Textbooks for Chinese language should put that first

Nobody seems to consider what the pupils need or like to read. That's why the current Chinese language textbooks are full of articles and essays that have nothing to do with pupils' daily lives.

That is also why the debate over Chinese language textbooks never ends－those trying to impose their values upon them do not pass up any opportunity to try and get their way. Chinese language textbooks thus become prey to these competing interests and each competitor wants a larger share.

The only way to resolve this situation is to let Chinese language textbooks be what they should be: A means to teach pupils how to read and write clearly and properly in the mother tongue.

A 2015 survey in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, found that 70 percent of 500 college students cannot write well; and recently, Chen Jide, a professor at Nanjing Normal University, even complained in his blog that a doctorate dissertation he reviewed was so badly written that he could not finish reading it.

In order to improve Chinese language textbooks, publishers need to select articles that meet pupils' needs, instead of those of interest groups. In order to find a place in Chinese language textbooks, an article must meet two requirements: be able to grant pupils new knowledge that they are expected to learn, and be reader-friendly enough that pupils can understand them without simply memorizing the articles and blindly reciting them.

Of course, textbooks can promote such things as traditional values. But if, for instance, an article promotes patriotism but offers no new knowledge and is not learner friendly, then it would be better to drop it; we have plenty of such articles.

After all, Chinese language textbooks are meant to teach the Chinese language, which comes before everything else.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn