Tutoring for an eight-year-old costs his family an adult's annual salary. Nobody round the table can see a way out.
Xiaoyu
我表姐家孩子今年上三年级，一年光补习就花四万。
Wǒ biǎojiě jiā háizi jīnnián shàng sān niánjí, yī nián guāng bǔxí jiù huā sì wàn.
My cousin's child is starting the third year; tutoring alone costs them forty thousand a year.
Chen Hao
四万？他们两口子一年挣多少？
Sì wàn ? Tāmen liǎngkǒuzi yī nián zhēng duōshao ?
Forty thousand? What do the two of them earn in a year?
Xiaoyu
二十来万。她说孩子身上的开销加起来，差不多顶一个人的工资。
Èrshí lái wàn. Tā shuō háizi shēnshang de kāixiāo jiā qilai, chàbuduō dǐng yī gè rén de gōngzī.
Around two hundred thousand. She says everything the child costs, added up, comes to about one whole salary.
Auntie Wang
我那时候哪有补习，放了学就在院子里跑。成绩不好就挨骂，骂完照样出去玩。
Wǒ nà shíhou nǎ yǒu bǔxí, fàng le xué jiù zài yuànzi lǐ pǎo. Chéngjì bù hǎo jiù áimà, mà wán zhàoyàng chūqù wán.
In my day there was no tutoring, we came out of class and ran about in the courtyard. A bad mark earned you a scolding, and after the scolding you went out to play again.
Zhang laoshi
课外班管得严了以后，很多转到了家里，一对一，反而更贵。
Kèwài bān guǎn de yán le yǐhòu, hěn duō zhuǎn dào le jiālǐ, yī duì yī, fǎn'ér gèng guì.
Since private classes were regulated, many have moved into the home, one to one, and they cost more.
Chen Hao
上有政策，下有对策。
Shàng yǒu zhèngcè, xià yǒu duìcè.
For every rule there is a way round it.
Xiaoyu
关键是别人补，你不补，当家长的心里就发慌。
Guānjiàn shì biéren bǔ, nǐ bù bǔ, dāng jiāzhǎng de xīnli jiù fāhuāng.
The crux is that if others take extra classes and you do not, as a parent you panic.
Zhang laoshi
这就是剧场效应。前排的人站起来，后面的只好跟着站，谁也没看得更清楚。
Zhè jiùshì jùchǎng xiàoyìng. Qián pái de rén zhàn qilai, hòumian de zhǐhǎo gēn zhe zhàn, shéi yě méi kàn de gèng qīngchu.
That is the theatre effect. The front row stands up, those behind have to stand too, and nobody sees any better.
Auntie Wang
那就都坐下呗。
Nà jiù dōu zuò xià bei.
Then let them all sit down.
Zhang laoshi
谁先坐？
Shéi xiān zuò ?
Who sits down first?
Chen Hao
这就没人敢答了。我要是当家长，大概也不敢。
Zhè jiù méi rén gǎn dā le. Wǒ yàoshi dāng jiāzhǎng, dàgài yě bù gǎn.
That is a question nobody dares answer. If I were a parent I probably would not dare either.
Xiaoyu
我表姐倒是想开了一点。她说孩子数学不行，可画画很好。
Wǒ biǎojiě dǎo shì xiǎng kāi le yī diǎn. Tā shuō háizi shùxué bù xíng, kě huà huà hěn hǎo.
My cousin has let go a little, though. She says her son is no good at maths but draws very well.
Auntie Wang
那就让他画。三十年以后，谁还记得你三年级的分数？我连自己的都忘了。
Nà jiù ràng tā huà. Sānshí nián yǐhòu, shéi hái jìde nǐ sān niánjí de fēnshù ? Wǒ lián zìjǐ de dōu wàng le.
Then let him draw. In thirty years, who will remember your third-year marks? I cannot even remember my own.
Zhang laoshi
话是这么说，中考还在那儿摆着。
Huà shì zhème shuō, zhōngkǎo hái zài nàr bǎi zhe.
That is easily said, and the school-leaving exam is still sitting there.
Xiaoyu
所以难就难在这儿：道理人人都懂，轮到自己就下不了手。
Suǒyǐ nán jiù nán zài zhèr : dàoli rénrén dōu dǒng, lún dào zìjǐ jiù xià bù le shǒu.
And that is exactly where the difficulty lies: everyone understands the reasoning; when it is your turn, you cannot bring yourself to do it.
Above there is a policy, below there is a way round it. The formula describes how an instruction empties out as it goes down the levels, and is as well known in China as a proverb. It is said without aggression, almost fatalistically, and it names nobody: which is what allows it into ordinary conversation.
At the theatre, the one who stands sees better; when everyone stands, nobody sees better and everyone is on their feet. The image is used in Chinese to describe arms races in schooling or at work. Zhang sets it out, Auntie Wang offers the only way out, and Zhang's question shows why it never happens.
想开了 means to have stepped back, to have stopped fretting: the complement 开 opens what was closed. 下不了手 says the opposite and translates badly: literally "the hand will not come down", it is the inability to carry out something you know to be right. The two frame the last line, and the opposition is the very subject of the lesson.
