Ah, how secondary education has changed!

When I was a lad, school operated on a system of strict rules and severe punishment rather than incentives and reward.

Every Friday afternoon, the student with the lowest test scores in the class would plunge into a deep pit filled with spiders, stinging nettles and dog poo as the trapdoor below his chair sprang open; the soft, wet thud his body made as it came into contact with the mounds of muck marking the end of another week at Catholic school.

We worked hard, we dodged the poop. That’s how we rolled.

But not this generation!

A teacher in China has shown that the promise of reward really can have a motivating effect on students’ performance as one young teacher set her students an inspired challenge:

“Come out on top in the next test and I’ll wear a maid outfit.”

And, staying true to her word, the brave teacher dressed up once the results were in…

Back in 2009, Toei Cinema brought Oppai Barē (Boobie Volleyball) to the big screen.

The story sees a young female teacher given the arduous task of coaching a completely hopeless and uninspired high school boys volleyball team. Struggling to engage with them, the teacher eventually ends up agreeing to give the boys a quick flash of her breasts should they improve enough to win a game.

It’s a silly, lighthearted movie but has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and is done surprisingly tastefully, making it well worth a watch.

But this is no movie; this is the real deal!

A teacher in the southern province of Guangxi, China really did inspire her class full of boys to get the lead out by promising to dress up if they came top of their grade.

And better yet, it worked!

These photos appeared online late last week, showing the teacher going about her class dressed from head to toe in maid gear, topped off with a pair of cute black cat ears.

While it’s certainly nowhere near as risqué as Oppai Barē‘s “win a game and I’ll show you my boobs” promise, it’s clear that underperforming young men will do just about anything for a little titillation and respond very well to incentives!

The photos, seemingly snapped by a pupil during the class, found their way onto the internet and were soon picked up by the Chinese media and featured on the news.

While there have been plenty of netizens arguing that teachers should not be engaging their students in such, er, stimulating promises, the general opinion is that this teacher has achieved something rather remarkable:

“Now that’s a good teacher!”

“The award for 2012 Best Teacher goes to… that girl!”

“Wow. That’s awesome!”

“OK, now that’s a teacher that no student would forget as long as they live.”

It probably helps that the teacher is questions is quite young and pretty, too!

As much as I liked most of my high school teachers, I think for the most-part “I’ll dress as a maid based on your next test performance” might have been more of a scare tactic than an incentive…

No word yet who this progressively-thinking young teacher is or whether she’s actually found herself in hot water since the photos went viral, but we at RocketNews24 at least tip our hats to her.

“Boys anticipate maid = attain good grades” is certainly more exciting than “Cruel man rings bell = dogs salivate,” anyway…

Read in Japanese Oppai Barē (C) Toei Cinema