Giving Compass' Take:

• China has 1.4 billion people and incredibly dense cities. This leads to an uneven population in other parts of the country and can affect school systems.

• The article highlights a one-student school that was created because residents moved away.  Can we learn something from this model? How can we incorporate the positive elements of a one-student school into our system?

• Learn how teachers who practice inclusion are more likely to see students achieve academic success.


Xu Shuhui was the only student in her gym class, math class, and music class.

In fact, she was the only student at her school.

In 2016, INSIDER reported that Fei'an Primary School used to have more than 300 students, taught by 50 teachers, but the population plummeted when families moved out of the mountains. Shuhui's parents couldn't afford to send her to a boarding school, so she worked one-on-one with her teacher, day in and day out — although sometimes, her teacher invited younger preschoolers to play with her, so she wouldn't be lonely. It's unclear if, two years after Reuters visited her school, she still attends alone.

Read about Xu Shuhui's school experience by A.C. Fowler and Libby Kane at Business Insider