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If a sudden three-to-five-day break happened now, with no make-up days required, and it was a compulsory holiday with no homework, what would you think of it?

Just looking at it on the surface, I believe no student would rate it anything less than an 'absolute smash'. Having lived almost seventeen years, this is the first time I have seen a holiday that is unconditional, cost-free and without homework (as the policy says). But then again, this autumn break is only being piloted in a few provinces, so nationwide adoption is likely to lag behind the pilot.

From our perspective, in compulsory education there are five days off, and in high school at least two and a half days off. This sounds good, but the policymakers seem to have forgotten one question: with a design that gives children a holiday to play, should parents let them take it?

Thus you’ll notice a problem: without a parent to accompany them, kids simply can’t go out to play. And parents, with no time to spare for their children, can only pressure schools to assign homework, so the so-called autumn break becomes the slogan for 'learning somewhere else.' Or it becomes about playing electronic devices at home (of course, this is just to illustrate the trade-offs; I think playing certainly happens, but perpetual play will eventually get tiring).

Clearly, this autumn break has irrationalities and defects in its top-level design. We can tentatively attribute it to the rushed development. But we also hope that in next year's 'summer vacation' design, some of the irrationalities can be addressed, for example by replacing it with more meaningful activities such as a spring excursion, or other activities. Rather than ending up empty, as this year's autumn break did.