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Give Students the Equal Rights to Education
Today's People's Daily carried an article written by Tu Lufang. It reads as follows:
I read an article that said public elementary and middle school teachers in Korea have been banned from being private tutors because it would be unfair to some students. Whether or not this regulation is reasonable is another matter, but the respect for student's equal rights is very touching. It made me think of the different kinds of inequalities we have in our elementary and middle school.
First, there is inequality between different schools. The key schools have an advantage in terms of educational facilities, teachers, student resources, etc. so that normal schools have no way of competing with them on equal footing. Some of the normal schools have gotten worse and its quality of teaching has declined along with it.
Second, there is inequality between students. This is especially evident in normal schools. In the quest for a higher rate of students advancing to a higher grade and greater revenues, the school place students into a "fast track" class and a slower class and collect fees for "choosing a class." The mainstay teachers are sent to teach in the "fast track" class. This is a phenomenon in both key schools and normal schools.
When children enter middle school or high school, they start to become more self-conscious. But they cannot help but face the harsh truth that the entrance exams have placed them in different level classes. The students who do not get into the key schools or the "fast track" classes cannot lift their head up. Because their grades are poor, they are discriminated by other students and hate studying even more.
The unequal phenomenon described above is one of the undesirable consequences of the education model based on taking exams to advance. This education model only pays attention to students who advance to the next grade. Basic education which, in theory, all students should receive, is in fact taught to only a minority of the students.
Fortunately, more and more people are realizing that giving students equal education opportunities is vital to their upbringing. Many areas have eliminated the standardized exam to advance to middle school and prohibited schools from having "fast track" and slower classes and post class rankings. Areas around the country are adopting numerous measures to strengthen the weaker schools.
Obviously, as different areas' economy develops, the level of education in different areas will not be the same. It will take a long time before this kind of inequality is resolved. Currently, the most pressing matter is to close the gap between key schools and normal schools and educate every school, every class, every teacher with the concept of equality.
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