Pedagogy Shanghai Style | Rename Your Kid
Do you have a kid that is under performing at school, or he/she always gets into fights in the schoolyard?
Here is a Chinese solution. Just change his/her name.
A new semester has just started for elementary and middle school students in Shanghai, and as always a number of parents are registering to change their children’s names in the hope of changing their temper, bringing good luck, or improving grades.
A better name might even serve as a medicine against addiction.
Some parents say they hope a new name will help their children drop bad habits, like addiction to the Internet.
Changing a name is not something you just do by picking up “The sweet boys and girls names” book. You go to a “name-giving master” or a naming agency.
A naming agency …. said its professionals analyze the defects of a person’s original name, and suggest a new one based on the person’s birthday and other fortune-telling skills.
A new name costs between 800 yuan (US$99) and 10,000 yuan. No guarantees of course and definitely an even more confused child.
Source: Shanghai Gazette
Posted
Sunday, February 19th, 2006 at 10:43 pm,
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