A PPT from the Southeast University Medical School circulating online shows that out of 236 freshmen enrolled, only 133 remain, a dropout rate of 43.6%. In Medical Imaging, 6 out of 21 remain, and in the 5+3 integrated clinical program, 39 out of 86 students transferred out. Some students claim that in their freshman year, the class size dropped from over 30 to 14.
Recently, a Douyin influencer posted a video claiming that students were not released from school until 9:50 PM, with the school gate brightly lit and crowded with people. The caption read, 'If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.' Netizens left sarcastic comments and recalled similar experiences.
Around November 10, a netizen posted on Douyin recalling that a boy in the Tsinghua-Peking University elite class jumped to his death after being repeatedly reprimanded by teachers and parents following a poor performance in a monthly exam. His family wore mourning clothes and wailed at the school gates for days, sparking heated discussions among netizens.
On November 8, Chinese media reported that primary and secondary schools in many parts of the country have adjusted their schedules, delaying school start times and canceling morning reading sessions. Netizens commented that canceling extended school services is the only real measure to reduce time spent at school, and netizens from many provinces stated that local school schedules have not been adjusted, with student pressure remaining excessively high.
Following updates to engineering education accreditation requirements, the school demanded a retrospective audit of course and assignment records from the past three years to demonstrate corporate cooperation. As many courses lacked such cooperation, school leadership ordered teachers to fabricate materials to meet the requirements. Teachers are now facing layers of assessment pressure and are overwhelmed by the burden of filling out paperwork for documentation.
On November 5, The Paper reported that universities including Jiangnan University, Heilongjiang University, Wenzhou University, and Northeast Forestry University have introduced AI classroom patrol systems to monitor attendance rates and student engagement (head-up rates). Jiangnan University's system covers 462 classrooms, has analyzed over 120,000 class hours, and automatically sends alerts for abnormal classroom situations, while Southern Medical University uses AI to grade classes.
On October 31, at a Halloween event in Qingdao, Shandong, a netizen attracted attention by wearing a cape made of exam papers, labeling it 'Flower of the Motherland'.
On October 14, a university teacher posted on a social platform, saying that what he teaches students is knowledge that is years behind, mocking himself as "a product of the previous industrial revolution teaching knowledge from the era of industrial Cthulhu," and feeling powerless for his students. The post received 857,000 likes and 157,000 reposts.
On October 11, according to domestic media reports, a member of the parent committee at Siji School in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, proposed in a group chat that parents take turns going to the school to supervise students' midday rest, claiming the move was intended to allow teachers to rest better.
On October 10, a mother posted a video of her first-grade daughter on Douyin, saying that her daughter wakes up at 6:40 every day, does homework until 9:30, and doesn't go to sleep until 10:30, with no light left in her eyes. She said she was powerless to help. Netizens commented that it looked like working the night shift and getting used to assembly-line life in advance.
A recent post on X discussing French secondary school students' strike protests has sparked widespread discussion. The poster compared the daily schedule and study intensity of Chinese high school students in order to criticize French students, but a large number of Chinese netizens instead sided with the French students and used the issue to criticize China's education system. French netizens subsequently expressed their thanks to the Chinese netizens.
During the National Day holiday, Chinese parents and students took to social media to complain that students had too much homework. Some students broke down frantically rushing to finish assignments in the early hours of the morning, questioning the point of having a holiday.
On October 1, a netizen posted their 33 National Day holiday exam papers on Douyin. In the comments section, students from various regions shared their own workloads, with some needing to complete 108, 121, or even as many as 168 exam papers.
On September 30, a Douyin blogger posted a video criticizing schools for oppressing students with fake two-day weekends and a score-first mentality, saying that children study with the posture of slaves. The video received more than 470,000 likes and over 20,000 comments, and many people in the comments section wished to fall sick in order to ask for leave.
On September 29, the Beijing Institute of Technology announced that faculty member Pei Yi had seriously violated professional conduct standards for teachers, revoking his qualification as a graduate supervisor and terminating his employment. Pei Yi had previously sparked controversy over remarks made in class discussing feminism and noting that all members of the Politburo Standing Committee are male.