Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

A survey of 1,324 parents of Shanghai students in their nine-year compulsory educational period, by the consumer assessment center of the Shanghai Quality Association this month has described local educational situations, today's Wenhui Daily reported.
Parents have high expectations for their children. Nearly 30 percent of the parents expect their children to become civil servants in the future, with only 1.1 percent expecting their children to become workers.
Parents are willing to spend on their children, with the expenditures accounting for an average of one-quarter of a family's revenue. It costs a family an average of more than 500 yuan (US$60) per month for their children to attend extracurricular classes, with nine percent of families spending more than 500 yuan a month hiring teachers for their children after school. For low-income families, educational costs consume most of their revenue.
Elementary and middle school students sleep an average of 8.7 hours a day, but nearly 40 percent of the children have insufficient sleep caused by excessively long days at school, too much homework and extracurricular classes, the survey indicated.
Thirty-five percent of parents buy tonics for their children to improve their immune system, but they choose these tonics blindly, with most parents making choices based on ads, said a survey analyst.
For safety concerns, 40 percent of the parents send their children to school or meet them after school every day.