China’s education: High scores not necessarily good education

China's education system is the envy of many Western governments, who are keen to replicate the nation's high test scores and levels of discipline in their own schools.

中国的教育制度是许多西方国家政府艳羡的对象，它们迫切希望在自己国家的学校内复制中国的高考试分数和学习纪律。

However, the realities of schooling in China, looking beyond the exam results of pupils, often prompt Western critics to say that they promote a narrow and limiting education for the country's children.

然而，如果不仅仅看学生的考试成绩的话，中国的教育现实通常会令西方批评人士说，这种教育方式倡导的是一种狭隘、局限的教育。

In a discussion on British and Chinese education on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores that rank global education, and have placed Chinese students (specifically those from Shanghai) at the top in recent years, were called into question.

在英国广播公司广播四台的"今日"节目的讨论中，国际学生评估计划受到了置疑。该计划对全球教育情况进行排名，而且多年来一直把中国学生排在榜首。

"The only people who believe the PISA league tables are the BBC and the Department for Education," said journalist Simon Jenkins, in the discussion with Chinese journalist and author Xinran Xue.

与中国记者和作家薛欣然进行讨论的记者西蒙•詹金斯说："只有英国广播公司和教育部的人才相信PISA的排名表。"

"They're just rubbish," he continued. "  This isn't about education, it's about scoring."

他说："这都是垃圾。这无关教育，只是分数。"

The PISA tables seemingly tell us everything about the relative skills of teenagers around the world in reading, maths and sciences, and are commonly used to name the nations with the 'best' education systems.

国际学生评估计划的排名似乎告诉了我们全球青少年在阅读、数学和科学等学科上的相对能力，而且通常被用来确定有着"最好"教育制度的国家。

However, they routinely face criticism, including claims that the tests ignore cultural backdrops to students' learning (such as the heavy pressure to perform placed on many Chinese pupils), neglect to take into account civic, artistic and moral development, and encourage short-term fixes such as rote learning that help nations and schools climb league tables, but don't necessarily provide education to students.

然而，这些排名通常会遭到批评，认为考试忽略了学生学习的文化背景（例如许多中国学生面临的巨大压力）、没有把公民意识、艺术修养和道德发展考虑在内，鼓励死记硬背等短期手段，死记硬背可以让一个国家和学校在排名榜上的位置上升，但并不一定让学生接受到了教育。

Xue pointed out the cultural differences at play in British and Chinese schools.

薛欣然指出了英国和中国学校存在的文化差异。

She said: "In China, when the students come to the classroom, you have to tell them you must learn something – it is your duty to the country, to the nation, to your family."

她说："在中国，学生一进教室，就得告诉他们，你一定要好好学习，这是你对国家、民族和你的家庭的责任。"

She said that in Britain, priorities are much different, with students being told to ask, "what's your future, what do you want for yourself?"

她说，在英国，考虑的重点完全不同，老师会问学生"你的未来是什么？你想实现自己的什么目标？"

"That's a very different philosophy," she said.

薛欣然说："这是完全不同的人生观。"

She also explained that strong Chinese beliefs in family values and hierarchy also made their way into the classroom – saying that students are expected to respect their older peers, and that teachers are never to be questioned.

她还解释说，中国人有着强烈的家庭观念和等级制度，这些观念也带进了教室，学生要尊敬自己的学长，而且永远不能质疑老师。

Underlining the essential cultural differences, Simon Jenkins said: "We tend to teach rebellion, disruption, invention," and have less emphasis on rote learning.

詹金斯也强调了这种基本的文化差异，他说："我们会教（学生）反叛、破坏和创造"，而不强调死记硬背。

"If you line up 100 15-year-olds and drill maths into them for 12 hours a day, they'll come out with great results" – but not necessarily a good education, he said.

他说："如果把100名15岁的学生召集起来，一天训练他们做12个小时的数学题，他们的考试成绩也会很棒。"但这不一定是好的教育。

The short discussion came ahead of a new BBC 2 documentary, Are our kids tough enough? Chinese School, which begins on 4 August.

这次简短的讨论后，BBC将在8月4日推出一部新的纪录片《我们的孩子足够坚强吗？中式学校》。

In the programme, five teachers from China take over the education of fifty teenagers at a Hampshire comprehensive school – in an effort to see whether the Chinese system of collective thinking, duty and strict learning can benefit English teenagers.

在这个节目中，来自中国的5名老师在汉普郡的一所综合学校接手50名学生的教学任务，此举是为了看看中国的集体意识、责任感和严格的学习是否会令英国青少年获益。

Past Education Secretaries like Michael Gove have encouraged schools to try and emulate the Chinese system – but with around a third of China's growing well-off middle class reportedly aspiring to send their children to the West for their education, it seems that good grades may not be the be-all and end-all of education.

迈克尔•戈夫等前任教育大臣一直鼓励学校尝试和模仿中国的制度，但是中国大约三分之一的富裕中产阶层据说都希望送孩子到西方接受教育，这表明高分可能并非教育中最重要、而且也并非一种皆大欢喜的结果。