Goals/Objectives:
Students will:
Identify the different factors contributing to the introduction of a one-child policy in China.
Cite components to various one-child policies that have been enacted in China.
Evaluate the effectiveness of China’s one-child policy at decreasing the China’s birth-rate.
Propose changes to China’s existing one-child policy or propose that the policy is eliminated and support that proposition with evidence.
It's a policy that was introduced in China when the population was growing far too rapidly and needed to be kept under control. The massive population caused a famine that killed thousands and thousands of people. Therefore, the government took action. The policy stated that families could no longer have more than one child in order to decrease the population growth. If they did, they would be punished by the law. These sanctions could be fees or less government support. In some extreme cases, women were forced to abort and adopt sterilization.
It applies to the vast majority of people but there are exceptions:
If both parents are only-child, they can have a second child.
It doesn't apply to ethnic minorities.
If their first child is a girl, a couple can apply to have a second child.
In case of practical difficulties (ex. if the father is a disabled serviceman or if the child is intellectually disabled).
If a child is born oversea, it isn't counted as a first child in the policy.
Background/Context/Purpose:
The Chinese government introduced a one-child policy in the 1970s as a way to slow their skyrocketing birth rate. The policy began as completely voluntary. Over the years, the government began to use financial incentives to reward families with only one child and punishments to families with more than two children. The policy, while effective in slowing the birth rate, has had negative consequences for the Chinese population. Perhaps the worst were (and are) instances of forced abortions, and/or abortions after an ultrasound determines the female sex of a fetus. The preference for a male child has led to the overcrowding of orphanages with young girls. The high rate of male to female births leaves many sons without the prospect of a wife. There is also no one to care for the quickly aging Chinese population. This lesson leads students to examine the history of the one-child policy and the tenants of the policy. The lesson also requires students to evaluate the policy and propose changes to it.
1. How did China’s One-Child Policy come about and what did the government hope to achieve by implementing this policy?
2. What were some ways the policy tried to encourage families to only have one child? Were there punishments? Rewards?
3. What are some factors that make measuring the success of this policy challenging?
4. Write a Teel response to the following question:
Evaluate the success of the One-Child Policy in China. Explain your answer using evidence (statistics, examples etc).
Extension - What could have been used in place of the one-child policy to try and reduce population size? perhaps use the internet to research how other countries have achieved success.