“Don’t lose at the starting line” or “Don’t
let your child lose at the starting line” is a slogan that became popular in
China more than twenty years ago and remains influential today. It is a radical
response to a complicated rhetorical situation, addressing numerous Chinese
parents’ anxiety about their children’s education and future.
People’s perception of how to raise
children have been completely changed since the year one-child policy was implemented
(1980). Most families in the cities are allowed to have one child while many
families living in the country can have two under certain conditions. (This
policy is not effective to the minority.) As in many cases a family can only
have one child, that child is highly valued and becomes the center of the
family. Parents usually are willing to give their child the best and do
everything they can to help this child grow and succeed. On the other hand, the
hard reality is that educational resources are always limited, especially
considering the large population in China (more than 1.3 billion now). The key
issue is the fierce competition in College Entrance Examinations. Students take
these examinations the summer they graduate from high school and a relatively
small number of students can go to college. For a long time, most students only
took these examinations once and if they did not do well, their future would be
totally different from those who did.
(The message in the picture: “Countdown: 6598 days,
17 hours, 10 minutes, and 10 seconds away from College Entrance Examinations)
The awareness of competition is so strong
that parents pay close attention to their children’s education and academic
success. The slogan “Don’t lose at the starting line” effectively appeals to
this target audience, especially their anxiety about their children’s
development. Influenced by this slogan, numerous parents invested a lot of
money, time, and energy in preparing their children for the future competition
as early as possible: sending their children to a bilingual kindergarten,
asking a three-year-old to recite hundreds of ancient poems, purchasing an
apartment near a good school long before a child is born… Many children have to
attend extra classes after school and during weekends. Though this slogan seems
reasonable – the early bird catches the worm – no one really knows where the
starting line is so educating a fetus is also an important part of parenting. A
pregnant woman may choose to listen to not only classic music, but also radio
programs in English – so her child will study this second language more easily
than his or her peers.
Many
advertisers also seize this opportunity to sell various products. They tie
their products to this slogan in order to encourage parents to open their
wallets. The rhetorical discourse is extended to the idea that anything that
they claim is “good” for children can prevent them from losing at the
beginning. This, to a certain extent, also leads to compulsive buying. Sometimes
parents may not be interested in a particular product or not sure whether it is
really useful, but considering that other children may have it, they would
still buy it so their own children would not lose.
(The cover of a book, the title of which is Don’t Let Your Child Lose at the Starting Line:
30 Ways to Make Your Child Smarter)
(An advertisement from a hospital. The message in
the picture: “If your child has rhinitis, he loses at the starting line.”)
On the other hand, some people question
the rhetorical discourse about the starting line and use another rhetorical
strategy. They compare life to a marathon: even if you start early, it does not
mean you will get to the finish line early (an example). They argue that
children should have a happy childhood and emphasize that enjoying freedom
instead of studying all day is important to a child’s development. Some other
people also point out the social inequality at the starting line. Children born
in different families grow up under different conditions; they are not even
equal at the beginning. Moreover, the educational competition is not the same
to every child. Children in the cities obtain more educational resources and
opportunities (for example, a child born in Beijing or Shanghai can get into a
local university with lower scores while a child born in another place with the
same scores may not be admitted to any university.)
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