EdTech Firm Fires 60,000 in Worst Cuts Since China Crackdown (bloomberg.com) 51
New Oriental Education and Technology Group fired tens of thousands of employees, the biggest layoffs disclosed since China embarked on a wide-ranging crackdown on private enterprises more than a year ago. From a report: Yu Minhong, founder and chairman of the Chinese tutoring giant, revealed in a WeChat post over the weekend that the company dismissed 60,000 workers in 2021 and saw revenue fall 80% after ending all K-9 tutoring services following Beijing's overhaul of the the $100 billion after-school education sector last July. Even after the cuts, the company still has about 50,000 employees and teachers, Yu said in a separate post Monday. The revelation underscores the widespread disruption wrought by Beijing's unprecedented decision last summer to outlaw profits in swathes of the after-school education industry -- upending a market estimated at $100 billion at its peak. The three biggest operators in the space -- including New Oriental and TAL Education Group -- together once employed more than 170,000 but total numbers are estimated in the millions given the hundreds of private firms that vied for students in a fragmented and under-regulated arena.
for profit education is bad for all of us! (Score:3)
for profit education is bad for all of us!
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"Code 74, calling for backups, we gotta violent nut here."
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Why is tutoring bad? (Score:2)
Why, exactly, is after school tutoring "bad for all of us"?
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Wouldn't go so far as to say this per se but...
Asians have a tendency to not just have children tutored that are lagging behind a reasonable curriculum. Some countries tend to create curriculums that make EVERYONE fail if they put their faith in regular schooling only.
Learning by rote leads to inflexibility to creatively think. And problem solving is, has always been and will always remain a creative process.
What they are creating are drones, even in high tech jobs. I think the fact that China is still most
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It creates an arms race that hurts kids. Instead of enjoying their childhoods, developing social skills through play, they end up doing long days of nothing but school, homework, and more school. It leads to psychological problems.
Their parents feel like they have to pay for it to give their children a chance to competing with the other kids who are doing it. The money involved puts even more pressure on the children.
They had to have a similar ban in Japan, although cram schools for university entrance exam
at least they don't have the loans like USA! (Score:3)
at least they don't have the loans like USA!
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Chinese universities are not free, although they are much lower cost than those in Europe and the US. The government offers student loans and has some on-campus part time job schemes. Generally speaking it's very affordable for Chinese people, and the loan terms are quite good (pay back when you are earning, very slowly, low interest rates). Obviously not as good as in countries with free education, like much of Europe.
China is the second most popular destination for foreign students too, with many from Afr
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Now do the entrance requirements for Chinese universities... Do they accept anyone with a pulse?
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Most have some kind of entrance exam. Some require Chinese language skills, others teach in English so require that.
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It's important to point out that most people whining that US universities aren't "free" like Europe wouldn't be accepted into any of those "free" universities.
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lower cost than those in Europe and the US
Tuition fees in public universities in EU (for EU/EEA students) are lower than in China.
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden: 0
France: 200 €/year
Austria, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland: ~1000 €/year
Ireland: 3000 €/year
UK: 9000 £/year
Source: https://www.topuniversities.co... [topuniversities.com]
China:
2670 £/year according to https://www.timeshighereducati... [timeshighereducation.com]
3300-9900 $/year according to https://www.digiedupro.com/tui... [digiedupro.com]
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I should have clarified that I mean for international students, hence it being a popular choice.
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Spoiled douchebags, huh? You're projecting.
Also your post is going to be quite challenging for the atheists around here. Guffaw.
Re: Why is tutoring bad? (Score:1)
Are you high ?
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It creates an arms race that hurts kids.
This. To better understand what's a stake, an engineer in China makes about 10x what someone with a skilled trade makes (in the US that ratio is more like 2x), and unskilled workers even less (I can only wonder what the street sweepers I saw there using brooms made from bamboo with a tumble-weed taped to it are paid). The wealth disparity there is far greater than in the US, and a university degree is a ticket out of poverty. Universities are understandably over-subscribed so there is far more pressure o
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One of the boys, who is still friendly with my son had a huge falling out with his parents because he refused to go to University but got himself an apprenticeship as a builder.
From what I gather he is quite happy, and makes pretty good money too. Poor bloke just wanted to work with his hands and
Strawman (Score:2)
The only question is do we value education enough to do that. S
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We? Who's we? You know this story is about China, don't you? Rest assured that these tutors - skilled or otherwise - will not be replaced by taxpayer-funded replacements.
In the United States, the idea of "free tutors" would be opposed vigorously by the NEA.
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Re: Why is tutoring bad? (Score:2)
The OP didn't say tutoring, but the reason is the same reason you don't want for profit jails.
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Why exactly did you change the word "for profit education" to "after school tutoring" in your reply to the parent? Please don't be a dishonest fuckwit.
That's the topic? (Score:2)
This article is about after school tutoring. Presumably OP is referring to for-profit tutoring, not randomly bringing up something totally unrelated to the topic.
I don't know how to feel about this (Score:2)
On the one hand the rules were heavy handed and we can see the result on business and the disruption to education / tutoring. On the other hand for profit education is a cancer.
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Time to get rid of Harvard and Yale.
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Harvard [wikipedia.org] and Yale [wikipedia.org] are private, *non-profit* corporations.
Having worked in both kinds of organizations, I can say that the fundamental difference between for-profit organizations and non-profit organization isn't *profit*; a non-profit still has to make a financial surplus to be sustainable. The big difference is in governance.
A for-profit board is elected by the shareholders, whose overwhelming interest in the corporation is how much profit it generates for them. A non-profit board is an old boy's club. Y
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Might dragon-hoards of reputation?
. . .
okay.
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Just because *you* feel that way about these institutions doesn't mean that being associated with them can't confer social fitness with many, many other people. If you're a middle class kid, graduating from Harvard is a big deal; it opens up doors. If you're a professor, getting tenure at Yale is an enormous career milestone. If you're a philanthropist, being invited to the board of these institutions is a flex on your fellow rich do-gooders.
It's the nature of reputation that not everyone agrees. What m
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Wow, really bending over backwards to support these "not for profit" institutions, hmm?
Look
Harvard, Yale, and many of the other private "not for profit" universities make tons of money and support enormous amounts of influence-peddling. Somehow this is viewed as being better than, you know, someone starting a shareholder-driven education company like a tutoring service. For every for-profit like Phoenix U. there are dozens you never hear about because they're generally on the level and might actually help
Unanswered question (Score:4, Interesting)
Did he fire them on a Zoom call?
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The web is the Wild West. You don't like that fact, then don't use it. I'm just the messenger.
So .... (Score:1)
...Chinese people will become stupider in the long term?
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The obsession with exam scores went too far. A lot people ended up in rather drab jobs where all that vast knowledge and trivia skills went to waste. Too many school aces were chasing too few positions. Economically it's a waste of resources when people spend so much time and money on knowledge they can't leverage.
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And the economic argument is full of holes as well. China already has a problem with too much wealth chasing too few things that people want. It's the whole reason behind their property problem.
This is why a planned economies suck. Xi doesn't like the idea of computer ga
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Your argument seems to be they can increase the number of jobs that need higher education by allowing industries they consider "decadent", correct?
> I just don't see that as a winning strategy.
Xi's goal is to keep his group in power as long as possible. Allowing too much freedom would result in people willing to revolt because they know better. Too little and their economy plateaus in "Soviet Mode". Closer to the second seems the safer route to them. No path is risk-free, but being an iron-fisted dictato
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Which is roughly half of all countries.
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I was sort of hoping that China would aim a bit higher. For the sake of it's own citizens, and for the sake of the US, because competition can be healthy and help push us forward.
Buuuut, not likely to happen.
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> competition can be healthy and help push us forward
They'll probably keep most capitalism, but avoid mergers so that owners don't get too powerful. They want "capitalism in a jar".
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"Economically it's a waste of resources when people spend so much time and money on knowledge they can't leverage."
Like those quantum theorists in the early part of the 20th century. Come to think of it, what the 'ell was Einstein thinking, he never got rich off that gravitation scheme of his. Crick and Watson were just a bunch of schlemiels.
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Einstein's theories came to him mostly as a hobby. He wasn't even a good student, grade-wise.
No problem, (Score:1)
Now they can work for the "Old Oriental Education and Technology Group".