Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2188098/something-doesnt-add-chinese-blame-rigid-education-system
China/ People & Culture

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
China has traditionally excelled in international maths contests. Photo: Shutterstock

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.”

The competition is an annual one for high school students held at the end of February. Participating teams each send six students and one superviser.

In the contest, each team is given a number of problems to solve in a set time.

Qu Zhenhua, a deputy professor in the mathematics department at the Shanghai-based East China Normal University, who led the Chinese team, told Pear Video that China might have fallen back while other countries had improved their mathematical skills.

He said Chinese pupils struggled with some mathematical combination problems – in the contest all the Chinese participants lost points on one puzzle – but added that he thought they had “done well and performed to their level”.

He also pointed out that the team had entered the competition to improve the pupils’ skills and said it would help them prepare for other competitions such as the International Mathematical Olympiad in July.

Maths competitions have been one way for some children to win places in better schools. Photo: China Foto Press
Maths competitions have been one way for some children to win places in better schools. Photo: China Foto Press

In the past there was a craze among Chinese parents to send their children to extracurricular classes to prepare them for maths competitions – which in some cases could allow the children to win places in better schools.

But in recent years there has been a crackdown on the classes by central and local government amid fears some parents were struggling to afford them and concerns about their impact on children.

Some maths teachers also argued that success in international maths competitions had little bearing on the country’s overall levels of mathematical ability.

Zhao Bin, a maths teacher at Hangzhou’s No 2 Middle School told local paper the Qianjiang Evening News: “It’s necessary to have some training, but students’ growth should be natural. You can’t force them to learn.”

He also said that most children who took extracurricular classes had little interest in maths competitions.

Some social media users also criticised the competitive mindset.

“A wrong attitude the Chinese have is that they want to be first in everything. Occasionally when they do not get to be first they are upset. But what does it matter if we’re not first in this competition?” one comment read.