Plea for real change in education

Comment on "China to assess schools with new criteria" (China Daily, June 18)

It's time China's education authorities realized the importance of reform in the school evaluation system, because the existing system plays a key role in distorting the function of education and churning out "unqualified" students year after year.

Under the current evaluation system, students have to try their best to secure high scores to get admission to good colleges. And teachers have to adopt exam-oriented teaching methods to prepare students to pass exams, because the percentage of students from a college getting admitted to good colleges has a huge impact on their performance, salary and promotion.

Schools don't care much about students' physical and mental health as long as they can get high scores in exams. Such an education system can hardly produce qualified talents. At best, it can churn out bookworms who only know how to succeed in exams.

That's why I'm glad to see reforms taking place in the education system. And I'm sure a comprehensive evaluation system that takes ethics, studies, and physical and mental health, as well as the development of interests and specialties into consideration is better than the current evaluation system.

But, at the same time, I'm afraid a reform in the evaluation system without a change in the current college entrance examination system will not be of much use, because in the end schools, teachers and students will still have to put all their energy and efforts to succeed in exams.

Liao Xiang, via e-mail

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(China Daily 06/24/2013 page9)