I came to China with the impression that Chinese schoolwork would be refreshingly more rigorous than what I was used to in the US. Five months later, "refreshing" is the last adjective I would choose to describe Chinese schoolchildrens' daily workload.

　　Having had the privilege of living with a Chinese family, I have seen first-hand the amount of work that my host sister must do every day for school.

　　She comes home, rests an hour at most, and then begins. Every half hour or hour she takes a short break, but her parents quickly remind her to get back to work. The family eats dinner together, but she often gets up earlier to take a seat at her desk which she does not leave until 9:30 or 10:00pm to flop into bed.

　　Even weekends offer little respite, as there is plenty of homework to fill the two school-free days - or rather, one school-free day, since students are encouraged to attend optional Sunday English classes, and anyone who wants to have a chance at future college entrance exams had better get a six-year head-start.

　　Of course, there are always slow students. Even in US public schools of notoriously low standards, some students manage to spend all day completing their colouring book assignment. But my host sister is bright, and her experience is not the exception but the rule.

　　Only the very swiftest students have free time to rest, let alone pursue personal interests or club activities. Thus, my host sister abandoned the piano a few years ago. Her high school cousin had to stop art lessons.

　　Seldom do I see kids playing with each in the streets or parks. Up until college exams, there is simply no time to relax. Once in college, students often have evening classes and weekend tests. Thus my Chinese tutor, a college student, has little flexibility in her schedule to meet with me. At least college is a choice, and usually populated with students who are willing to devote most of their time holding a pen.

　　I don't claim to be an expert on child education, and certainly don't suggest that the US has the perfect system. (In fact, I think US schools allow far too much free time.) But my Chinese mother has told me that many parents agree that there is too much homework demanded of children, and that some teachers go overboard.

　　Ironically, SARS had a temporary positive effect on schoolwork - for about three weeks, my Chinese sister would come home carefree and watch some television or read comics. "I don't want to catch SARS," she said to me, "but I like SARS because the teachers give us less work."

　　She is 12, old enough for this comment to speak volumes; the widespread fear and effects of the mysterious epidemic were seemingly less stressful than the tedium of constant, busy work.

　　It seems clear that parents need a way to keep schools and teachers accountable through constructive criticism.