Time to pull the plug on parents' voting contest

IN THE FACE of increasingly widespread children's popularity contests and the vote canvassing activities associated with them, the education bureau of East China's Zhejiang province issued a regulation on Tuesday that in principle prohibits the soliciting of votes via social media. Beijing News comments:

Many people have experienced such competitions where they are asked to vote for the children of their acquaintances in social media groups. The majority of such "popularity contests" are organized by children's training companies, and are a gimmick for their own promotion.

Yet peer pressure means parents compete to gain the most votes for their children. And many parents require their friends, relatives, even colleagues and subordinates to vote for their kids.