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Making Schools for the Students
Students sitting for the spring College Entrance Exam this year will have greater freedom in choosing colleges.
Previously, students were subject to a punitive policy which stipulated that if an applicant admitted by a college failed to register to attend that college, he or she would be deprived of the opportunity to sign up for the exams the following year, but education authorities claim this will no longer be the case.
The old policy was adopted one year ago amid complaints from universities that failed registrations by students represented a huge waste of academic resources. The schools argued that there were too many vacant seats in classrooms as a result of students changing their minds about attending.
But with increasing education expenses and a tightening employment market, students have been forced to become more rational and discriminating in choosing majors and schools and the punishment for failed registration appears to be doing more harm than good.
Many students who believed they did not perform well on the exam are reluctant to settle for second- or third-choice schools and are opting instead to take the exam a second time the following year. The new policy will allow them to do this without fear of falling too far behind.
Discrepancies between expected and actual enrolments in certain majors will always exist, leading to a waste of educational resources, provided schools continue to allocate the resources in the old planned way.
But the ultimate concern of our education system should be the students, and our society will be better served if those students are allowed to find the path that best suits them regardless of university planning.
The old system was rigid, forcing students to accept majors they might not have wanted based simply on their test scores. Such a system was wasteful in its own right, since many of the students who were forced to accept it no doubt lacked academic enthusiasm and hence did poorly, making it more difficult for them to find a job after graduation.
Thus, it is high time for schools to adapt to students' demands.
The scrapping of last year's punitive policy reveals a welcome trend. It indicates that educational institutions are becoming more student-oriented, and less concerned with numerical efficiency.
China's universities and colleges should strive to increase their teaching methods and fine tune their curriculums to market demands. Authorities in education should offer adequate information on universities and their available majors to students so they can make informed decisions before filling out applications.
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