A Girl in China Cries About Homework and It Resonates Around the World

This little girl in China is going viral, thanks to her desperation for some time off from homework:

Poignant! Powerful!

Over here, we appreciate this video…and hope it was not staged. The whole thing seems so kid-like, until the girl begs her dad to “Treasure our childhood days.” Which sounds more like something us adults would say.

And the fact that the dad was videotaping this interlude is also a little strange.

But! Whether authentic or crafted (and we’re still leaning toward authentic), the video is going viral. Why? In part it’s because of the girl herself — sweet, smart, sly, desperate. But also because her message is of the moment:

School should not last all day at the schoolhouse and then continue at home till bedtime. Kids are not just students — or, as the girl notes, robots. Kids are humans, longing for some time off! And as we note here all the time: Time off is really time ON — time when kids learn things that CAN’T be taught in school.

Share this video! And if you’d like to comment, head over to our Raising Independent Kids Facebook group, where we’ll be discussing this. Love to see you there!