English Education in China

Catherine posted on The Sceptical Chymist a discussion non-English-speaking chemists. Though I have commented a few lines under it about the language problem I encounter during blogging, there is more to say when it comes to the English education I've seen and received in China.

I hear that Chinese students are said to be more proficient in English compared with other non-English-speaking people. I don't know if it is true or not, but I believe they must spend the most time on English. English classes starts from kindergarten, and many parents give English lessons to their babies once they can speak. Until the end of high-school study, all the grammar is taught. In almost every university, one cannot get his BS degree if he/she cannot pass the College English Test (CET) Band 4, and no opportunity of a good job after graduation if he/she cannot pass CET Band 6. Proficient oral and aural English increases the possibility of offers from big companies like P&G, GE, Dow, BP, etc.

In fact the level of CET Band 4/6 is quite low. The grammar and reading tests are okay but the listening comprehension and the composition are too simple, sometimes naive. There is no oral test in CET system. With this level, practically one can only read simple texts and write short messages, and be actually deaf and blind in English. To study abroad, it's far from enough and one still has to fight for TOEFL or IELTS, or maybe GRE for universities in US and Canada. Such tests as CET 4/6 have killed many lives, not because of its difficulty but the vital role it plays in one's career. 80% of the suicides committed in the campus is due to CET 4 failure (and another 20% is of course love). With a CET certification you can prove nothing because everyone has one; but without that you are sentenced to death in the job market because again everyone has one! And you probably also fail to get the BS degree because of this. And the irony is, remember, you can do almost nothing with CET 4/6-leveled English. And in China most jobs don't require any English ability.

English education has been one of the most controversy discussions for years in China. People are questioning the necessity of such a strong policy of English learning, while our mother language, Chinese, is witnessing its withering. Our children are spending too much of their time on a foreign language, and find it totally useless after they grow up. Youth, especially students, strongly oppose the English education they have been receiving by posting long angry articles on every forums. They argue that the Americans don't need to know any second language, so don't we (something nationalistic here). There is a nationwide appeal for a revolution towards a lighter while effective English education.

There are also supporters for English education. Their points are basically the platitude of China being a developing (or 'less developed' as the UN recommends) country and the globalization taking place today. These are quite true, but what role do languages play in globalization? If two persons from two different countries happen both to know French, there is nothing involving English here. But if any two persons from any two non-English-speaking countries meet each other, to increase the possibility that they can communicate, we can only wish they both know English. English is simply a choice of the common second language to meet the need of globalization, a choice that ease as many people as possible, that is, so that less people have to learn a second language instead of more.

However, from the post on The Sceptical Chymist, and the comments under it, I saw another trend: Native-English-Speaking friends are considering to learn a second language besides English. This information is definitely invaluable for the nationalistic youth in China who think 'the Americans don't learn second languages'. It very well shows the bilateral nature of communication. Language is only a necessary tool, be it a good or bad one.

We are the descendants of the workers of the Babel, and it seems that we are now building a new Tower of Babel with science, despite that our language was confused by God thereby preventing any such future efforts and stimulate conflicts among us. It is after ages of separation and war that we come to the opportunity of global peace and cooperation today. To show the wisdom of human against God, however, it is better to construct this Babel directly based on the confused languages, rather than a re-uniformed one again.