More than a decade later, the Shandong provincial education bureau has initiated a similar type of reform at the senior middle school level. In Shandong, many rural senior middle schools are boarding schools. These schools implement strict disciplinary regimes to encourage students to study hard to give them the best possible chance of succeeding in the university entrance exam.

The provincial education bureau was worried that all this emphasis on test preparations was having a deleterious effect on the secondary school students. Since all of their time was scheduled for them, the students were said not to know how to schedule their own days in a productive manner. All the drill and exam preparations were further said to dull the students' imagination.

To solve these problems, the provincial education bureau has enforced a strict ban on mandatory evening and weekend classes in rural boarding schools. The students may study on their own, but teachers are not allowed to take attendance, or even visit the classrooms where students might be studying. In some ways the reform has been a success. Overworked teachers have deservedly enjoyed a shorter working day, exam averages have not fallen and most students seem perfectly capable of structuring their own time in a manner that allows for ample study.

But one side effect of the reform is quite worrisome. Private tutoring businesses have expanded and flourished rapidly across the province. In the past, students with difficulties could always get help from their teachers during the mandatory study hall classes. Now students who need help can only get it if their parents can afford a private tutor or private after-school review classes.

One evening, I ran into a group of senior middle school students at a cafe where they had gone to smoke and drink instead of studying. They told me that before the ban they used to study hard but now they did not see the point. They did not understand enough in class to do their homework on their own and their parents, all from rural villages, could not afford private tutors. One student even accused his teachers of deliberately leaving important bits out of lectures to force the students to rely on paid tutors, who would give the teacher kickbacks. In short, though the reform has probably benefited elite students, it has not been as beneficial for average students, especially not for average students whose parents are poor.

Education reform is always a matter of trade-offs. The best reform manages to simultaneously consider the problems of the most elite students, of average students, of academically weak students, and of students from relatively impoverished backgrounds. I am worried that this recent reform in Shandong has not taken all of these issues into consideration.

The author is a senior researcher at Australian National University.