What are the current hot issues in education? Don’t be a tiger mother or a wolf father.

Comrade Xue Qian Yicheng, former Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the United States and current Deputy Governor of the National Education Inspection Corps, was invited to give an education inspection report held by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Government’s Education Inspection Office. A series of views and opinions were put forward on the current "hot" issues in educational development. The five hot topics in education discussed in this article are compiled based on the recording of the report.

1. Issues about exam-oriented education

Over the years, exam-oriented education has been one of the hot and difficult issues that all sectors of society pay attention to. In this regard, we should think about whether the emergence of exam-oriented education is a problem with our educational guiding ideology or a problem with the entire society? Why do we keep promoting quality education, but school education still revolves around the college entrance examination? From a deep level Analysis, this is a social issue, not just an educational issue. I think the main reasons are as follows:

1. The dual structure of society and the intensification of competition. The gap between the rich and the poor in my country's cities and rural areas and between various social classes is still relatively large. In such an environment, many families, especially children in rural areas, believe that the only way out is to go to college, and to go to a good college. If you go to a good college, you will have a good job and a good life. There is nothing wrong with parents having this idea. But after all, only a few can go to university, especially good universities, which brings fierce competition. In order to meet the expectations of society and families for their children, schools are involved and have to strive for more students to be admitted to college and good universities. To achieve this goal, examination-oriented education is inevitable. This social need and reality is irresistible to the educational community. Without the innovation of educational concepts in the entire society, it will be difficult for the education sector alone to reverse this situation. If you do not discuss the issue of further education when running a high school, the high school will not be attractive to society. Now we cannot avoid talking about this matter. What needs to be paid attention to is that we have taken "examination-oriented" to an extreme.

2. Disadvantages of the educational examination system. The imperial examination system can be said to be China's fifth greatest invention. The imperial examination system opened up a way for civilians to enter the upper class through selection. After the invention of this system, it was adopted by countries around the world. But when it went to extremes, it also brought disadvantages. One was that the imperial examination system became a stepping stone to seeking fame. Once you are named on the gold list, you will benefit for life and it is extremely utilitarian. Another drawback is that there is a lot of cheating. These two shortcomings have brought more negative impacts than positive impacts on today's school education. Now if we want to solve this problem, we must direct the traditional examination method to how to select talents, rather than the cultivation of test-taking ability.

3. traditional cultural reasons. Exam-oriented education also reflects the misunderstanding of the entire society on the issue of talents. It is understandable that parents have a strong desire for their children to succeed and for their daughters to succeed. But the key is what is a dragon? What is a phoenix? What exactly is a talent? The current understanding of dragons and winds is too simple. Only by going to college can you become famous, become a dragon, and become a talent. This is a concept that has been formed for a long time. Now this concept has expanded from high school to junior high school, primary school, and kindergarten. In other words, our children are growing along the trajectory and ideas of the talent concept under the exam-oriented education model. I know a professor from the University of Michigan. He has two children. The boy works as a carpenter and the girl works as an interior decorator. The parents respect their children's wishes and allow them to study and find jobs according to their own interests and abilities. They believe that only in this way can children work and live happily both physically and mentally and become useful talents. For many years, under the traditional cultural background of king as minister and father as son, our children have been shaped according to the wishes of their parents. The consequence of this culture is that children can only take exams and cannot be independent people. In addition, another objective reason is the distribution system that needs to be improved, that is, the dead wage system in which professors’ salaries are high and carpenters’ salaries are low, as well as the huge gap in social status. This situation also makes society pay more attention to the college entrance examination, which determines lifelong success. "Power", failure to get into college or a good university will "delay" a child's life. This has to become a grim reality that every parent must face.

4. Talent is used regardless of cost. Nowadays, our society employs people regardless of cost. It is believed that everything can be done better by people with higher academic qualifications. This is essentially the most terrible misunderstanding. Nowadays, when recruiting in some units, applicants must have a master's degree or above, and must be from famous universities. This has caused everyone to go to famous universities and blindly pursue higher academic qualifications. There is a big social and cultural gap between China and the United States in this regard.

It may not be easy for doctoral students in the United States to find jobs, but it is sometimes easier for master's and undergraduate students to find jobs. Why? Because there is a problem of positioning talent costs. What position is determined? Determine the salary position. In the United States, there are salary standards for employing people. It is more expensive to employ doctoral students than to employ masters and undergraduates. Some positions do not require doctoral students, so companies are reluctant to employ doctoral students.

To solve the problem of exam-oriented education, the education sector should first publicize a correct concept of talent training to the society. I have read some articles recently, and they always say that the reason for the emergence of exam-oriented education is that the evaluation method is wrong. I think this vision is not broad enough. Education must be viewed beyond education, and reforms must be carried out from the perspective of the whole society. The college entrance examination will always exist. The problem is how to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses. What we need to promote is the strengths of selection, and what we want to avoid is the weaknesses of exam-oriented education that suppresses the growth of talents.

2. Regarding the issue of reducing the excessive burden on primary and secondary school students

The education sector has discussed the issue of reducing the burden a lot, but the words "reducing the excessive academic burden on students" are more It is difficult to analyze, what kind of burden is considered too heavy? My opinion is:

First, the educational goals of junior high schools and primary schools must be reasonably determined. What are the training goals of primary school? I think the most important are two bottom lines: First, the cultivation of personality. The second is interest in learning. Nowadays, a lot of intellectual content is often pushed into primary education prematurely. In this way, firstly, it will make primary school students feel tired of learning, which is the most terrible consequence of school education. Second, little consideration is given to the cultivation of students' personality. As a social person, students should first develop good character. These characters are not recognized by themselves, but are made felt by the school through various activities and various forms of education. Nowadays, the curriculum is so full that schools do not have time to arrange activities, and students do not have the mental "space" to experience and think on their own. Therefore, primary schools and junior high schools now urgently need to conduct unified research on curriculum and issues of cultivating and shaping the sound personality of primary school and junior high school students, so as to facilitate the correct positioning of training goals.

The second is to give top priority to cultivating students’ character during compulsory education. There is a saying in the United States that I agree with when it comes to educating primary school and junior high school students, that is, the first thing they should cultivate is a qualified citizen. To set standards for qualified students, we should first focus on cultivating a qualified citizen. In the United States, there is a civics class that talks about elections. It tells students that first, they have the right to vote and be elected when they grow up; second, how to vote when they grow up and what election regulations they should abide by. To put it more broadly, this is the cultivation of democratic consciousness. Therefore, primary school and junior high school mainly focus on laying down the most basic things in life. The cultivation of minors' conduct and abilities must be achieved through a series of activities organized by the school. It is achieved through subtle influence, rather than just relying on classroom teaching. Study to complete. I hope Shanghai can set a standard and strictly stipulate how much time should be spent teaching subject knowledge and how much time should be spent carrying out various social activities. What should be done at any stage should establish a scientific goal, rather than just instilling knowledge.

3. Issues about the administrative management of basic education in our country

The focus of administrative management of basic education in our country is too high. The Ministry of Education manages such a long-span administrative system from kindergarten to postdoctoral. There is no way to do basic education well. Therefore, the focus of basic education, mainly on school administration, should be decentralized. That is to say, principals, teachers and communities should be allowed to play their roles, and they should be allowed to participate in the management of schools, and the community and parents should be effectively strengthened and supported. The role of the committee.

Shanghai’s basic education has developed to this day, and it has become very important to give full play to the role of parents and communities in participating in education. The overall quality of Shanghai community residents has improved a lot. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to run a school and rely solely on higher-level administration. The culture of the community is different, and the requirements of community residents for education are also different. We should work hard to train students well after better understanding the needs of parents. At the same time, parents and the community can also support and help schools do many things. Even when encountering financial difficulties, some practical difficulties can be solved through community and parent committees. For issues that determine school development, in addition to the school having to act in accordance with government rules and regulations, more importantly, it must rely on the school's parent committee to make decisions.

4. Issues about elite education

At present, when emphasizing education balance and educational fairness, the issue of elite education should not be ignored.

In particular, basic education in Shanghai has a very good foundation and conditions, so it should be at the forefront and make some breakthrough exploration and practice. An army is easy to come by, but a general is hard to find. If we don’t pay attention to and speed up the cultivation of elite talents, many things in our country will not be accomplished.

In traditional education, students cannot object to what teachers say; subordinates cannot object to what superiors say; and sons cannot object to what fathers say. If we continue to follow this model, we will not be able to surpass our predecessors. When I was the Director of the Personnel Department, I said that the requirements for scientists are different from those for principals and secretaries. The requirements for principals and secretaries are to be able to coordinate, understand the overall situation, and take into account the overall situation; the requirements for scientists are persistence, and they must have the spirit of never giving up once they are determined. Without this persistence, people will follow what others say and follow the wind, and they will never produce results. .

The training goal of elite education is to focus on the interests of the country and the long-term goals of the country. While cultivating talents, we must pay attention to those who are not talents so that they can meet qualified standards, but education for talents must not only satisfy qualified education. The balanced development of basic education in Shanghai has been at the forefront of the country. Shanghai has this necessity and the conditions to find a development path that produces talents early and quickly, and accelerates the practice of elite education. In a sense, the cultivation and development of talents determines the ability and future of scientific and technological innovation and development of a city, a nation and a country. Teachers’ obligation is to cultivate talents and discover talents. Therefore, teachers must strive to improve their own quality to meet the needs of the appropriate scale of elite education.

5. Issues about building a multi-level, multi-intersection education system

American education is a complete multi-level, multi-intersection education system. To use an analogy, higher education and vocational education in the United States are like overpasses on highways in the United States. You can go up for a while when you need it, and you can get off at any time when you don't need it. Higher education in the United States includes private, public, and community colleges, so students have a wide range of choices. In the United States, some schools do not require admissions exams. The purpose of enrolling students is simply to get a certificate or learn some new knowledge. A person's career and position are changing, and he needs to constantly learn new things, so a lifelong education system must be established. Part of the lifelong education system is provided by schools. After a person leaves school, he can easily go back to school for education. Such a lifelong education system helps avoid the situation where one exam determines one's life. This system has many advantages and provides a strong support for social and economic development. Shanghai has the foundation and conditions to make pioneering exploration and practice in developing and building a multi-level and multi-intersection education system.

The same is true for basic education. There are public and private ones, offering a variety of options. As long as society has needs, we should not use one model. Nowadays, the phenomenon of school choice in China is very serious, but it is impossible for everyone to enter a good public school. Under such circumstances, can basic education in Shanghai study and formulate better policies and methods based on its own advantages and conditions? Open up more educational resource channels so that society and parents can get the education they want. Some people may spend more money to go to good private schools, and some people may spend less money to go to ordinary public schools. Excellent students can spend less money to go to good public schools based on their talents. In this way, the selectivity and service scope of education will be expanded, which is conducive to the relaxation of society and the relaxation of educational demand.

Problems in educational concepts cannot be solved by speaking once or sending a few documents. It can be said that educational reform should be synchronized with social and economic reform, and educational reform must not be separated from the reform and progress of the entire society and economy. It is hoped that Shanghai will take the lead in realizing modernization while also taking the lead in realizing the modernization of education, especially the modernization of educational concepts, systems and mechanisms.