When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
China 2.0

Why Chinese Schools Must Push English More Than Ever

Teaching English in China
Teaching English in China
Hua Ti

BEIJING — After months of public debate, China’s Education Ministry has finally decided that the college entrance exam will no longer include the subject of English. Instead, students will take several English tests spread over the course of the school year.

This recurring topic is once again heated, bitterly dividing those with starkly divergent viewpoints. People who wanted to eliminate English from the college entrance exam believe that teaching the language in China emphasizes only reading and writing while neglecting speaking and daily use. They argue that China’s English instruction has become entirely exam-oriented.

Meanwhile, opponents are convinced that axing English from the college entrance exam represents a terrible regression in China’s approach to the rest of the world. They also believe that this decision will lead to English instruction being neglected in primary and secondary school curriculums, which would be particularly harmful for rural children. They note that while urban children from economically stable backgrounds could supplement their education with off-campus courses to boost their English, children from rural regions would have even less to offer in the future job market.

What sometimes is lost in the debate is that the the original vision of the Education Ministry was to relieve at least some of the heavy studying burden on Chinese pupils.

I too am circumspect about repealing English from the college entrance exam, though my reason is different from those described above. First, it is highly improbable that this measure will lighten the load of studying for Chinese children. As long as the future of students “is fixed for life with the college entrance exam,” as is the common refrain about this all-important test, the time saved from studying English will simply be used to reinforce other subjects. Talk of “relieving the students’ burden” is just empty rhetoric.

Besides, from a pragmatic and rational perspective, English is the world’s dominant language today. Whether in scientific, commercial or cultural exchanges, English is the most universal and useful language. The better our students master it, the more advantageous for our country’s scientific, technological and cultural development. Learning English well is not a question of ideology but simply a critical part of self-development. Because English is so important globally, it is of course better to learn it as early, as systematically, and in as institutional a way as possible.

[rebelmouse-image 27087649 alt="""" original_size="499x333" expand=1]

Morning exercise for schoolchildren in Xi'an — Photo: Tom Thai

The strength of the English language is historic, and from a linguistic perspective, it is also relatively easy to learn. Certain countries — in particular those that attach great importance to competitiveness and ambition, such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore — pay a lot of attention to English learning. After Singapore became independent, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew made English one of its official languages, which provides a great boost to Singapore's economy.

China should be more like Singapore

In the book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World, Lee praises China’s achievements since instituting reforms and opening itself up to the world. But Lee is convinced that the Chinese language hinders Chinese exchanges with the world because it is too difficult to learn. He thus strongly recommends that Chinese people learn English well. The advice of Lee, who led and lifted Singapore out of poverty to become a country with a per capita income of more than $30,000, is worth considering.

There are indeed problems with the way Chinese children learn English today. But there are many ways we can improve English learning — for example by creating an English college qualification test if its scores are not counted in the college entrance exam. English instruction needs to attach greater importance to reading and real practice rather than vocabulary and grammar.

As this debate has played out, there has been some predictable rhetoric: “Why should we have an English exam if foreigners do not take a Chinese test?” This is the same mentality that drives Chinese people to boycott media coverage of the Oscar awards. Why doesn’t the foreign press come and report on the Chinese Golden Rooster Award or the Hundred Flowers Award, the thinking goes?

This is essentially a very intolerant and narrow-minded attitude. In modern China, Chinese people tend to swing between two extremes: Either the heritage of our ancestors is absolutely immutable or it should be overthrown completely. We seem to have great difficulty in finding a balance — protecting our own culture while at the same time learning that of others.

It is this mentality that we must nourish.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Senegal's Democratic Unrest And The Ghosts Of French Colonialism

The violence that erupted following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison left 16 people dead and 500 arrested. This reveals deep fractures in Senegalese democracy that has traces to France's colonial past.

Image of Senegalese ​Protesters celebrating Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Protesters celebrate Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Senegal had the glowing image of one of Africa's rare democracies. The reality was more complicated than that, even in the days of the poet-president Léopold Sedar Senghor, who also had his dark side.

But for years, the country has been moving down what Senegalese intellectual Felwine Sarr describes as the "gentle slope of... the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy."

This has been demonstrated once again over the last few days, with a wave of violence that has left 16 people dead, 500 arrested, the internet censored, and a tense situation with troubling consequences. The trigger? The sentencing last Thursday of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which could exclude him from the 2024 presidential elections.

Young people took to the streets when the verdict was announced, accusing the justice system of having become a political tool. Ousmane Sonko had been accused of rape but was convicted of "corruption of youth," a change that rendered the decision incomprehensible.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest