Something doesn’t add up: Chinese blame rigid education system for country’s decline in international maths contest
- Web users say schools’ ‘force-feeding’ of pupils and ban on extracurricular training is stifling innovation and creative thinking
- Chinese team finished well behind America in international competition for high school pupils
Chinese people have accused the government of stifling talent after the country’s subpar performance in an international maths competition – a field in which it has traditionally excelled.
In this year’s Romanian Master of Mathematics contest, an annual event for high school pupils, the Chinese team came sixth – with the Americans taking the gold medal.
China won the gold medal in 2009 and 2012, was the runner-up in 2010 and third in 2015 and 2017.
This year’s relative failure has prompted a heated debate on social media, and the topic has attracted 12.4 million searches on Baidu, the country’s most popular search engine.
Some internet users blamed the way Chinese students are “force-fed” in the classroom as the reason for not winning.
“They are cultivating students like chickens raised for meat, confining them in a coop and dosing them with hormones,” one commenter said. “Only education by interest can cultivate true talent.”