The principal refuses to dismantle the bird's nest: How pet-like parenting can spoil people

A principal of a middle school in Shenzhen refused a senior high school (Grade 12) student’s request to destroy a bird’s nest, and public opinion has widely applauded it.

The incident began with a Grade 12 student who, because the birds’ chirping affected his exam preparation, wrote a letter to the principal asking to remove/destroy the bird’s nest. The principal rejected his request. In an interview, he explained: Today we find the birds noisy, and tomorrow we might think that the sound of the air conditioner or the dripping of water is noisy too. We need to learn how to get along with the world, rather than making the world adjust to us.

The principal’s remarks are not alarmist or making a mountain out of a molehill. The reason they struck a chord and earned praise is precisely that they hit a kind of unhealthy reality in education right now: once a child is studying, the adults in the household are afraid to even speak above a whisper, fearing it will affect the child’s learning. Similar parenting styles that are overly protective have already produced serious consequences.

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