Unhappy with the rigid teaching style of traditional schools and recent student abuse scandals, some tiger moms in China are keeping their kids at home.
由于对传统学校僵化的教育方式和近期的虐待学生丑闻不满，一些中国“虎妈”让孩子留在家里。
According to a recent survey of 18, 000 parents in mainland China who have expressed interest in homeschooling their children, some 2, 000 of them have already started to give lessons at home.
最近对中国大陆1.8万名表示有兴趣在家教育孩子的父母进行的调查显示，其中约有2,000人已经开始在家给孩子上课。
Conducted by the 21st-Century Education Research Institute, a Beijing-based NGO, the survey data was collected via various online platforms, including the education channel of web portal Tencent.com and other forums dedicated to homeschooling.
该调查由北京非政府组织21世纪教育研究院(21st-Century Education Research Institute)进行，调查数据通过多种网络平台收集，包括门户网站腾讯网(Tencent.com)的教育频道以及其他致力于在家教育孩子的论坛。
China's exam-oriented education system is notoriously stressful for students and families alike. According to the survey, among Chinese parents who choose to teach their kids at home, over half (54%) of them do so because they object to the teaching philosophy of traditional schools, which tends to be fairly rigid in nature. Others who choose to homeschool their kids think that in ordinary classrooms, the pace of lessons is too slow (10%) and that kids are not fully respected 7%). Another 7% said their kids were simply sick of traditional school life.
中国的应试教育制度以给学生及其家庭带来极大压力而出名。上述调查显示，选择在家教育孩子的中国父母当中，一半以上（54%）的人这样做的原因是他们反对传统学校往往性质死板的教学理念。其他选择在家教育孩子的人认为，普通课堂的授课进度太慢（10%）、孩子没有充分得到尊重（7%）。另有7%的人说，他们的孩子就是讨厌传统学校生活。
Still another 6% of parents, including a number of Christians, said they chose homeschooling for religious reasons, according to the survey. Similarly, a 2007 survey by the U.S.-based National Center for Education Statistics showed that 36% of American parents homeschooling their children chose to do so out of a desire to provide religious and moral instruction.
调查显示，还有6%的父母说他们选择在家教育是出于宗教原因，其中包括一些基督教徒。与此类似，美国全国教育统计中心(National Center for Education Statistics) 2007年的一项调查显示，在家教育孩子的美国父母当中，有36%是因为想要为孩子提供宗教和道德方面的指导。
Meanwhile, a mounting number of student abuse cases in China have lately been exposed , drawing outrage from the public and helping further spur the push for alternatives to traditional schools, people in the industry say. 'I think kids are hurt mentally and physically at traditional kindergartens in China, ' said Zhang Qiaofeng, citing the well-publicized cases of ear-pulling and other kinds of corporal punishment that recently caused controversy after being exposed in the Chinese press.
同时，教育行业人士说，中国最近曝光了越来越多的虐待学生案件，引起了公众愤怒，并进一步促使人们寻求传统学校之外的替代选择。张桥丰（音）说，我觉得孩子们在中国传统的幼儿园里受到精神和身体上的伤害，他列举了一些广为人知的揪耳朵和其他体罚的事件，近来这样的事件被中国媒体曝光后引发了争议。
'They are running kindergartens like prisons, locking kids inside, ' said Mr. Zhang, who since last June has been running his own small private school in Bejing's outskirts.
张桥丰说，他们把幼儿园办成了监狱，将孩子们关在里面。他从去年6月起在北京郊区经营自己的小型私立学校。
Mr. Zhang said he was inspired to found his school, which caters to preschoolers, after seeing his young son coming back from kindergarten every day and seeming unhappy. According to Mr. Zhang, his son and other classmates would be literally locked indoors during recess hours, to spare teachers from having to monitor them while outdoors.
张桥丰说，他看到自己年幼的儿子每天从幼儿园回来都显得很不开心，于是想到创建自己的学校。他的学校招收学龄前儿童。据张桥丰说，他儿子和其他同学在课间真的被锁在室内，好让教师无需在户外照看他们。
'Parents seek out my services because they don't want their kids to get hurt on campus, ' said Mr. Zhang, who charges 60, 000 yuan($9, 800) for two semesters as a basic tuition fee, and an extra 20, 000 yuan($3, 300) for students who need lodging. 'They can afford to do so.'
张桥丰说，父母们寻求我提供的服务是因为他们不希望自己的孩子在学校受到伤害。他收取的基本学费为两个学期人民币6万元（9,800美元），需要寄宿的学生再另收人民币2万元（3,300美元）。他说，他们出得起这个钱。
The survey said that 41% of homeschooling parents said they would continue to educate their kids at home after middle school. About a third said they planned to eventually send their kids abroad to study, while another third said they still planned to have their kids take China's fiercely competitive national college entrance exam, the gaokao, and have them attend university in mainland China.
调查显示，在家教育孩子的父母中，有41%的人说孩子中学阶段之后会继续在家上学。约三分之一的人说计划最终送孩子出国留学，另有三分之一的人说，他们还是打算让孩子参加中国竞争极为激烈的高考，进入中国大陆的大学学习。
Though the right of parents to homeschool their children isn't officially enshrined in law, homeschooling is no longer seen as a shocking phenomenon in China. Cases such as that of prominent Chinese writer Zheng Yuanjie, who took his son out of school to educate him at home a couple of years ago, have helped boost its appeal among the public and the media.
虽然父母在家教育孩子的权利并无正式法律规定，在家上学在中国已经不再被视为令人震惊的现象。知名中国作家郑渊洁多年前让儿子退学，自己在家教育，这类事例帮助提升了在家上学对于公众和媒体的吸引力。
The survey found that more than half of home-schooled kids are between four to ten years old, and about 62% of them are male. 'Boys are bolder in expressing their thoughts and challenging their teachers, ' said Yuan Fangyan, project director of the 21st-Century Education Research Institute. 'Teachers in China tend to marginalize these 'trouble-makers' in class, so they are at a disadvantage at school.'
调查发现，在家上学的孩子有一半以上年龄在4岁至10岁之间，其中约62%为男孩。21世纪教育研究院的项目负责人袁芳艳说，男孩会更大胆地表达自己的想法、挑战老师。中国教师往往会排斥班上的这些“捣蛋分子”，因此这些孩子在学校处于不利地位。
Compared to the U.S., where more than 2 million students were home-schooled in 2010, in the world's second-largest economy, homeschooling is still at an early stage.
美国2010年有逾200万学生在家上学，相比之下，世界第二大经济体的在家教育仍处于初级阶段。
For the moment, most homeschooling families remain concentrated in Guangdong province, Zhejiang province and Beijing, where the local economy is more developed and families are typically more open-minded about education.
目前，大多数在家教育孩子的家庭集中在广东省、浙江省和北京市，这些地方的经济更为发达，学生家长对于教育的态度通常更开明。
'Professional guidance [for those interested in homeschooling] is severely insufficient, ' said Ms. Yuan. 'More education resources, including textbooks and teaching methods, desperately need to be explored and developed.'
袁芳艳说，（针对那些有兴趣在家教育孩子的父母的）专业指导严重不足。包括课本和教学方法在内的更多教育资源急需考察和开发。
Still, Ms. Yuan says that the growing popularity of homeschooling points to an encouraging trend. 'Parents have started to care more about fostering their kids' interest in reading and arts, and respect their freedom and thoughts, ' she said.
但袁芳艳说，在家上学越来越普遍的现实显示出令人鼓舞的趋势。她说，父母开始更关心培养孩子对阅读和艺术的兴趣，并尊重他们的自由和想法。
The survey also found that more than 100, 000 children in mainland China are not studying in traditional schools. Apart from homeschooling, such kids are often being educated in private schools, such as schools dedicated to the study of classic Chinese culture, church-run schools or other alternative institutions such as Waldorf schools, which operate according to the educational principles of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.
调查还发现，中国大陆有十几万名孩子没有在传统学校就读。除在家上学外，这些孩子经常在私立学校接受教育，比如专门教授中国传统国学的学校、教会学校或其他替代选择，如华德福教育(Waldorf)旗下的学校，该机构依照奥地利哲学家鲁道夫·史代纳(Rudolf Steiner)的教育理念办学。
In addition to such findings, the survey showed that over 48% of parents said they were very optimistic about the development of homeschooling in China in particular.
除了上述结果之外，调查还显示，超过48%的家长说他们对于中国在家上学的未来走向非常乐观。
For his part, Mr. Zhang said that since opening his preschool, his son has become much more athletic and outgoing. 'I will teach him to take the SAT and apply to university in America in the future, ' he said.
张桥丰说，自从他开办自己的幼儿园以来，他的儿子变得更健壮、更活泼。他说，我会教他参加学术能力评估测试(SAT)，将来申请美国的大学。