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Review education system

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-13 08:02

Comment on "Classics for children" (China Daily, Jan 7)

The Three Character Classic, or San Zi Jing, was written eight centuries ago. It is not one of the Confucian classics, but it embodies Confucian philosophy. Its unabridged edition was recently banned as teaching material in Shandong province's primary schools.

The text is composed of short lines of three characters each for easy memorization. At a time when most people were illiterate, reciting the triplets helped in preserving the tradition.

When Confucius Institutes started growing in number across the world in recent years, questions were raised on whether the Three Character Classic was suitable for teaching Chinese language to adults. The majority opinion of educators was "no".

If learning to read means to be able to recognize characters and know how to pronounce them, the classic can serve as a textbook. But if reading means to understand the importance of what is written, then the classic is useless. This is especially true when it comes to teaching foreigners, because each verse of three characters would require historical, moral, philosophical, social and administrative explanations. So it is for primary school children only.

But for more advanced Chinese students, who must learn about their country's past for better understanding of the present times, I think the classic is a good instrument.

The discussion has deviated from the core of the problem. The matter was not whether the values the text carries were out of date, but whether children who read without understanding can grow into active and capable citizens. As long as education is only about learning by rote, and exams are only tests of memory, irrespective of what children read they will not develop the ability to tackle problems, deal with situations and change our world creatively.

Lisa Carducci via e-mail

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