Plan to abandon English test draws concern
A proposal to remove the English-language test from the gaokao has triggered heated debate among parents and experts. The Ministry of Education released a reform proposal for the Gaokao in 2013. It included the plan to exclude English as a mandatory subject in the exam, with students urged to take a third-party English assessment for university admissions. According to the draft plan, students will be encouraged to take English-language assessments held by social agencies several times during their high school studies. Some experts remain negative over the proposal’s initial intention to ease study pressure for students, and many parents still have concerns over the decision to exclude English.
Source: Ecns
URL: http://www.ecns.cn/2014/05-19/114557.shtml
Editor’s note: The article fails to note that deprioritizing English language studies is also a political statement by China’s Ministry of Education with several layer of meaning. So long as English language studies are emphasized, the subtext is that China is still economically subservient to the English speaking world, while de-prioritizing English sends a message that China is coming into its own politically.
