It looks like there are going to be many out of work English teachers heading to Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Well.at least some kids in China might be able to have a childhood now. I wonder if this would ever happen in the R.O.C.?
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I hope not. My kids have excelled in Taiwan’s system, which includes tough, daily physical training and extra weekend classes. They are so much more responsible than I ever was at their age. However, I understand part of that was winning the great teacher lottery.
Research shows that children (especially young children, but even older ones to some extent) learn from playing, exploring, and generally having some unstructured time where they are forced to be creative to entertain themselves and each other. Learning to study is also important, but there is so much more to learning than just cramming and becoming expert test-takers. China has wisely realized that they need to have more people capable of creating things, not just reproducing them.
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Young kids only go to school until 12. Lots of time for unstructured play while their parents are still at work. Unfortunately, most parents and the laws themselves are adverse to allowing this. That’s the problem, not the school system.
The biggest worry is china keeps adjusting some cosmetic changes to make the worldwide dumb think they are actualy alright. When we start complimenting the ccp, you know they won. This isnt about tests, but lots of sheep are totally fine with their farms field. If we still have grandchildren, they will appreciate the people that didnt fall for their shit while they are fighting for freedom like our grandparents did previously.
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In Taiwan it is not only until 12, that has changed.
Out of curiosity, what does this look like in Taiwan’s school system?
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I have rarely seen that, in fact the opposite. I am curious too, maybe he means basketball practice ?
The kids must be on either the basketball, baseball or running teams.
The average kid at elementary school doesn’t do daily exercise. In fact, even their PE classes are a complete joke.
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Still 12. Only Tuesday is a full day.
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Yup, I have had kids grow up here. I am curious as to which school he is talking about that requires this so called tough daily exercise. 
Now in the 1980s they did do more of that especially the boys. I think the poster is just out of date.
That is only for grade one and two. By time they get to grade three, it is three full days. And then it goes to four full days in grade five.
Daily 800m runs and 100m sprints, burpees, sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. Just a regular class in a regular public school. The teacher believes they need to be healthy to learn well, and I agree. All his training and extra weekend classes would never fly most places though.
And then they are old enough to go outside and play by themselves after school. It’s the parents that don’t allow it. Nothing to do with the school system.
Probably a few. That’s not what the article is about, though.
Under the new policy, all primary and middle schools will be banned from giving weekly or monthly exams or organizing regular assessments on every teaching unit—a common practice in the past. The end-of-semester exams should focus on “basic knowledge” and not be too difficult, according to the education ministry.
More dumbing down?
I understand the need to encourage free thinking and reduce stress, but special classes need to be available for the kids able and willing to learn in greater detail.
This is in taiwan? I have never seen that anywhere except dor more military or sport related training. Mostly what i see is if you can float or walk accross the pool, you lass swimming class haha
They can do that by self study if they want.
Yes, in a public school in Taiwan.
I don’t think that’s dumbing down. You have to reevaluate what a test is.
When I taught in one of the best high schools in the state in the US, we never gave tests the way they’re done in Asia, in any subject area. I taught Chinese, so I assessed them very frequently on Chinese. We had rubrics that helped both teacher and student figure out where they were as far as actual proficiency goes. A speaking assessment would be “here’s your topic, you two sit here talk about it for one minute”. Or maybe “go home and record a short podcast about the topic we learned in class this week”. A writing assessment would be “here’s your prompt, use your Chinese and your critical thinking skills to answer it on paper” (usually this was take home, though sometimes we’d have everyone collaborate in a google doc at the same time). Listening might involve listening to a song and discussing the meaning of the lyrics. Or listening to a recording of a dialogue or story and answering some open-ended questions (asked in English, because we’re assessing their ability to understand the story, not the questions themselves) about it. Reading would be the same as listening, only they’d be answering a written text instead of an audio text (“text” was the word used for any input)
It worked fantastically and I never ever had kids cramming before class. They all learned how to use the resources we provided to really dive into their learning and actually learn, as opposed to just pouring pointless information into their heads so they can spit it out later.
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