The fallacy of "China's basic education ranks first in the world"
Text/Zhao Gang
China's basic education level ranks first in the world! Once upon a time, this view was rampant, and until now there are still people who are complacent about it. People think that although we are not as good as the United States in the field of higher education, we are willing to admit defeat, but our basic education level is high. People often take the Olympic Mathematics Competition as an example: When China students take part in the international Olympic Mathematics Competition, there is never a question of whether they can win the prize. Basically, it's hard to get a few gold medals. On the one hand, this statement gives illusory psychological comfort to struggling students, on the other hand, it also satisfies many China people's beautiful fantasies about the rise of China. But few people think about the rationality of this statement. In fact, after a little thinking, they will find that this statement is just ridiculous self-deception.
Why do you say that? Because the statement that "China's basic education ranks first in the world" is untenable, if it is established, four fallacies can be drawn from it.
Myth 1: Tall buildings can be built on sand. If higher education is a tall building, then basic education is the cornerstone under the building. So the fallacy appeared: if the basic education in the United States is not good, why should they build a towering building on a fragile foundation? ! If China's basic education ranks first in the world, why can't China produce a master of science or even a master of literature? !
Myth 2: Innovation ability does not depend on good basic education. First of all, we have to admit that Americans are very innovative. Americans accounted for 43% of the Nobel Prize winners in the 20th century, and we really can't compare with them. But we stubbornly believe that our basic education is superior to that of the United States, which is simply vulnerable. So, what is the basis of innovation? Without excellent basic education, how can there be extraordinary innovation ability? An educational system that specializes in training academic traffickers ranks first in the world, which is ridiculous!
Myth 3: Basic education equals basic knowledge education. When comparing the advantages and disadvantages of basic education with the United States, our evaluation standard is nothing more than the amount of basic knowledge. In mathematics, we are particularly easy to gain this kind of national pride. I once laughed at the American two-digit addition based on the retarded behavior of computers, but is the quality of education measured by the amount of knowledge and the strength of computing power? The best-selling book "Harvard Girl Liu Yiting" summarizes the differences between Chinese and American primary and secondary school students in eight aspects: physical quality, independent work ability, basic knowledge, team spirit, initiative and initiative, interpersonal skills, practical ability and diligence. Among these eight indicators, China has only one advantage (that is, basic knowledge). Then why do we insist that China has a good and solid foundation and think that we have grasped the core of education? !
Myth 4: People with excellent academic performance don't like learning. College students in China, including those in famous universities, are basically studying painfully, and they never know what happiness is when they study and grow up. Take, for example, the olympiad that we have always advertised. In fact, the winners of these Olympic math competitions don't like math. There is a mathematical survey involving 20 countries and regions, and two conclusions are drawn: conclusion one, China students have the best grades; Conclusion 2: China students like math the least. Let's take the international Olympic competition as an example. It is difficult to count the gold medal winners since China students participated in the International Olympic Mathematics Competition for the first time in 1980s. However, just as the original intention of the International Olympic Movement Organization said, how many scientists has China trained? If these gold medal winners have talents, why can't they become talents? This can only show that the basic education in China has killed countless talents; If these gold medal winners have no talents, then our education system can't select talents, so what is the significance of this gold medal?
To sum up, "China's basic education ranks first in the world" is a fallacy! People who hold this argument are either naive or hypocritical. Naive people can understand that it is normal not to think because it is this poor education system that destroys students' basic thinking ability; A hypocrite is unforgivable. They knowingly spread such an argument everywhere. One is ignorance, the other is taking credit, and the third is pleasing superiors.
So, what is the standard to evaluate the quality of education? First of all, we must find out what the purpose of education is.
Tracing back to the source, the modern education system originated in Germany. Two hundred years ago, the Germans said: The purpose of education is not to cultivate people to adapt to the traditional world, not to focus on practical knowledge and skills, but to awaken students' strength, cultivate their initiative, abstract induction and understanding ability in autonomous learning, and enable them to make meaningful choices themselves in various unpredictable future situations. Education is the highest goal of human beings, and receiving education is the embodiment of the highest value of human beings.
It can be seen that imparting knowledge and skills is only the last stream of education, what's more, what we learn is outdated garbage. High-level education is to cultivate students' independent thinking ability and excellent thinking mode. But at present, which school in China's education system is making efforts in this respect under such guidance? As far as I know, there is one school today, but the Education Bureau is still making things difficult. It is precisely because today's school education is so different from their fake education, and the educational effect is even more different, which makes them look so stupid and feel threatened.
The purpose of writing this article is to reveal the present situation of education in China and expose the stupidity and hypocrisy of its deliberate defenders. There are many articles criticizing China's education system, and the Ministry of Education has not come up with many practical plans. Because China's bureaucracy is upward responsible. They have never really cared about the needs of the people, let alone been responsible for them. Since others can't be responsible for us, we can only be responsible for ourselves. As parents, we should bear the responsibility of "education", because children are our own and happiness is also our own. I hope the series of articles in this blog can help everyone.