I refer to the proposed education policy to make Chinese history a compulsory subject for junior secondary school students. I approve of this on the grounds that learning history of our motherland can build up a national identity and provide a background to current relations between China and other countries.
I have some suggestions as to how these goals can be achieved. The existing Chinese history curriculum places too much emphasis on rote-learning. Although memorising facts may play a part in learning history, the amount of it should be reduced and only critical years stressed. Teachers should encourage students to analyse events and express their own views towards them, developing a more in-depth understanding. Chinese history should not be used as a tool to engender a blind sense of patriotism, as it tends to at the moment. If the aim of reform is to cultivate critical thinking, as the Government suggests, various methods of analysis should be introduced from Form One.
CHARLIE CHOY
Shamshuipo