Well that’s new …
A kindergarten in China welcomed students for the first day of the new school year by hiring pole dancers to perform. Whilst I’m sure that the ladies performing were very athletic and flexible, I’m not so sure that the principal’s explanation that the performance was “international and good exercise” was appropriate for this young audience. When my kids were at kindergarten the only brought-in entertainment they experienced was a friendly clown (before the latest IT movie, thankfully) and a petting zoo. No scantily clad dancers whipping around a pole bearing our nation’s flag!
“Who would think this is a good idea”
China-based writer, Michael Standaert, has two children who attend the kindergarten in Shenzhen’s Bao’an district. He expressed his viewpoint on Twitter.
Who would think this is a good idea? We’re trying to pull the kids out of the school and get our tuition back. They wouldn’t give us the number of the company that owns the school, but looking into that. pic.twitter.com/vEdIhuq774
— Michael Standaert (@mstandaert) September 3, 2018
Apparently it’s not the first time the kindergarten has chosen some, shall we say, less than appropriate learning experiences. How about some displays of machine guns and mortars?
This was the military display from back in July. Almost took them out of the school then but they were a few days from finishing so just let them stay. It is hard to move the kids around to a bunch of different schools here, and they’ve made a lot of friends. pic.twitter.com/EkhGKyQJyq
— Michael Standaert (@mstandaert) September 3, 2018
The Principal has since been fired from her position. Though I wonder if it’s because of the pole dancers gyrating performances or because they swung around a pole bearing the Chinese flag?!
Read more on Kidspot:
I’ve seen this video prior to reading this article and it’s just a bit of a mess. It was definitely a bad decision from management but I hope parents are able to use this as a teaching moment to kids and tell them that this is just a form of dancing or entertainment – yes not suitable for their age group but something that it not entirely taboo or else the kids will just see it this way.
Well, I have never heard of anything like that before. It surprises me to hear that pole dancers in ‘scantily clad’ dress were allowed to perform in front of 3 and 4 year olds without parental permission. As a parent of a 3 yr old, and even my 9yr old for that matter, I would not have been happy to have that kind of display put on however everyone is different and some people will think its ok. As for the military display, I would be ok with it if the weapons were decommissioned and handled appropriately – but only for my 9yr old as he can understand a bit more what is going on where my 3yr old would just think it was funny having guns there and would not understand the varying implications weapons have.
awww hahha this cracked me up abit to be honest…like what on earth was going through that principals head to think this would be a good idea?? makes you wonder if there was some darker side to it…like perhaps a debt she owed to some gang members? would certainly make for an interesting hollywood movie!
Wow! This makes me appreciate our wonderful country and education system so much more! I can’t believe that establishments can get away with this.
Wow, I don’t even know what to say about this. Makes me glad to be in NZ, even if the pole dancers were dressed like fairies or something then maybe I would not of thought it so bad, but yeah not a good look and the weapons, speechless
Wow!! That’s really inappropriate! Yes, it’s a good sport and take a lot of skill but it also has so many other connotations that is is not a good choice for entertaining kindergarten children and their families! Best to be kept for an adults only evening!!
What?! Crikey not that I think there is anything wrong with pole dancing etc, but I agree that it’s not suitable for a school performance haha. I wouldn’t be too happy if my child/ren went to a kindy or school where the principal thought it ok
I saw this in the media and thought it was very inappropriate for the children to be watching it’s very bizarre that the kindergarten would think it was fine. I think the parents were right to react the way they did.
I actually read this article on Facebook and was absolutely gob smacked. I really don’t think this sort of thing is appropriate for kindy children especially when these sort of people are in strip clubs etc. Yes some people do it for exercise and I’m not going to critercise the pole dancing but little people don’t need this infront of their eyes. And they wonder why kids grow up too fast 😔
Yikes. It sounds as if she made several bad choices. The guns and then the pole dancers. What on earth was she thinking? I mean I guess it is good exercise? But not when you are just little. And really good pole dancers are pretty impressive! But again, not appropriate!