No one likes a pushy parent, and the city government is trying to rein in the zeal of those parents willing to do almost anything to get their children into the “best” schools.

Some parents of kindergarten children spent part of their Spring Festival holiday writing “resumes” for their offspring in the hope of gaining enrollment in prestigious private schools next autumn.

“My daughter has been taking courses in dancing, painting, math and science,” said Cheng Yani, a mother of a 6-year-old girl. “So I wrote one or two pages describing her achievements and attached the certificates she acquired. When I searched online for some model resumes, I was stunned by some of them, especially a 15-page resume for a boy that sounded like something an adult job-seeker might write.”

The resume Cheng referred to has become something of an online phenomenon. The pushy parents applying for a slot at Shanghai Star-River Bilingual School described the little boy as a person of independent personality with rich and varied experiences, a wide variety of hobbies and the fortitude to withstand defeat.

He is said to have been learning hip-hop, go, soccer, piano, painting, swimming, math and science. The resume says he is very curious about the world and always keen to learn new things and ask questions. It includes a world map showing all the places he has visited and five pages of books he has read. He reads 500 books a year.

“I’m really surprised how much he has accomplished at so young an age,” said Cheng. “My daughter reads perhaps a few dozen books a year. The boy’s resume was so well organized that I can only assume his parents spent a lot of time on it.”

While Cheng and other parents may devote themselves to writing resumes for their children, such documents are banned by the Shanghai Education Commission. Schools that accept such resumes face reductions in enrollment allotments and government funding for three years.

Misguided parents, however, believe that admission to top schools guarantees scholastic excellence, university enrollment and lucrative careers.

Shanghai Star-River Bilingual School in Minhang District issued a statement after the boy’s resume went viral saying it did not conduct candidate interviews ahead of designated dates and did not accept resumes or competition certificates.

In Shanghai, public primary and junior high schools admit all students according to geographic catchment areas, while private schools can choose through interviews on designated dates. Paper entry exams are banned in all schools.

Parents, however, pay little heed. They enroll their children in crammers to learn everything from English, math and science to arts and even social etiquette. The kids also engage in various competitions to win certificates that are imagined to make their lustrous resumes all the more glittery.

The education commission has been persistent in trying to reduce the pressure on young children. In 2012, schools were banned from accepting resumes or competition certificates, and several once popular competitions and tests have since disappeared.

Cheng admitted that she knows the rules but said she still wants to “do the best” for her daughter.

“When other parents are doing so, it’s difficult for me to convince myself that I don’t have to do it too,” she said. “It’s also a way to show that we take the application process and the school seriously, which I think may give the school a good impression.”

Waste of paper

Wan Wei, head of Shanghai Pinghe School, a popular private school, said it still receives bundles of resumes every year.

“The resumes come in different ways,” Wan told Shanghai Daily. “Some are dropped at the guard house by parents, who run away quickly, and some are delivered by courier. Many of them are very thick and include well-designed biodata and competition certificates. It’s like a competition to see who can prepare the thickest resume.”

But, are they really helpful? No, said Wan.

“It’s a waste of paper and time,” he explained. “They are obviously prepared by parents or even outside agents. A boy has traveled to many places. So what? We do not care. What we care about is what we see when an applicant is interviewed, the real student behind the paperwork.”

Wan said his school has trained teachers to assess applicants’ abilities in expressing themselves, in communicating, in logical thinking, in imagination and in concentration.

“We do not test academic knowledge, but rather potential for learning,” he said.

A school application consultant, who preferred to be identified only as Kevin, said gold-plated resumes may actually have an adverse effect.

“When you describe your children as too outstanding, you are taking a risk,” he said. “If the school admission officials took resumes seriously and had high expectations in the interview process, you had better pray that your child isn’t nervous and blows the interview.”

Kevin recalled one couple whose son he prepared for an interview at a prestigious school. When the moment finally arrived, the child ran around the room screaming — the complete antithesis to the description on his resume. He was not admitted.

“It’s useless to speak highly of your child when it’s really the child who plays the decisive role,” he said. “My suggestion to parents is to prepare your child well, rather than wasting your time on resumes. Teach them good manners and ensure they get enough sleep so they appear at their best.”

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, suspects the boy’s resume that went viral was just hype whipped up by organizations that make money from training young children.

“Some organizations profit from parents’ anxiety, which only worsens the situation,” he said. “Parents should really open their eyes and stay calm to avoid falling prey to marketing ploys.”

Xiong said educational resources should be more evenly distributed and the assessment system should look beyond test scores. Parents, he said, need to change their mindset.

“When there is competition for slots, of course parents want their children to come out on top,” he said. “But that only worsens their competition anxiety. Schools and parents have to return to the core values of education, that is, developing human beings instead of pitting children against one another.”

Wan, the Pinghe principal, holds similar views.

“There is no huge gap between primary schools in Shanghai now,” he said. “Both private and public schools have ample curricula for students to develop. Parents should realize that and not be obsessed with getting their children into target schools. The life of these kids won’t be ruined if they don’t get into what are considered ‘good schools’.”

If parents become more relaxed, they will give their children a healthier environment for growth and development, he explained.

“The family unit is very important for young children to get an outlook on life and the larger world,” Wan said. “Parents’ anxiety about school, study and scores is passed on to their children. Being too pushy may destroy a child’s interest in studying.”

Children are individuals and should be allowed to follow their own roads to success, he added.

“Look at successful people today and you will find many who never went to prestigious schools,” he said.