A debate over privacy has begun over a university in south China’s Shenzhen City, after the university directly sent students’ detailed grade reports straight to their parents.

　　近日中国南方深圳大学直接将学生成绩单邮寄给家长一事，引发了关于隐私的讨论。

　　As reported by the Shenzhen Evening News on October 31, the controversy came to light when unidentified students from Shenzhen University complained on WeChat, one of China’s most commonly used social network platforms, that their parents received their grades by mail after they had been asked to provide their home addresses for “security reasons.”

　　据《深圳晚报》10月31日的报道，深圳大学的一名学生在中国最流行的社交平台微信上抱怨，此事得以曝光。他说校方称出于“安全原因”要求学生提供家庭地址，之后他们的父母就收到了成绩单。

　　According to the newspaper, the letters were just delivered to the parents of the students at the university’s College of Life Sciences and Oceanography. What included in these EMS express packages were the letter from the college, the transcript, the conversion method of grades and the contact information of teachers.

　　据该新闻报道，信件直接送到了该校生命科学与海洋学院学生的家长手中。特快专递包裹内有来自学院的信件、成绩单、成绩换算方法以及老师的联系方式。

　　An official WeChat account of Shenzhen University published an article with a screenshot photo of notification massage saying: “According to the uniform requirements of the college, in order to strengthen the contact between school and parents, the college will send a letter and the transcript to parents of the class of 2016 and 2017 today.”

　　深圳大学微信公众号发布了一篇文章，附带了一个通知截屏：“应校方统一要求，为了加强学校和家长之间的联系，学校今天将向2016级和2017级的家长发送一封信件和成绩单。”

　　“We did receive the transcript express of my younger sister from the college,” a netizen, Ms Tian, told the Beijing Youth Daily, “we were quite astonished because my family never received my transcripts when I went to school.”

　　网友田小姐在接受《北京青年报》采访时表示：“我们确实收到了我妹妹的成绩单，我们还觉得很惊讶，因为我上学的时候家里从来没有收到我的成绩单。”

　　The college’s decision to send transcripts straight to parents has sparked heated debate online.

　　学校将成绩单寄给家长的决定在网上引起了热议。

　　Some netizens believe that parents, as the "investors" for the tuition fee, have the right to know about students’ performance. However, some argue that grades are private so that schools have no right to do so.

　　一些网友认为，家长出学费，有权了解孩子的学习情况。然而，一些人则认为分数是隐私，学校没有权利这么做。

　　Mr Wu, from class of 2017, is one of the students who agree with this decision.

　　2017级的吴同学对此举表示造成。

　　“Sending grades to parents can make students feel stressed and encourages them to study hard. And it will also help parents to have the better understanding of their children’s academic performance,” said Wu.

　　他说，“将成绩单寄给父母能让学生感觉到压力，鼓励他们要好好学习，同时也能让父母更清楚孩子在学校的表现。”

　　As families, Ms Tian and her parents also believe that students might become more and more indulgent in college without parental supervision.

　　同时，田小姐和家人也认为，如果没有家长的监督，大学生在学校里可能会越来越放任。

　　According to a teacher at the College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, sending transcripts is a decision made for the entire university. The university had sent transcripts before when students’ grades were under a red alert. However, from now on, to establish communication between school and parents, the transcripts will be sent to parents every semester.

　　根据生命科学和海洋学院的一位老师的说法，寄送成绩单是整个大学的决定。这所大学以前在学生成绩不及格时就寄过成绩单。不过，从现在开始，为了建立学校和家长之间的沟通，学校每学期都会寄成绩单给家长。

　　Guo Yuanjie, an associate researcher at China’s National Institute of Education Sciences, believes it is necessary and reasonable for colleges and universities to send transcripts to parents at present.

　　中国教育科学研究院副研究员郭元杰(音)认为，目前高校将成绩单寄给家长是必要的、合理的。

　　“Many students wouldn’t tell their grades to parents just because they thought they have grown up. It led to some serious problems in some students’ study, and parents do not know how their children are performing in school until they are finally told to drop out.”

　　很多学生觉得自己长大了，成绩都不告知父母。“这导致了一些学生的学习出现严重的问题，家长们不知道孩子在学校表现如何，直到他们最终被要求退学。”

　　As for some netizens who believe that grades are private, Guo responded that these are not privacy issue. Peers and teachers will know the grades as soon as them come out.

　　对于一些认为分数是隐私的网友，郭回应说分数不是隐私。成绩一出来同学们和老师们就知道了。

　　“The so-called privacy is just hiding the parents,” said Guo.

　　他说，“他们所谓的隐私就是欺瞒父母。”

　　In fact, Shenzhen University is not the only college in China which sends grades straight to parents. The Sun Yat-Sen University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Sichuan Conservatory Of Music, Nanchang University, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics and many other universities also send all or part of the students’ transcripts to parents. The East China Jiaotong University had been sending grade letters to parents for the past two decades.

　　事实上，深圳大学并不是中国唯一一所把成绩单寄给家长的大学。中山大学、西安交通大学、四川音乐学院、南昌大学、江西财经大学等多所高校也将学生的全部或部分成绩单寄给家长。过去20年来，华东交通大学一直在给家长们寄成绩单。