Teacher suspended over 'puppy love' remarks made in book

A senior teacher in Hubei province has been suspended over remarks he made in a book blaming girls for "puppy love" in schools, Beijing News reported on Thursday.

Quoting an official from the education bureau in Xiantao city, Hubei, where  teacher Xiao Shenghuai works, the report said the book has been removed from bookstores.

In the book, called Path to Cultivate a Class Supervisor, Xiao, who works as a middle school teacher, wrote: "If there is so-called puppy love, girls should be the main ones to blame, because many of them drop hints or seduce (the boys)."

He claimed that it was because girls typically hit puberty two years earlier than boys. Therefore, he recommended class supervisors to talk to boys when puppy love occurs among students, because the girl "is likely the culprit".

A video about his remarks in the book, which was published in 2015, recently circulated on the internet and triggered outcry among some netizens, with many calling his comments biased and misogynist. Similar criticism also appeared in comments posted on a review of the book on the Douban platform.

When contacted by Beijing News, Xiao said that he "had nothing to say" about the controversy, other than calling his critics "troublemakers".

The education bureau worker said that upon receiving multiple complaints, the bureau decided to suspend him and required him to conduct self-reflection at home.

"Despite tepid sales of the book, it led to a negative impact," the official said, adding that the bureau believed that Xiao's mindset means he"is not qualified to be a teacher".

Xiao, who holds a master's degree in education, has been awarded a number of titles over the years, including being dubbed a star class-supervising teacher, and has published several books. Chinese schools typically assign a teacher to be the supervising teacher of a class. Besides teaching, this person serves as a contact for parents and helps manage administrative affairs.

An employee at the Changjiang Literature Press, which published the book, told Red Star News in Sichuan province that the book has not been on the market in six years due to poor sales. Because its copyright has since expired, the content of the book cannot be changed.