On English Education in China

Ever since the introduction of English into theChinese curriculum, the question of how to learn, and how to teach English hasbeen hotly debated by officials & educators alike. Now, the time has comefor a revisiting of that decision and perhaps for an alteration of the currentmodel.

Let us firstconsider "history and tradition", or in other words the originalpurpose for Chinese students to learn English. As Chino came out of isolationinto the world with the implementation of the reform and opening up policy bythe top leadership, it became apparent that for Chinese students(and futureadult citizens) to fully integrate with the world, it was necessary to givethem a rudimentary English education That then led, over many years of trialand error, to the model adopted today with English taking up the same amount ofpoints as math and Chinese in the vital college Entrance Exam.

There is nothinginherently wrong with that model. It must be admitted that as the most widelyused language in the world, knowing some English certainly has its uses.However, does it necessitate English to be put on the same pedestal as Chineseand maths? Consider the example of an education system we once claimed toemulate, the United States. Huge gap in student-teacher ratios aside, even themost careful critic would have to admit that the emphasis put on developingcreativity rather than language learning (Spanish. French, and other languageclasses are regarded as electives) was a major contributor to the world acclaimin academia Us. students you might argue that since Americans' mother tongue isEnglish and any foreign language they learn is less consequential, the urgencyis much reduced. Even given that assumption, however, we have a few otherexamples to the effect of confirming that argument.