Issues about China’s education come to the spotlight every year when the entrance examinations for elementary schools, middle schools, and universities take place. People say it takes ten years to grow a tree, and it takes a millennium to grow a man. Up till now, what are we talking about when we talk about reform of education? And how can we solve the problems related to education once and for all?
The Mistakes in Education Remains Worrying 3 Decades after the Reform and Opening-Up
DENG Xiaoping once said that the biggest mistake was the mistake of education. The educational system of China is the last barrier of the planned economy, which is also another casualty of the planned economy. For example, according to the Ministry of Education, in 2013, the number of students who have been abroad for studies exceeded 3.0586 million, among whom 72.83% have returned to China. Another example is, the range of education has expanded greatly with more than 9 million students registering for the national matriculation examination every year, and more than 7 million college graduates. Besides, the facilities of schools have been improved to a big extent, with some even taking it a little further to extravagance and luxury. However, the errors of education and education reforms are also obvious, even serious. This may be the consensus on issues concerning education at the moment. We can see the chaos and disorder in the area of education in newspapers and in everyday life with many astounding incidents and cases, such as follows:
－ In practice, there is a system of division for schools where students are only allowed to go to the nearest school of their residence. However, in matriculation, it takes money to get into a good school whatsoever. Depending on the reputation of schools, it can take as much as RMB 80,000 or RMB 10,000.
－Cheating in examinations happens from time to time, and it is difficult to eliminate . Some students, along with their parents and teachers even go on-line to make a profit out of this.
－The bonus points for national entrance examinations is also a big problem as it has made talents a privileges. Bonus for physical advantages are usually involved with payment to the referie and those who oversee the rules of the competitions, for example, in order to get the bonus points, people have to pay RMB40,000 in regards to advantage in playing football, or RMB80,000 in swimming. Besides, such competitions usually charge high just for registration, RMB 50,000 is just for the registration. Some students cheat in these competitions to get the bonus points. What they do is simply put on the uniform and get a group picture.
－In order to make a profit, many colleges and universties hold MBA and EMBA course which are meant to have a target group of those in the industrial and commercial world, but now “more than half from the politics.” A Mr. Yu from the enrollment office of Peking University said that “You have to pay a tuition of RMB 668,000, and you have to be above the level of leading roles of divisions or equivalents in the administrative structure.” Just to get in these courses. And for those above the bureau-level, the tuition skyrocketed to RMB 798,000. Another phenomenon is many government officials “entertain guests” while it is the businessmen who are “paying the bills”. Some training course have become the “vanity fair”[Page] and a “resource mine” for those who seek reputation and connections, where even the title of professor or even academician can be purchased.
－Fatal criminal cases have been seen more and more frequently in universities as many students suffer from the pressure of studies, relationships, and petty daily events. Some even resort to selfsuicide and murder of others, let alone the crimes done by unversity students, such as YAO Jiaxin and MA Jiajue.
Anyhow, a crisis of education and of the society is right in front of us.
The Error of China’s Education Lies on the Conception of Educaiton
First of all, China’s education takes a very pragmatic and utilitarian approach. It can be said that China’s education system is full of utilitarianism, including the influence of state utilitarianism and individual utilitarianism. When MAO Zedong proposed the guideline of the development of education, “education should serve the proletarian politics, combining education with productivity”, in order to “nurture socialist laborers with round-up development of their moralities, intelligence, and physical advantages.” China’s education in the first place never focuses on cultivating individuals, individuals with healthy personality and physical health, with social responsibility and sympathy, but rather it aims to bring about human beings with enhanced training in physical skills and intelligence in order to work for the state and politics. In the sense of individuals and families, China’s education aims to a promising career with handsome salaries. It is all about money and profit. Up till today, this guideline has not been questioned or criticized, on the contrary, it is being implemented with more and more exquisiteness, publicity, and seriousness. And this is not enough, China’s education puts not only politics first, but also grades first. Education is still in tight grip of politics, and it is now also under the control of money.
Secondly, there is a popular despotism in China’s education system, which is indicated by the fact that the national matriculation examination has resulted in the loss of interests and independent thinking of the students. It also further leads to the loss of independent personality, thinking, and the judgement of right and wrong. Consequently, the students have become parrots who just copy fashion whatever others do. In the meanwhile, the education of class struggle has also made students unable to sympathize and tolerate. They now laugh at others’ loss, the disasters of other countries. They not only dehumanize enemies, but also breed hatred towards their classmates, friends, elders and teachers, and even their own parents. Therefore, the despotism in the education system is also the education of slavery, dumbness, and toxicness. Now that students have become slaves to knowledge and examinations, even to their teachers and supplementary books and their publishers, and the teachers and parents also suffer from it. [Page]
Thirdly, what’s at issue also includes the instrumentalization, technicalization, schematization, and the abuse of knowledge for education. The subject of education is individuals who are capable of thoughts and emotions. And education should be something of flexibility,emotional appeal, and rejoice. However, China’s educational system upholds a whole set of training, standard answers, and systematic rules, which makes the system itself an assembly line or a poultry house. What students of middle and high schools do on a daily basis is exercises, and what they are trained with is the skills to solve exam questions. Many college students not only study but also sign up for many extra curriculum activities for credit, which leave them no time to read, especially original works and classics. All the activities in education are measured and quantified by specific standards, and the lectures in class follow a certain set of procedures with certain period of time distributed to certain content. The amount of published papers, number of the papers, and the level of publishing journals are taken into account for teachers and lecturers to get certain titles. And there are also a set of standards to measure.
The irrationality in the educational system must end.
Education matters. Therefore, education should follow the natural course of development which is incremental and progressive. However, for more than 6 decades, irrationality took over in China’s educational system. Even after the reform and opening-up when there was less radical movements in the political arena, the situation remained for education. Taking college education for an example, a simple glimpse of the transformation of the college education may reveal some interesting facts to us.
－The college and department adjustment in 1952 marked the beginning of radical movements in the educational system. The colleges and departments of the educaitonal bodies were adjusted according to the Soviet model which led to the survival of only a few universities, while many university colleges were cancelled and set up as colleges of various industries. The government took over and transformed 65 private colleges, and cancelled 24 colleges that were sponsored by the church, including St. John's University（Shanghai）,Yenching University(now Peking University), and Aurora University（Shanghai）. A tilt towards natural sciences instead of social sciences were witnessed when many humanity majors, such as political science and economics were canceled.This can be blamed for the lack of benign humanistic education for several generations in China.
－The Great Leap Forward for higher education in 1958 led to the great increase of colleges, from 229 colleges in 1957 to 23,500 colleges in 1958. As there was a lack of proper conditions, teachers, and students, the increase of the number of colleges simply means the deterioration of the quality of education.
[Page]－The “not suitable for admission”policy from 1958 to 1976. Since 1958, political examination had started for college students, which put them into four categories: those who were allowed for admission in secret majors; those in general majors; those downgraded for admission; and those not allowed to be admitted. This policy stipulated that those students who were born in families that were categorized as wealthy farmers or property owners, or the so-called “capitalist families”, and those whose parents were labeled “rightest”, with oversea connections, and with complicated social backgrounds, were not allowed to be admitted, or only allowed to be admitted but by a downgraded major by colleges and universities. This policy has legalized the inequality of the educational system in China.
－The ten-year Cultural Revolution. During this period, schools stopped taking in students. Schools were involved in criticizing and denouncing teachers, and then in violent struggles between clans, some even with arms. A big amount of young men and women were transferred to the rural areas. And the higher education was damaged to a big extent. Many so-called “worker-peasant-soldier students” only had an educational background of the elementary school level.
－The Merging of Universities in the 1990s. After the reform and opening-up, the higher education in China got back to the normal. But with the slogan of establishing world-class universities, a new wave of merging of universities were seen. More than a thousand of higher education bodies and intermediate education bodies were forcefully merged into 412 universities and colleges. These universities and colleges were not only huge and redundant in staff, but they lack their historic characteristics and advantages in certain majors.
－The enrollment expansion of higher education and the construction of college towns. In order to mitigate the pressure of unemployment and to increase domestic demand, the enrollment expansion of higher education began in 1999. General colleges and universities expanded their enrollment by 42% over the previous year, and another 35% of enrollment increase was witnessed for 2000. There were 8 million registered college students in 2004, and this number doubled in a year’s time to 16 million in 2005. The expansion did not just involve enrollment of undergraduates, but also extended to the enrollment of graduates, which led to the big number of Master-degree holders and Doctor-degree holders now. Along with the expansion of enrollment was the construction of college towns all over China which took over farm lands and resulted in waste of resources.The colleges towns are mostly far from cities. Many professors live there. These towns lack a sense of academic tradition and the cultural environment of the cities. With just some new and empty buildings in the suburban areas, these college towns are not different than isolate islands, or ghost cities.
The fundamental reason of all this is that China’s education is not managed by educationists, but by government officials. Power has taken the place of the educational regularity, and the mission of maintaining stability has taken the place of cultivating people. Schools are not independent, and professors have no say. They cannot control their own destiny. Therefore, education reform is a big deal. It asks for the fundamental change of concept of education. Education is about individual human beings. It is about putting man first,[Page] the happiness, freedom, enlightenment of human nature, and the fulfillment of man.
Source: FT Chinese and China-Review |
