Student praised for speech on exam burden
Source: Xinhua |
April 17, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AFTER making an impassioned speech attacking the exam-oriented education system, a teenager from eastern China's Jiangsu Province has found himself in the national spotlight.
The speech, which fueled debate across the country last week, took place on April 9, when students and teachers at Qidong city's Huilong High School gathered for a weekly flag-raising ceremony. One youngster had been selected to speak in front of the 3,000-strong audience.
The speaker, grade-11 student Jiang Chengbo, stepped up to the microphone and began, "Investigation has shown Chinese students rank at the bottom of the world in terms of calculation ability and creativity."
"Some of us live in jealousy," he went on. "They are jealous of those who score higher in exams ... Some of us live in loneliness. They bury themselves in doing exercises so that they don't have any good friends. We cannot feel the love of parents, for they are either at work or pushing us to prepare for exams ... We cannot feel the respect of teachers, for they are always forcing us to study for their enrollment rates."
Jiang's act surprised the faculty, as he had boldly replaced an original speech approved by his teacher with one that was rebellious, potentially irritating to school authorities. But the speech has drawn plaudits from students and Internet users, hitting a nerve on the controversial topic of whether Chinese students spend too long on an examination treadmill.
A fellow student of Jiang said on condition of anonymity that student life is colorless and there is no all-round development because "scores are everything."
Yu Han, a grade-12 student from Nanjing said, "Although Jiang's words are a little exaggerated, the examination-oriented education has greatly oppressed the nature of the students."
"It is not strange to hear those words from the mouth of a high school student, and Jiang's courage to speak up is admirable," wrote "Benliuweizhi" on the microblogging site Weibo.com. "However, I am not so confident on education, and its reform has a long way to go."
Most Chinese students are burdened with an excessive workload. They study for long hours on school days and continue to have classes on weekends and holidays.
A survey by China's Youth and Children Research Center shows that in 2010, about 80 percent of the country's primary and middle school students were not resting enough, getting an average of less than eight hours of sleep, even on weekends.
The speech, which fueled debate across the country last week, took place on April 9, when students and teachers at Qidong city's Huilong High School gathered for a weekly flag-raising ceremony. One youngster had been selected to speak in front of the 3,000-strong audience.
The speaker, grade-11 student Jiang Chengbo, stepped up to the microphone and began, "Investigation has shown Chinese students rank at the bottom of the world in terms of calculation ability and creativity."
"Some of us live in jealousy," he went on. "They are jealous of those who score higher in exams ... Some of us live in loneliness. They bury themselves in doing exercises so that they don't have any good friends. We cannot feel the love of parents, for they are either at work or pushing us to prepare for exams ... We cannot feel the respect of teachers, for they are always forcing us to study for their enrollment rates."
Jiang's act surprised the faculty, as he had boldly replaced an original speech approved by his teacher with one that was rebellious, potentially irritating to school authorities. But the speech has drawn plaudits from students and Internet users, hitting a nerve on the controversial topic of whether Chinese students spend too long on an examination treadmill.
A fellow student of Jiang said on condition of anonymity that student life is colorless and there is no all-round development because "scores are everything."
Yu Han, a grade-12 student from Nanjing said, "Although Jiang's words are a little exaggerated, the examination-oriented education has greatly oppressed the nature of the students."
"It is not strange to hear those words from the mouth of a high school student, and Jiang's courage to speak up is admirable," wrote "Benliuweizhi" on the microblogging site Weibo.com. "However, I am not so confident on education, and its reform has a long way to go."
Most Chinese students are burdened with an excessive workload. They study for long hours on school days and continue to have classes on weekends and holidays.
A survey by China's Youth and Children Research Center shows that in 2010, about 80 percent of the country's primary and middle school students were not resting enough, getting an average of less than eight hours of sleep, even on weekends.
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