2. Secondary School        

who took the creativity, independence and the right for free school away from our teens.

Those poor kid, who finally made out of the misery of elementary school, even those who were spared from the boredom, are soon being labelled and classified as great prospects, decent students and losers, not to mention those who never even made to the secondary school simply because they are not good enough to qualify for further education, who were conveniently deprived of their right for mandatory 9 years of school (isn’t that 12 yrs in most countries?) by the Education system. Let’s leave the losers along because no one cares if they are properly educated or not. Let’s put the great prospects and decent students into good schools (or classes) and better schools (or classes), providing them with the best teachers and most of the resources. At this time, it is safe to say that almost 1/3 of our teens are partially or completely out of education they need and deserve. That’s how a country with the second largest GDP, the money from people’s blood and sweat, get away with a meagrely financed secondary education, so blatantly claimed a 9 year-mandatory free education.

That is not the end of the story. Rather it’s only the beginning, beginning for the students to pay endless fees, including fees for extra classes and night classes. So teachers preserve their energy, as well as their curriculum into extra and night classes, and students waste their money and energy into the same extras. So much fees and under so many names, it is by no means a free education anymore.

When success can be defined only in terms of power, money and fame in a tradition and culture that is encouraged by its political system, education only becomes a tool to get there. The old saying continues as those who excel academically rules. And the ancient KeJu system is conveniently modified into modern education system in China. Academic excellence means future success, which is measured by all kinds of tests and examinations. Then it becomes simple, all students do is to get higher scores and all teachers do is to help students get higher scores. All the education principles, logic, common sense don’t work here. Creativity, critical thinking, and independence have no place here because they are in the way of, or at least not help in getting higher scores.  Not only it’s politically correct, it is morally correct as well to be good at one thing, one thing only, that is to excel in study and high scores, regardless of how poor you are at so many other things like honesty, politeness, manner, even the whole personality, with creativity, independence, and critical thinking at the far end of the list.

I went through my daughter and my niece’s graduation here in Canada, noticed that about 1/3 of the high school graduates went to Universities, Community Colleges, and to work respectively. Those who started working need little or no transition because they are well prepared by either working experience or by various practical courses offered in high school. They may not be academically talented, but they are definitely not lack of creativities, critical thinking and independence, the kind of characters help them to excel in their proud work. In at least this sense, the secondary education in China failed so many students who didn’t get into post secondary education with almost nothing to prepare them to face the society and to support themselves.

When a society is so much fame and money driven, secondary education (or is it everything else too?) will be only in favour of those who can and will be successful defined so narrowly to only a few. Education becomes a selective screen to leave majority behind, and to choose few so called ‘intellectual’ to run the country and to be the future elite group of beneficiaries. Instead of with a way of learning, with a creative and critical thinking mind, and with an independent personality, the so called young talents are equipped after high school with nothing more than a memorized knowledge and scientific rules. Then it is no surprise if you find so many college freshmen who’s capable of nothing, who can’t self sustain themselves even money is not a issue, who’s so selfish, who have to be accompanied by their parent(s) to take care them, the list can go on and on again. Because our secondary education failed our teens, regardless they are the great prospects, the decent students or the losers, let alone those who didn’t even make to the secondary school.