subject: The Chinese Education Information [print this page] Over the millennia, students of all ages in China have had to endure the miseries of rote learning. Teachers have stifled creativity in the pursuit of accumulation of facts, and parents have forced children to spend mind-numbing hours cramming for exams. However, during the past year, the government has been experimenting with what could amount to revolutionary changes in the classrooms of China. The goal is to make education more enjoyable, more useful and, above all, to challenge students to think for themselves.
What has driven reform is a belated recognition that the Chinese system of education is not to produce enough innovative thinkers. In addition, students are deeply unhappy. A survey by the Ministry of Education five years ago found that over 80% of students did not like school. Dropout rates have increased in rural areas, partly for economic reasons, but also the stifling atmosphere of their classrooms. Examination pressures often lead to suicide. According to a survey conducted last year among high school students and college freshmen in an area more than 50% had considered suicide.
Several other countries in East Asia, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are grappling with similar problems. But the implications of China's reform efforts is particularly deep. China Traditional methods of education are ideal for a political culture that requires citizens to submit blindly to authority. By encouraging students to question their teachers and see them as equals (even the official literature now talks of promoting "democracy" in the classroom environment), China could usher in a new relationship between rulers and ruled .
The problem is making it work. The government has set ambitious goals with limited resources to ensure that the country more than 10 million elementary and secondary teachers acquire the skills and determination to change the habits of a lifetime. The reforms initiated in September 2001 with about 420 000 primary and secondary school students (from a national total of more than 215 million) involved in 38 pilot areas across the country. In September this year, participation rose to 9.1 children in 572 areas. These figures will double next year. Brainchild of the Ministry of Education had been to implement the reforms at national level by the year 2010. But according to Liu Jian, National Center of the Ministry for the school curriculum and textbooks, employers in a variety of companies said they wanted a faster timetable. So now the goal is 2005. In 2004, similar experiments will begin in the schools. this authour comes from www.myterastock.com
