Wen ‖ Tianyu Du Ge
In recent years, education reform on the mainland has been in full swing, from kindergarten to high school, and no one has been spared. However, is this reform really "reducing the burden" and "protecting the potential of children" as it claims, or is it just a formalistic with no real change? We have to think deeply about this and question it.
Let's take a look at the educational reform of kindergartens. Public kindergartens no longer teach knowledge, only play, which is undoubtedly a respect for children's nature and allows them to grow up in happiness. However, this reform does not seem to take into account the educational needs of the primary school level. The learning content of the first grade has been greatly compressed, and the teaching time of basic knowledge such as pinyin and literacy has been greatly shortened, as if it is assumed that children already have a solid foundation in kindergarten. But in reality, many children enter primary school without knowing any of these basics, which leads to difficulties and frustration in their learning process.
The rupture of education between kindergarten and primary school
Traditionally, kindergarten is a critical period for a child's physical and mental development, with the aim of developing hobbies, social skills, and basic life skills. However, with the introduction of "zero-start" education, the educational content of public kindergartens has been greatly compressed, and more time and resources have been invested in the game. This shift was supposed to protect the child's childhood from premature academic stress. However, when children enter primary school, they find that there is almost no connection between what they have learned and what they have learned in kindergarten.
Taking pinyin teaching as an example, in the past, children began to be exposed to pinyin in kindergarten, and in the first grade of primary school, teachers will deepen and expand on this basis. But nowadays, because pinyin is no longer taught in kindergarten, children learn it almost from scratch in the first grade. In order to catch up with the schedule, the textbook finished the content that originally required a semester in one and a half months. This kind of "jumping" teaching progress makes it difficult for children to adapt and also increases the anxiety of parents.
Let's take a look at the education reform at the primary level. Content that was previously only exposed to in the upper grades has now been brought forward to the lower grades. This kind of reform seems to improve the learning efficiency of students, but in fact it increases their learning pressure. Because, the difficulty of these knowledge points is not reduced because of their young age, but because they learn in advance, they do not have enough time and energy to understand and digest.
The reform of mathematics textbooks is also the deletion of a large number of knowledge points and example problems, and the simple content is complicated, which makes students feel confused and helpless in the learning process. They are no longer able to understand and master the knowledge points through example problems in textbooks, and can only rely on rote memorization, which is undoubtedly a huge obstacle to the cultivation of their mathematical thinking.
Even more worrying is the serious discrepancy between the current textbooks and the content of the exams. Textbooks are often simplified and interesting, but exams often focus on the depth and breadth of knowledge. As a result of this divergence, what children learn in the classroom cannot be directly applied to the exams, which often cover knowledge beyond the scope of the textbook.
Taking mathematics as an example, the new textbook has deleted a large number of knowledge points and example problems when compiling it, making the content more concise and clear. However, during the exam, these deleted knowledge points have become compulsory. Children often feel overwhelmed when it comes to exams because they have not been exposed to these knowledge points in the classroom. This deviation not only makes it more difficult for children to learn, but also makes them afraid and bored with learning.
When it comes to English education, the problem is just as serious. Instead of teaching phonetic transcription, children learn English pronunciation through imitation and memorization. This approach to teaching, while seemingly straightforward, ignores the essence of language learning – understanding and application. When children learn English pronunciation without mastering phonetic transcription, they often have problems such as inaccurate pronunciation and difficulty remembering.
What's more, because the teaching of phonetic transcription is no longer included in the textbooks, children are often unable to spell new words on their own. This not only affects their reading ability, but also limits their vocabulary expansion. In addition, due to the lack of systematic teaching of grammar knowledge, children also have many problems in English writing and oral expression.
Although the education reform claims to reduce the burden on students, there has been no reduction in the content and difficulty of the exams. The content that has been learned is not tested, and the content of the test has not been learned, which is like a game without rules, which makes students and parents at a loss. They can only rely on their own efforts to make up for the deviations brought about by the education reform, which is undoubtedly a great pressure and burden on them.
The mainland's education reform does not seem to have achieved its desired goals, but has instead brought more pressure and distress to students. We can't help but ask, is this an education reform, or is it a misunderstanding of education? We look forward to an educational environment where children can learn and grow in joy, not an educational environment where they struggle under pressure and get lost in confusion. Therefore, we need to re-examine and rethink our education reform, find out the root cause of the problem, and formulate education policies that truly meet the needs of children, so that education can truly become a help for children's growth, rather than a burden for them.