Over the course of the last month, China’s government brought all of its 195 million school students, in kindergarten through 12th grade, back to public schools, for in-person learning. This happy occurrence was too much for the New York Times, which wrote a blistering attack, attributing it to “authoritarianism.”
Ironically, the Times story was accompanied by a picture of young students at Changchun Street Primary School in Wuhan, in Hubei Province, sitting in their seats, one behind the other, without wearing masks. This is because Wuhan had suppressed COVID-19. In an article “How China Brought Nearly 200 Million Students Back to School,” Sept. 12, author Javier Hernandez wrote, “Medical staff stood guard at school entrances, taking temperatures. Administrative officials reviewed the students’ travel histories and coronavirus test results. Local Communist Party cadres kept watch, making sure teachers followed detained instructions on hygiene and showed an ‘anti-epidemic spirit’…. As countries around the world struggle to safely reopen schools this fall, China is harnessing its authoritarian system to offer in-person learning.”
The Times article reports that the Communist Party of China “has mobilized battalions of local officials and party cadre to inspect classrooms, deployed apps and other technology to monitor students and staff, and restricted their movements.” What brutes!
