Eagle dad's education tactic triggers debate

He Yide and his father He Liesheng sign up for a self-taught admission test at the Continuing Education School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, Feb 6, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

A man known for his tough teaching style has signed his 8-year-old son up to take a self-taught test to get into one of the country's elite universities, Beijing News reported on Thursday.

He Liesheng, 50, registered his son, He Yide, for the admission test for a marketing management program run by the Continuing Education School of Nanjing University on Monday. The man also applied himself.

"I want to be a businessman so I chose this major," the boy told China News Service.

Having not entered the formal education system, the boy has studied primary school and junior high school courses at home.

He Liesheng believed that it is good to expose his son to higher education at an early age.

"I think it is more targeted for him to learn a specialized course that is suitable for his future job," He said.

But the boy's mother seems worried about her son's prospects at the university.

"My feelings are complicated. I am afraid he will be overstrained in the college as he is very young. But the experience might help make him a strong-minded person," He Longhui said.

It is not the first time the father has made headlines for his unorthodox education approach.

In 2012, a video about his 4-year-old son running naked in the snow went viral and earnt him the nickname Eagle Dad.

The boy later attracted more public attention by achieving some unlikely feats, such as competing in an international sailing race, climbing the 3,376-meter-high Mount Fuji in Japan in 15 hours, and flying a fixed-wing airplane over a wildlife zoo in Beijing.