Peking University, Dec.15, 2011: Last June, People’s Daily published an article, “Don’t Lose at the Starting Line” Theory is Misleading. The author is Professor Wen Rumin from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University (PKU). The article aroused wide concerns and a hot discussion in the whole society. On December 11 this year, the Counselor Office of China’s State Council and the Chinese Society of Education co-hosted an educational forum, its theme concerning the attitude towards the theory of “don’t lose at the starting line”. Professor Wen was invited to deliver the speech “‘Don’t Lose at the Starting Line’ Theory Is Misleading -- a Further Discussion”. The full text is as follows.
It is the responsibility of the parents as well the whole society to see that children grow up happily and healthily. Children today enjoy better material life compared to the former generations. They have the chance to see more and know more. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the children’s life is not easy.
The slogan “don’t lose at the starting line” has profound influence over thousands of parents. In my opinion, this slogan is gratuitous, unsupported by any scientific research, and may mislead several generations. In fact, it takes decades for a person to fully grow up and become mature. The process is just like a marathon. It is not possible to hold on if you put much emphasis on the beginning of the race. However, the seemingly truth has become a kind of “collective unconsciousness” in China.
This concept has already made its way into the everyday life of the whole society, and become a pervasive life maxim. If we reconsider this concept and de-familiarize it, a sudden awareness of its absurdity will come to most people.
The popularization of this theory results not only from people’s mistaken conception, but also from the coercive reality. There still exists severe unevenness in the distribution of educational resources. Although the compulsory education has been realized at large, the conditions in urban areas are far more superior to in rural areas. Even in the city, educational resources vary in different schools. This unevenness means that the “starting line” cannot be just and fair for everyone. Therefore, the anxiety over the “don’t lose at the starting line” can never be completely removed.
However, admitting the reality does not imply that nothing can be or should be done.
The government has increased its investment over the construction of educational infrastructure, which greatly ameliorates the hardware conditions of teaching. Nevertheless, the software conditions remain unreformed and even get worse. For example, many qualified teachers who originally worked in West China or comparatively backward regions are found and employed by schools in big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In rural areas, the situation is even worse. A key high school in a county usually monopolized the majority of the educational resources in the whole district.
Although a series of policies and measures have been put into force in the past decade, it seems that the efforts to balance educational resources make no factual difference. On the one hand, the schools grow increasingly polarized. On the other hand, we intend to eliminate the anxiety over educational inequity. It is impossible to accommodate the two contradictory aspects. Parents all rush to register their children’s names at key primary and middle schools as long as they can make it possible with power and money.
The society can never get rid of the inquietude if the distribution of educational resources is not satisfactory. Therefore, to overcome the misleading “don’t lose at the starting line” theory requires more efforts from related governmental departments.
In addition, we need to avoid over-commercializing education. Nowadays, as there is a lack of educational input and a trend of unequal distribution of education resources, Chinese education has acquired a commercialized and industrialized feature. Under such circumstances, schools are forced to earn money themselves to maintain their operations and thereby becoming more and more utilitarian. Therefore, we can see that commercialization has deeply undermined our education. Unless we successfully resolve this problem, it is unrealistic to talk about overcoming “Don’t lose at the starting line”.
Furthermore, “Don’t lose at the starting line” actually has become a commercial slogan. On one hand, our government is trying to lift the students’ burden; on the other, schools are selling training materials to the students, causing a totally reversed effect. Therefore, if the government wants to implement education reform effectively, it needs to prevent schools from over-commercialization.
Facing the current education condition, I cannot stop thinking about the May 4th Movement. One of the greatest significances of this Movement was to rediscover women and children. In ancient China, these two groups of people were never seen as independent human beings, especially children, who were only tools for carrying on the family line. However, after all these 70, 80 years, have we really rediscovered children and their dignity? It is still a question worth pondering upon. The parents are rushing to send their children to all kinds of training courses but they seem to pay less attention to their nature and feelings. Why is it that our education cannot foster outstanding people? Perhaps everyone knows the answer, but we all feel that we do not have enough power to make a real difference.
“Don’t lose at the starting line” reflects a collective unconscious anxiety. Seeing this, I believe it is high time I restated the words I had written in an article on People’s Daily: Childhood cannot only be served as a preparing time for future life. It is life itself, and is perhaps the most precious and splendid time of the entire lifetime. Without childhood, it is like life without its most touching prelude, which will probably have a negative influence on future.
Written by: Yan Binghan and Liu Yineng
Edited by: Arthars and Li Xiaomeng
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
