China’s Course Selection System in High School

Christina Wang

ENG3U

Mr. Sarno

October 12th, 2017

China’s Course Selection System in High School

“Course selection system” refers to: having fixed teachers who have fixed classrooms to teach certain levels of a specific course, for example a physics teacher will stay in a room X and teach both grade 11 and 12 physics. Between the different courses as well as the difficult levels of a course, the content, requirements, difficulty of the assignments and examinations will all vary. As such, it is up to the students to select the course that is right for them. This is the system being used by most of the western countries. Now, China has started to adapt this system and change it into a “special mode”, which means combing traditional system’s “merits” and the new one’s features: students choose classes based on their own needs, but the way teaching students remains the same. Take Yinghua international school as an example: Since the system has been used, one of the problems is students always feeling dizzy about the fast changing situation: try to imagine the scene of 2000 people all in the hallway at once trying to find their classroom at the same time. Don’t you think it is a magnificent sight? (irony) Overall, the system is a misfit for chinese high school due to China’s national conditions.

It may be possible to change the way students are taking classes, but what will remain the same is its essence–the system of examination. It is difficult to transform the tradition mode of chinese education into another one, because this mode has taken root in the chinese culture for thousand years. Thus, converting it requires a drastic change of mind-set among all of us. Though this system can change the way students go to classes, the main method of learning does not change. I conducted short interviews with a few of my friends who are in a normal high school from Zhejiang, a school that’s already converted to the new system for 3 years. Most of them said, “This system takes up too much time. For instance, instead of taking a nap during the break, I have to sort all my stuff, get out of the classroom and slip through the crowds of people at the speed of light. All these things are making me feel so overwhelmed and even more exhausted than before.” In these short interviews, it is obvious that students cannot adapt to this system very well. The 12-year exam-oriented education system in China which is custom-made for college entrance examination, have made them all paralyzed. The course selection system helps to cure the symptoms, but not the disease. (analogy) As long as the entrance college examination exists, this kind of system cannot be implement effectively. In conclusion, the course selection system does not get rid of shadows of the examination-oriented education, therefore it is hard to implement the system.

Even if the college entrance examination has been replaced or abolished, this system still cannot be carried out because of the vast educational chasm between the different provinces in China. A gap of educational resources exists in different provinces and cities. Therefore, the implementation of such a system will only increase this difference. Take Henan as an example: it is a province has a population of nearly one hundred million while Beijing only has twenty million people and the strongest economic strength. (statistic/fact) Comparing to these two provinces when they carry out this system at the same time. Beijing has an abundant of educational resources–qualified teachers, high-tech equipment, and high quality learning environment while Henan has a scarcity of educational resources. Students from Beijing have a broader horizon and more opportunities to develop their essential skills while students from Henan province are still struggling and suffering with loads of homework and even getting to school is difficult–using a wooden ladder to climb over a mountain to school. (fact) Will the students in Henan province “defeat” the students in Beijing when they actually step into the cruel society? The answer is on the ceiling. The huge gap has resulted in a different quality of education. Therefore, it is unfair to the students if we were implementing this system due to the national conditions within China.