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Creative teaching

China's education system has long been one of rote memorisation and hardcore study. Just about every student's future depends on how they perform in the college entrance exam, known as the gao kao. So from the age of five to 18, most cram their heads full of information in the hope of obtaining good grades.

Because of this, many have a hard time thinking outside the box. The system provides few, if any, opportunities for students to think creatively, and personal development often takes a back seat to academic achievement.

Some educators are trying to change that through the introduction of other learning techniques, like the Montessori method, founded by Italian educator Maria Montessori at the turn of the 20th century. This is based on the premise that children learn best through interaction, not by being lectured in a classroom, and that each child should learn at his or her own pace.

Last year, Guangzhou's first private Montessori school opened its doors and is attracting a growing number of educators and parents who see the need for something different.

'You have to give the children a creative environment to learn in,' said Wang Rui Qiong, a teacher at the Montessori school, off Hengfu Lu. 'The Montessori method includes a lot of psychological methods in educating children. You usually don't see this in China.' The school, an affiliate of the Beijing Mental Education Research Centre, has 50 students aged two to six and charges 1,600 yuan per month. The curriculum includes maths, Chinese, music, art and ecology. Students also take frequent field trips around the city.

Besides educating the children, teachers and administrators meet parents once every two weeks to review the students' progress and to help parents become more familiar with the teaching method.

'It gives children a free environment to learn in,' said Liu Qing, whose four-year-old son attends the school. 'It also helps develop their character.'

Montessori came to China by way of Shan Wei Ru, a graduate of Guangzhou's Huangpu Military Academy. She was impressed with Montessori after her grandchildren were educated using the techniques in the United States. Her Montessori schools in Taiwan in the 1980s caught the attention of Sun Rui Xue, another educator in China, who started the mainland's first Montessori school in Ningxia in the early 1990s.

'This is the most free and democratic school in China,' said Mr Wang, who foresees definite advantages for children educated this way. 'I think in 10 years, these kids will be much better off, psychologically, than me.'

But the jury is still out on Montessori's effectiveness. Mr Wang admits that students at the school in Guangzhou are no different academically from their peers in other schools, although he sees a difference in the children's awareness of their surroundings. 'They always clean up after themselves and never take other children's things,' she said.

If Montessori's greatest achievement is character change, then maybe more schools in China, and society in general, would do well to employ these methods.

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