"Students' lack of strong practical ability and practical literacy is the' pain point' of applied professional education. "Long, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the College of Animal Medicine of Hunan Agricultural University, said that this is not only the pain of university education, but also the pain of basic education. The lack of college students' practical ability and practical accomplishment is rooted in the long-term neglect of practical ability training in primary and secondary education. The lack of students' practical ability should not be the "pain" of education. Universities should be alert and primary and secondary schools should reflect.
From the perspective of educational objectives, curriculum design and textbook compilation, students should not lack practical ability. Cultivating students' practical ability and practical accomplishment is naturally included in the educational goal, and neither primary school nor middle school has neglected the cultivation of practical ability. In curriculum design, there are not only comprehensive practical courses, but also labor skills courses and social service courses, which are all curriculum arrangements. After class, practice activities are emphasized and students are required to complete corresponding practical projects. The cultivation of practical ability is also reflected in the content of subject teaching materials. You can find the content of practice by opening the textbook casually, and practical inquiry is a high-frequency word in the textbook. It should be said that primary and secondary education has made perfect arrangements for practice in the system. According to this educational system, it is impossible for students to generally lack practical ability and quality, not to mention the pain point of education.
However, this is the reality, not only in Hunan Agricultural University, but also in most other universities. The reason why college students lack practical ability and quality is that they lack consistent practical education in primary and secondary schools for a long time. The practice of primary and secondary school students is mostly on paper, and some of them are not even on paper. For example, many inquiry exercises are simplified as teachers replacing exercises with lectures, and the practice process is alienated into programmed memory. Many special practices are either ignored or replaced by online search materials. Although some places will also carry out comprehensive practice class competitions, the purpose of this competition is not to cultivate students' practical literacy, but to test the level of comprehensive practice class teachers. Although there are practical teaching assessments for teachers and schools, the assessment is based on the information left, not the actual effect of improving students' practical ability. When the school arranges students' extracurricular practical activities, it is more about assigning tasks. As for the completion, especially whether the students really participated in or copied other people's achievements, they generally don't delve into it. The current labor practice and social service practice look beautiful, and many schools are even reported by the media from time to time. However, most of these activities are timely, and activities specially carried out to complete tasks or build an image rarely become normal daily behaviors. Students' time from primary school to middle school is formalized, even fuzzy, and naturally they will not have practical ability and practical literacy. When they go to college, they will naturally be unable to do so in practice.
The cultivation of practical ability in primary and secondary schools has been left on the cold bench for a long time because the evaluation mechanism has not kept pace with the times. No matter the college entrance examination or the senior high school entrance examination, the quality inspection of the school does not include students' practical ability and has no incentive for students. No matter how strong a student's practical ability is, no matter how high his practical quality is, he can't compare with his exam results. Score is the last word to decide whether it is good or bad. Under such an evaluation mechanism, which student is willing to spend time to participate in practice? The evaluation of teachers' professional skills, in addition to the level of class and test scores, is hardware. If students are guided by teachers' conscience and implemented in a down-to-earth manner, of course, they will not be criticized, but they ignore the fact that in the past, they were still excellent teachers as long as they had high teaching level and good teaching effect. On the contrary, you attach great importance to the cultivation of practical ability, but your grades are average, and even the highlights of practical education will be buried. The cultivation of practical ability cannot be the dominant factor in teachers' business. How many teachers are willing to spare no effort? In the face of school assessment, we don't care how the practice is implemented. Even if we read it, we will have a cursory look to see if there are any highlights in the materials of the activity. That's all, it's only natural for schools to make a ostentatious response.
To be worthy of the name, practical education in primary and secondary schools should not only update educational concepts, but also make schools, teachers and even students fully realize the great influence of practical ability on future life, and also need to carry out comprehensive reform from the evaluation mechanism. The evaluation of practical ability should be changed from recessive to dominant, in other words, practical ability should be regarded as a part of grades and a factor to measure the quality of students. This evaluation is not only applicable to students, but also to teachers' professional evaluation and school-running level evaluation.
With the reform of evaluation mechanism, practical ability can become an integral part of grades, which will inevitably attract the attention of schools, teachers and students, effectively cultivate students' practical ability and practical literacy, and the "pain" of students' lack of practical ability in education will surely disappear.