City pilots wider choice in schools scheme
Print Edition
A NUMBER of high schools in Shanghai are to introduce a new program allowing students more choice in education, as the country pilots reforms aimed at changing an exam-centered system.
Last week, China’s Ministry of Education announced a slew of reform measures for the national college entrance exam, or gaokao.
These ask universities not to base their judgement of applicants solely on gaokao scores in three major subjects — math, Chinese and English — but take into consideration comprehensive assessments on classes selected by students, as well as evaluations on morality, physical health, art cultivation and social practices.
Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang Province have been designated as testing grounds, allowing students to select courses based on their interests. From next year, such classes will begin at several high schools.
Chen Weixin, enrollment administration office teacher of Shanghai Fudan Middle School, said the school will offer six classes for students to select — politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry and life sciences.
Students decide on three classes from these that they want included in their gaokao scores.
Chen said the new systems also allows academically gifted students to advance to a higher-level class.
Shanghai Shibei Middle School confirmed that it will change its curriculum to align with the gaokao reforms next year.
Principal Chen Jun said the school has already started classes for gifted students.
Next year, Shanghai Shibei will further specify curriculum changes involving the new classes, said Chen.
Based on Shanghai’s education reform plan, in 2017 higher learning institutions will have the freedom to enroll students with special academic gifts rather than simply considering the unified exam scores.
More autonomy
They may favor a student by taking into consideration the score of one of the student’s three selected classes.
Ye Zhiming, principal of Shanghai University, said the reform gives universities more autonomy in choosing gifted students.
China’s national college entrance exam, though offering fairness in selecting high-score students for the country’s limited higher education resources, has long been accused of suffocating creativity. With the exam a major part of college enrollment, China’s secondary education has become focused on training students to obtain high scores on the gaokao.
Letting students choose classes breaks this traditional fixed arrangement and encourages them to plan for their academic future from secondary school, said Chi Xuewei, principal of the Changchun Experimental Middle School in Changchun, capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province.
“Under the current system, students bury themselves in study for 12 years of primary and secondary education, and only start to think what they’ll do in the future after the gaokao,” said Chi.
He said the reform will help realize student potential and encourage in-depth pursuit of their best subjects.
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