Whenever I saw kids walking home with obvious heavy bags full of tedious homework and test paper, refusing to go out with parents because of their ceaseless missions, and merely playing computer games instead of reading books as entertainment in their leisure time, I felt dismayed and puzzled. Then from an early age, I have always been thinking about what is the problem within the education in our country. As it turns out, it is truly complicated.
To begin with, I think the essence of the education is to guide students to see, feel, and know the world, to help them build complete sense and personality system, and to lead them to find out their dream, get close to, and achieve it. However, nowadays, innocent, curious children are taught together about the “positive power,” which is defined by the public, the tradition, the rooted culture. But I’m afraid that this “culture” has become a kind of chains, hampering the naive curiosity and creativity of children. Anyway, I never stopped believing that Chinese culture is brilliant in the blazing flow of history, although I do not agree that this could be used as a plea of stifling thoughts.
Second, people at present are too “conventional” to walk on their life, which leaves them an opinion that their kids should also follow the “integral” society, referring to others, ironically. However, kids should not be the one whose life are controlled and changed by the pretentious but shortsighted prior generation. The era needs new things, new ideas, which could not be achieved by merely following the past paths, or the present trend, nor by being stuck in a given circle, but by allowing the young generation walking their own way.
Last but not least, children need real guide, complete knowledge, which means what they really need to learn is not merely the academic knowledge used to fulfill the test, the scores, when they have not already known what they are after, when they do not even have a kind heart to others and desire to the whole world. As time goes by, is harder and harder for students under the era to apply for an advanced university, since the score increasingly becomes distant target, higher and farther to reach. So students have to focus on nothing but books, textbooks literally. The time for them to do voluntary work, to play sports, to care about their hobbies.
I do not think those are all the problems, but I also admit how to lead one’s life does not totally depend on the education system. Nevertheless, since it is much more beneficial for students not only at present but also in the future, why not fixing it out for a better socAfter I saw the news about murdering, stealing, and other crimes when I was twelve and focus on thinking about it for a long time, I realized what I have always found to handle the problem about the bad thing in the world is actually–education.
When looking at our world, I never refused that science is quite essential for us to lead a better life, to make everything more magnificent. But it could not solve issues related to one thing: love. Why would people steal things which do not belong to them? Why would some rush to the streets and shot or kill innocent people who has nothing to do with them? Why there are some parents who would reject reporting that they have been to the epidemic area, hoping to avoid being quarantined? The first two kind of people, in my opinion, are not rich, at least not rich enough. The third group are not caring, they are selfish. But why would they be so poor and selfish enough to do things harmful or potentially harmful to the society, to others? I thought it deeply, and it turns out to be that it is the lack of education that makes those people lose their kindness, makes them do not care about the world.
How could a young know the great love for the world when during all the life there is only poverty and sadness? And even though a long time later, he or she could make difference and live a great life, it is the education that rooted in the heart from an early age from parents, who experienced the same fate but worse. People could not be lenient to the surroundings only if they get convenient life on the base of intact education. As the base, education is more important than substantial affluence to some degree, since it is obvious that there are many rich men who are not kind, refusing to give their wealthy away to the poor, and even bulling them.
Education is complex, including not only the information and ability that people need to capture for daily life, but also, more importantly, the guide to kindness and greatness. It is not to say that every one needs to be as kind as saints, but I want to express that education does could change people, from inside to outside, from mind to heart. So if you want to practice in a field to make great difference and contribute to the world to a broadest degree, education is in its own right.
Qin Xuan Zhou
