Father suffers heart attack while helping child with homework

In an incident in China, a father nearly died of a heart attack while helping his teenage son with homework. This has again raised questions about the high academic pressure faced by Chinese students and their families.

The SCMP portal reports this.

A 40-year-old man surnamed Zhang experienced severe chest pain and difficulty breathing while helping his son, a junior high school student, prepare for his high school entrance exams in China’s Zhejiang province.

Zhang was rushed to hospital, where he was diagnosed with “acute myocardial infarction.” A doctor from Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, affiliated with Zhejiang University School of Medicine, performed emergency coronary artery bypass surgery, saving his life.

The heart attack was due to premature coronary artery disease, which is often aggravated by emotional stress. Zhang regularly checked his son’s progress and arranged extra classes in the evenings. Their relationship became strained as the teenager felt pressured by his father’s high academic expectations.

Zhang also enrolled his son in tutoring courses and drove him to and from classes himself. He is one of many Chinese parents who have faced health problems caused by the stress of being overly involved in their children’s academic workload.

In February, another father in Zhejiang province was diagnosed with central serous chorioretinopathy, an eye disease that causes distorted vision, after he became extremely worried about his third-grade son’s failure to complete his homework.

In China, many teachers shift responsibility for homework supervision to parents, which leads parents to perceive their children’s academic achievements as a reflection of their own personal success. In this context, the gaokao exam becomes a key benchmark for them, perceived as the only path to success in the future.

Previously, Cursor wrote that a study by British scientists, published in the journal Teaching and Learning Toolkit, reveals both positive and negative aspects of parental involvement in homework.