Punish me for wading in the mud, digging lotus roots for asking to leave school

The father, surnamed Ye from Hubei province, explained: “My daughter is going through a rebellious period. Her teacher told me she doesn’t want to go to school anymore,” Ye told media.

Ye took her children to the lotus pond, where relatives were working. The girl had to spend four hours in the hot sun to harvest the lotus root, sunburned and peeling skin.

“Take off your shoes quickly and get in the water. If you don’t want to go to school, you have to face reality,” Ye said in the video, which has now been shared online.

While following her father’s request, the little girl cried and wiped her tears with her shirt. The video became a hot topic on social media in China.

The decision to force girls to wade through mud and dig lotus roots to teach them about the value of education is sparking controversy about how to properly punish children. Many people wonder if the father is teaching his child an “important life lesson” or has been unnecessarily harsh.

“This is a great idea. I kept this video and was about to show it in my class,” commented one teacher recipient on Weibo.

“When are you going to organize a field trip? I have to sign up to let my kids experience how hard life is,” another wrote.

But many people think that the essence of studying is not just to get out of a difficult life and this way is harsh, affecting her health.

The harsh attitude of Chinese mothers and fathers towards their children’s education has sparked social debates for years. Last year, authorities in the country stripped the mother of custody of her child and brutally punished her 12-year-old daughter for not studying.

From January 1, China began implementing the Family Education Promotion Law to guide parents on how to be responsible guardians, as part of efforts to improve child protection. Before that, parenting was mostly seen as a private matter of the family and less bound by law.

Dawn (According to SCMP)