"Private Elementary School Adventure" Author: [Japan] Kumiko Makihara Publisher: Utopia | Guangxi Normal University Press

When Taro was five years old, Kumiko Makihara listened to her friends' advice and sent Taro to a private elementary school, abandoning the public elementary school where the teaching quality was declining.

However, entering a private elementary school is just the beginning of a long and harsh competition. As a mother, Kumiko has to take care of her child's daily life, cope with the school's complicated requirements, help Taro catch up with other classmates, and "fight wits and courage" with other parents to obtain learning information. Faced with the harsh and rigid exam-oriented education, complex interpersonal relationships, and fierce campus competition, Kumiko and Taro's conflicts are becoming more and more frequent...

Makihara is a very professional journalist. Her narrative and Taro's diary can help us better reflect on our current educational environment and elimination anxiety, and raise a question to parents and educators: Should we look for the "best" education for our children, or the "most suitable" education?

【Editor's recommendation】

★From rising up to compete to retiring at the peak of her career, the “withdrawn” mother recalls her difficult journey to study in a top primary school.

——This book tells the story of a mother and son who passed the difficult cram school entrance exam to a private elementary school, but eventually chose to leave due to the heavy schoolwork and fierce competition. Through the mother and son's elementary school struggle history, witnessing their gains and setbacks, growth and reflection, it reflects another aspect of contemporary elite education.

★Entering the top private elementary school in Japan, what kind of students can win at the starting line of life?

——Master a musical instrument, write a historical research report independently, make a small invention and get a patent. Swim two kilometers in the sea in the sixth grade, hike in the mountains with a backpack, and cook at home. Of course, this is based on getting A's in all subjects.

★Children go to school and parents suffer, which directly hits the dilemma of super moms in the new era.

- She has to deal with daily life during the day, and fight with her children for homework and classes at night, and deal with complicated interpersonal relationships with other mothers and teachers. The author Kumiko finally chose to resign and go home to be a full-time mother, but she found that being a mother is more tiring than working nowadays.

Kumiko's account and Taro's diary can help today's parents reflect on the following questions:

Elite education can help children build extraordinary advantages, but does it erase their individuality?

Parental input is indispensable to children, but does excessive control actually harm children’s autonomy?

High standards can hone children’s ability to withstand pressure, but do they damage their precious self-esteem?

Should we look for the "best" education for our children, or the "most suitable" education?

★Exquisite illustrations and Taro's diary are included to vividly reproduce the mother and son's journey through Guanxin

★ Sincerely recommended by Zhou Yijun, the director of "Childhood in a Foreign Land" and a media person

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