitment is mainly for primary and secondary school students, and some programs also recruit university students and adults. The event lasts from 7 to 10 days, and the registration fee ranges from more than 10,000 yuan to more than 30,000 yuan.
Most of these projects are in Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan Province, but also Yiliang County in Yunnan Province, Congjiang County in Guizhou Province, and Huayuan County in Hunan Province. According to the promotional content, the students who participated in the project could serve as "volunteer teachers" for the children in the mountains, and at the same time "help the children in the mountains", "experience the life in the mountains" and "understand different lives".
The promotional page of "Daliangshan Public Welfare Teaching Camp" launched by EF Leyou
Among them, a research institution in Shenzhen launched the "Yiwang Boundless Summer Vacation Daliangshan Research Activity". The 10-day event is scheduled to run from July 8 to 17. On its WeChat public account, a 10-day Liangshan summer teaching program was also released.
A staff member of the organization said that the research activities are mainly for high school students, and the 10-day itinerary includes the experience of Liangshan intangible cultural heritage, visits to Yi villages and rural primary schools, planning photo exhibitions, and completing research reports. At the end of the program, you will receive a certificate of completion and a public welfare certificate.
A research company in Beijing has launched the "Rural Student Aid Action - Daliangshan English Research Camp" project. In its promotional video, it is mentioned that "13-year-old children go to the mountains to teach, 7 days and 6 nights of rural education", the goal is to "improve the skills and confidence of young teachers", and after the end of the project, they will receive "40 hours of public welfare time".
One project claims that participants will receive "40 hours of public service".
An educational institution in Beijing has also launched a "public welfare teaching" program for primary and secondary school students to become "little teachers" in Liangshan, with participants aged 10 to 16 years old, with prices ranging from 13,680 yuan to 19,180 yuan, depending on where they set off.
The promotional page of the "Daliangshan English Research Camp" launched by "New Oriental" research
Outside of Liangshan, a research institution in Guangzhou launched a summer "Guizhou Public Welfare Teaching and Research Camp"; A training institution in Tianjin launched the "Yunnan Volunteer Teaching Parent-Child Public Welfare Research Camp". However, compared to going to Liangshan, the price is nearly half cheaper.
This kind of paid "public welfare" behavior has made many netizens question, this is "treating public welfare as a business": "Why is it so expensive to do public welfare?" "Is it teaching or research?" "Who made the money?" Some education experts have commented that this kind of "performative" teaching and research should be clearly stopped.
After being "condemned" by netizens, as of June 19, most of these projects have been quietly removed from the shelves, or shown to be sold out, and the promotional pages on various social platforms have also been deleted. The person in charge of one of the research institutions said that this year's summer research activities in Liangshan have been cancelled.
Field visits
Children go to be "volunteer teachers"?
Local students: Participating in the activity did not yield
In the short period of "teaching and research" activities, did the students who signed up for it really gain something? What do the local students think about the event? The reporter found two schools that had participated in the "Teaching and Research" activity.
"This is the first time in my life that I have come to the mountains to teach." In a video marked with the logo of "EF Leyou", a 10-year-old girl tells the camera about her feelings about coming to Liangshan to "teach". This 7-minute video records a group of students from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and other places in the process of "teaching and research" at Luyin School in Xichang City, Liangshan Prefecture.
In the video, students from other places are on the blackboard, giving "English lessons" to local students, and interacting with local students. In addition to sharing their teaching experiences, the students also talked about how they taught local students the pronunciation of the English alphabet and the pronunciation of English words.
In the promotional video of "EF Leyou", the "little teacher" is "teaching".
When it comes to what you have gained during the local "volunteer teaching", what have you gained? "Touched", "sense of achievement" and "sense of honor" are the "keywords" mentioned most by this group of small "volunteer teachers".
The reporter learned that this video was filmed in July 2023. A group of students from all over the country came to Luyin School to carry out three phases of 12 days of "Teaching and Research" activities. During this period, the participants first visited the homes of local students, fed the chickens and did farm work, and on the second day began to communicate in English, the third day carried out legal publicity and education, and the fourth day carried out English method sharing activities.
"We mainly learn English words like animals, clothes, stationery, and simple everyday words." Xiao Li (pseudonym), a student from Luyin School who participated in the event, recalled that at that time, the course was taught by the teacher, and the students from other places assisted in the explanation, "If we don't understand, we can ask them." ”
There have been research institutions to Xichang Luyin School to carry out "teaching and research" activities
"Some of the English words I learned were taught in school, and some of them were not learned." Xiaoli said that now, except for what was taught in school, all other words have been forgotten. She felt that sometimes she felt "awkward" when she was in class with this group of out-of-town children.
Yousheng Primary School in Hongmo Town, Mianning County, Liangshan Prefecture, appeared in the recruitment promotion video released by "New Oriental Cultural Tourism", and the video content was also that students from other places came to local schools to "teach for public welfare".
Screenshot of the promotional video of the "Daliangshan English Research Camp" launched by "New Oriental Cultural Tourism".
Xiao Jiang (pseudonym), a fifth-grade student at Yousheng Primary School, was invited to participate in the aforementioned "Teaching and Research" activities during this year's winter vacation and last summer.
Xiao Jiang recalled that each event lasted for five days. Every morning from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., elementary, junior high and high school students from other places will work in groups of two or three to teach local students to recognize the English alphabet, learn some simple English words, and introduce themselves in English. In addition, students from other places will also do crafts and play games with them. During this period, students from other places will visit the homes of local students to experience Yi costumes.
Mianning County Yousheng Primary School
"When we answered the questions, we got them right, and they gave them some small prizes." Xiao Jiang believes that although she has participated in two such activities and the content of her learning is repeated, she cannot remember all the knowledge points.
The school responded
Borrow school premises for activities
Organizers call it a "social practice"
Ling Xujun, principal of Yousheng Primary School, said that during this year's winter vacation, a group of students from other places did come to the school to carry out activities. "Last year, the person in charge of one of our local enterprises contacted me and said that during the winter vacation, students from other places came to carry out social practice and wanted to borrow the school site, without mentioning 'research' or 'teaching'."
At that time, Ling Xujun had just come to the school as the principal, and he was not very familiar with the situation, so he consulted the school teachers and learned that during the last year's holiday, there were also outsiders who held similar activities in the school, and the tables, chairs and benches were damaged.
"I didn't want to say yes at first." Ling Xujun said, but considering that the company had helped solve the employment problem of many local villagers, and that another local school had also undertaken similar social practice activities before, he finally agreed under the persuasion of the other party. At that time, he did not allow his students to participate in the event.
What Ling Xujun didn't expect was that the organizers not only did not report to the local education department about this event, but also invited the students of Yousheng Primary School to participate behind his back. This is why there is a scene of out-of-town students and local students in the video.
"I later learned that it was a local 'old village cadre' who mobilized parents to let their children participate in the activities. Some parents who work at the local company also let their children participate. Ling Xujun said that after inquiry, during the winter vacation, a total of 41 students from Yousheng Primary School were invited to participate in two "social practice" activities, each lasting five days, and local students did not pay the fee. The content of the activity is basically every morning, students from the two places learn English, draw, and hold a party together.
Expert opinion
Play for a day or two in the last class
It is a "formality" and "performance-style teaching"
Some scholars believe that the teaching and research activities themselves are positive and can improve children's abilities and knowledge. But now, in the face of huge market demand, some teaching and research activities have become "tasteless", especially the recruitment of students with the gimmick of "using the past economic poverty in remote areas such as Daliangshan" to recruit students, which is actually a false "visual poverty" behavior.
Xiong Bingqi, an education scholar and president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, believes that if the specific research activities are very in-depth, the researchers need to have at least half a month of specific teaching activities, and it is acceptable to call them public welfare teaching support. However, if the volunteer teaching is only a few days, and the volunteer teaching activity is only a class, or play with the local children for a day or two, this is a performative teaching that goes through the motions.
"The reason why this kind of volunteer teaching and research program is sought after is that the participating students have the need to gain volunteer teaching experience. This experience can be used for merit, applying to universities abroad, etc. When you go to remote areas such as Liangshan, you can travel on the one hand, and on the other hand, you can get volunteer teaching experience, which can be described as 'killing two birds with one stone'. It is precisely this business opportunity that research institutions have set their sights on it, so they have begun to operate public welfare teaching and research. Xiong Bingqi said that this is actually a "pseudo teaching" and "pseudo public welfare" under the banner of public welfare, which appeared in order to meet the utilitarian needs of participants to "improve their background" and "add points to their resumes".
Yang Xuemei, an associate professor of psychology at Sichuan Normal University and a tutor for master's students in mental health education, participated in the teaching and research of adolescent mental health in Liangshan Prefecture. Regarding the "7-day fee of more than 10,000 yuan", she bluntly said, "This phenomenon has deviated from the original intention of research". "At present, some research institutions take advantage of market demand to carry out inappropriate research projects more utilitarianly, ignoring the learning needs of children themselves."
Yang Xuemei pointed out that carrying out research activities, especially in remote areas, should be in line with regional culture and comprehensively consider the physical and mental development needs of local students. ”
[If you have news clues, please report to us, once adopted, there will be a fee.] WeChat attention: ihxdsb, QQ: 3386405712]