Secondary Education in China

Abstract： There is some advantages in system of Chinese education （learn more knowledge and know how to compete） and it can help students to face the world. At the same time， there is some weakness in educational system too. Effective measures should be taken before things get worse by Chinese Government， teachers and students.

Key words： secondary education， advantages， weakness， measures

No one can deny the fact that a person’s education is the most important aspect of his life and secondary education is an indispensable phase to every student. From the period of “Reform and Opening-up Policy” to now， （Reform and Opening-up Policy： The purpose of open policy is to acquire advanced technology， management skills to serve our socialist construction so as to promote the realization of the four modernizations. It includes politics， economy， military， and science and so on.） Secondary education is rapidly developing. Increasing the number of secondary teachers， more and more students go to school to accept their nine-year compulsory education. Quality of teaching is developing day by day. There are some advantages in secondary education in China， but also it has some weakness， even something still need be changed.

At the first place， students will learn more and more foundational subjects in their classes than before， like Chinese， English， History， Mathematics， Physics and so on. Meanwhile， teachers will adjust their teaching to measure up to students’ expectations nowadays. These foundational classes are necessary for careers in the students’ future. If students become teachers after graduating， to teach their own students they will use Chinese to organize fluency sentences to explain what they teach and the questions they face； if the students become architects， maybe they will use knowledge of mathematics and physics. If students are good at English， they will go abroad and share Chinese history with foreigners by speaking English. Students will be prepared very well because when they studied in secondary school， teachers have prepared well with lots of simulation of real life experience. For example， teachers can mimic English countries’ surroundings and then， they should request everyone to speak English to communicate with each other； when students learn knowledge in mathematics or physics classes， teachers will give students some special and interesting questions which come from realistic life. For instance， a teacher might ask： “If you were an architect， how would you use your major knowledge to build a safe apartment and to calculate how much materials you should use？” I believe that students will give their employers better replies because of practicing in classes with teachers.

In the second place， students will learn how to compete with others in their secondary school. The most important characteristic in Chinese secondary education is examination. If you want to be a good student， a high score will become an important standard. Studying is the most important thing in school； the students who want to get more attention from their teachers will study harder. They want to use their high score to prove themselves the best one in class. As time passes， the behavior of competition becomes an indispensable characteristic about Chinese students. After they have graduated， students will survive in the jungle as millions of students would kill for good jobs. Teachers tell students that survival of the fittest is the unchangeable rule.

However， there are also some disadvantages in secondary education. On one hand， too much exam-oriented education and force-feeding teaching suppresses students’ creative thinking and individualism. As requested by the full-time educational system， students spend more time into learning knowledge than interacting with each other when they learn in their classrooms. Most of the time， teachers talk more than students. Teachers give more information on the textbooks for students to memorize. It is easy to find that there are some students dozing off in classes because boring knowledge does not make students excited and there are few chances for students to talk about their thinking. Listening to the same class and doing the same homework from the same teacher， students gradually lose their individualism. They do not know anything except what teachers teach in school. Maybe students will get high scores in examinations， but they will not do better when they confront the same question in their real life.

Another problem with Chinese educational system is taping public grades on the wall. It will hurt some students’ self-respect. Academic records belong to personal privacy； teachers should not put it in public. Scores do not represent that you are a good student or not. Ignoring some important knowledge or being on sick leave， students cannot get a good score， but it doesn’t means that he/she is not a distinguished student. Because of ranking the grades in public， Cockain who studied Chinese students about their feelings about Chinese educational experience and he wrote： “Students also described feelings of anxiety， frustration， fear， trepidation and depression which， in some cases， became expressed in physical symptoms， and blamed their trouble on excessive amounts of study and unreasonable parental expectations.”（Cockain， P.102）. Tian Xiaoyin who is a student in Guangdong province says that： “before taking gaokao， we did not want to eat， we could not sleep. We had so many paper to write and exams to take. Parents looked forwarded to us going to a good university. But this is impossible for everyone.” （Cockain， P.103）

In view of the seriousness of the disadvantages of secondary education， effective measures should be taken before things get worse. Firstly， Chinese government should reform the system of secondary education； all-around development should be promoted instead of exam-oriented education. Educational workers should delete some cliché and boring knowledge from students’ textbook； at the same time， update textbooks and give some practical knowledge to students； they should also add ability examination （such as physical ed， art， music， and handcrafts， things that cannot be taught in textbooks） as another standard for students to gain entrance to the universities. Secondly， “teachers should give more teamwork to students， to encourage thinking independently and critically， and empowers the student to evaluate the teaching performance openly， as oppose to force-teach student reading them capable only of speaking back predigested ideas.” （Shen， P130）. In my opinion， students should not only learn knowledge which comes from textbooks， but also they should be instilled high moral values and principles. Teachers should help students develop their valuable world view. Then students will have their own opinion to distinguish right from wrong. Last but not least， student should have more passion and enthusiasm to participate practical in activities to develop themselves.

Judging from what I have discussed above， I can safely draw a conclusion that education should continuously play an important role under the present environment. It must keep pace with the times， and must carry on the innovation of its working way and system. Now， both advantages and disadvantages exist in Chinese secondary education， if teachers， students and officials who come from government try their best to improve secondary education， it will develop better and better， then China will become a stronger country in the world.

References

[1]Cockain， A. （2011） Students’ ambivalence toward their experiences in secondary education： views from a group of young Chinese studying on an international foundation program in Beijing. The China Journal， 65， 101-119.

[2]Shen， X. （2008） Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Haerbing： Engineering Industry Press.

作者简介

王戈弋（1987-），女，山东菏泽市人。现为聊城大学外国语学院2011级研究生。研究方向：英语翻译理论与实践。