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Wednesday June 21, 2006

Questionable English Exams

Inside the China daily today, and away from their front page, a story titled Questionable Exam looks at the problems in China regarding their English grading system. And you know what? I've seen the output of this process - CET grade 6 students who can have a lot of trouble understanding basic questions.

The story mentions that the exam system should be scrapped because students are just learning how to pass the exam. This is what happens in all places that you have standardised tests.

There is also another fundamental difference in what's going on here - there is a history of Chinese being taught what to know. That is what you are told is correct and you can't ask questions because there are no other answers. This critical thinking and questioning is what I would consider vital for any nation that aims to be involved in innovation. If China wants to become an innovation nation then it needs to change the way in which people are taught here, from when they are a young child, all the way through to university.