Chinese students' print-like English handwriting stirs controversy

A teacher comments "not one stroke more, not one stroke less" after reviewing a student's composition at Hengshui High School in North China's Hebei province. [Photo / Sina Weibo]

As for the teacher's remark, "not one stroke more, not one stroke less", Weibo user eshouzhe said humorously: "Is the teacher a Virgo?" as those born under the Virgo zodiac sign are believed to seek perfection.

Though the too-strict demand made a British reader ask, "Why suppress individuality," many Chinese Weibo users had their say.

A Weibo user Zaoyidezoe wondered whether neat handwriting has a lot to do with creativity?

And another user, xiuxing, said it's acknowledged that exam markers appreciate neat handwriting and give test takers with good handwriting better scores than those with bad handwriting.

China is a country with a long tradition of underlining calligraphy, even in the ancient examinations such as the keju system, which emphasized good handwriting as a standard to evaluate on whether a participant was qualified to be a government official.

And in the modern national college entrance examination held every June, students' handwriting also matters.

"Careless handwriting may cause a student to lose more than three points in the national college entrance examination," Yu Delong said to the reporter with Yangzhou Evening News. Yu is a Chinese teacher from Hanjing High School in East China's Jiangsu province.

There are also many Weibo users showing worry about this too-strict teaching method, as weibo user li-owl-stop said: "We should reflect the Chinese-style education, and it's hard to imagine what would happen if all the schools in China adopted the teaching method at Hengshui High School."