Not long ago, Guiya Road Primary School in Nanning City, Guangxi Province issued a notice on the school's official account, announcing that in order to implement the "double reduction" and the five management requirements, the school has adopted a "homework circuit breaker system" and will stop homework at 9:30 every night. Students who fail to complete their homework will not be criticized the next day to ensure that students have enough sleep.

　　After the notice was released, it was reported by many media, triggering heated discussions among netizens, and some media even launched related special discussions. Netizens had mixed reactions to this, with most people applauding and supporting it, believing that this humane provision would help reduce students' burdens; some parents also suggested that "homework circuit breaker" treats the symptoms but not the root cause, and even pushes the educational pressure from schools to parents.

　　"Job circuit breaker" is nothing new. In recent years, schools and local education departments in many places across the country have been trying to launch similar mechanisms, but the specific implementation is different. However, similar news appears every once in a while, which always becomes a hot spot of public opinion and reflects the public's understanding of the mechanism. Implement the "double reduction" policy to effectively reduce students' expectations of excessive homework burdens in compulsory education.

　　The misunderstood "circuit breaker"

　　On the evening of April 2, reporters interviewed some students after school and parents picking up their children at the gate of Guiya Road Primary School in Nanning City.

　　Liang Yingzhi, 10, is a fourth-grade student at the school. She said that the school does not assign much homework and she can usually finish it in about 20 minutes at school. After returning home, she will write extracurricular homework assigned by her parents. After finishing her homework every night, she would go to bed on time at 9 o'clock and sleep for 10 hours.

　　Parent Liang Wei is 41 years old. Her daughter is in sixth grade at Guiya Road Primary School. She said that even though she faced the pressure of entering junior high school, her daughter could still complete her homework at school, and occasionally she could complete it within half an hour when she went home to do her homework. After completing her homework, her daughter will spend time reading foreign classics. She will go to bed around 11 p.m. and sleep until she gets up at 7 p.m. the next day, ensuring 8 hours of sleep.

　　Regarding the school’s “homework circuit breaker” system, Liang Wei believes that this system is not mandatory. It is actually to remind parents who cannot manage their children’s homework time to help their children improve their homework efficiency and arrange their homework. time to ensure your child’s sleep.

　　Regarding the comments on the Internet that "children have so much homework, the 'circuit breaker' is just a decoration" and "if the circuit breaker is really 'circuited' and the child has not completed the homework, he will still be criticized by the teacher the next day", etc., I serve as a class teacher at Guiya Road Primary School Teacher Li believes that the homework of students in the class will be assigned strictly according to the amount stipulated in the "double reduction" policy, and the children can basically complete it on time. On the contrary, some parents will "add material" to their children in addition to normal homework, compressing their children's sleep time. The "circuit breaker" is to a certain extent to guide and supervise these parents.

　　During the interview, the reporter met a parent surnamed Liang whose child was in the second grade at the school. He said that even if the school had a "circuit breaker" mechanism, he would still ask his child to complete their homework after 9:30 p.m. over.

　　He believes that this "circuit breaker" system is more like a suggestion. If you like it, just follow it. If you don't like it, it doesn't matter if you delay the child's bedtime a little.

　　During the investigation, the reporter found that after the introduction of the "double reduction" policy, schools in various places have generally reduced the workload in the compulsory education stage. However, due to poor learning foundation or procrastination, some students sometimes go to bed late to complete homework. . There are also parents who are worried that "reducing the burden" will make their children lose their competitiveness, so they make it harder for their children to find more questions to complete, making it difficult to ensure that their children have sufficient rest time.

　　Implementing "circuit breaker" requires joint efforts from home and school

　　When reporters reviewed documents related to the "homework circuit breaker system" issued by education authorities or schools across the country, they found that they all mentioned the aim of ensuring students get enough sleep. The problem of insufficient sleep among primary and secondary school students is still a persistent problem.

　　In 2021, the Ministry of Education's "Notice on Further Strengthening the Sleep Management of Primary and Secondary School Students" mentioned that primary school students should sleep for 10 hours a day, and junior high school students should sleep for 9 hours. In order to improve students' sleep conditions, in recent years, education departments and schools in many places have successively launched "homework circuit breaker systems" to regulate and guide the educational behavior of schools and parents. For example, in September 2021, Qinghe Primary School in Fuyang City, Anhui Province implemented a "timeout circuit breaker system" at 9 p.m.; in February 2023, Boai Primary School in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province announced the activation of a "9-point circuit breaker mechanism" in the spring semester; in April 2023, The Ningbo Municipal Health Commission and Ningbo Municipal Education Bureau of Zhejiang Province issued a notice requiring the trial implementation of "homework circuit breaker", and the bedtime of primary school students should be no later than 21:20; in March 2024, Anding District, Dingxi City, Gansu Province issued a public account tweet, requiring Establish a "job circuit breaker mechanism"...

　　What is the effect of "circuit breaker"? Can it really improve your child’s sleep?

　　Ms. He, who lives in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, tried to implement a "homework circuit breaker" for her daughter in the third grade of elementary school six months ago. She required her daughter to go to bed before 21:30, and the unfinished homework was waived by parents and teachers. After the "circuit breaker" was implemented, my daughter quickly learned how to improve the efficiency of completing homework, her grades steadily increased, and she got enough sleep.

　　"When children do homework after 9 p.m., their brains become confused and their learning efficiency is actually very low. They cannot learn and their sleep time is shortened," Ms. He said.

　　Practice has proved that the implementation of the "homework circuit breaker mechanism" depends on the joint efforts of schools and parents. Without the understanding and cooperation of either party, it will be difficult to implement.

　　To cure the root cause, we need to establish a multi-evaluation system

　　"'Homework circuit breaker' is a powerful medicine to protect underage students. Its core value is health first. This orientation is undoubtedly correct and positive and should be affirmed and supported." Vice President of the Chinese Family Education Society and Chinese Youth Researcher Sun Yunxiao, a researcher at the center, commented on the "operational circuit breaker" phenomenon that has emerged in various places.

　　Sun Yunxiao believes that the causes of heavy homework burdens are complicated. It is difficult to completely solve the problem by relying solely on the "homework circuit breaker" method to treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Systemic reforms are needed to fundamentally reduce the burden on children.

　　"Teachers' teaching level should be improved so that students can learn more in the classroom and assign homework efficiently after class, instead of assigning a large amount of homework and then 'circuiting' it." Sun Yunxiao suggested.

　　Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, believes that in addition to the role of schools, the education department must also participate to achieve multi-party linkage. "To reduce children's burden, the key is to establish a multi-evaluation system and cultivate children's different abilities. Students cannot be evaluated solely by scores." Chu Zhaohui said.

　　Sun Yunxiao also said that in addition to schools and education departments, families also play an important role in education. "Family education is life education, and a good life is a good education. Domestic and foreign studies have found that the key factor affecting students' academic performance is emotional stability. A warm home plays a supporting role in children's positive emotional stability. If sleep and exercise are ensured, the incidence of psychological crises among students will be greatly reduced, and learning efficiency will be greatly improved. This is a fundamental change."

　　China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Xie Yang intern Jiang Chang Source: China Youth Daily