Whats lacking in our education

Heading a group of Chinese-language teachers on a recent trip to China, the author visited schools in Beijing and Shandong province. He shares his observations and reflections with our readers.

HAVING visited two schools in China recently, I can't help but applaud the ideal of education upheld by the principals.

Like Singapore, China is witnessing a generation of young students who dislike reading. To tackle the problem, the principal of a primary school in Jinan city, capital of Shandong province, started a school-wide project of bookplate-making some years ago.

Now, high on the must-do list for the school, the activity has been taking place annually on a large scale. Not only are all the pupils required to make bookplates but the teaching staff are called on to help, too.

The art instructors are to teach the children how to make printing blocks out of plaster, with which bookplates will be printed. Teachers of other subjects will recommend to their pupils titles suitable for outside reading, highlighting the significance of attaching an Ex Libris onto a book they have read.

Then, pupils and teachers will put their collective works on show: bookplates along with brief reading reports. This has become the most eye-catching item among the school's achievements.

This way, not only are the children encouraged to read more, but a refined aesthetic sense is cultivated in them.

The principal's idea stemmed from a plain desire. With the aid of the time-honoured art of block print, he hoped to instil in the children a love for reading and appreciation of beauty, so that they can enjoy fun and pleasure while they learn and study.

A similar objective is achieved in a Beijing secondary school by having the students run a TV station of their own.

All work involved, from programme planning to backstage chores, is done by the students themselves. Even the student director of the TV station was elected on a one-man-one-vote basis by the whole school including the principal, teachers, and students.

The school provides limited funds plus basic facilities such as a simple film studio and tolerable equipment of post-production.

On a sultry summer day, I had a talk with the students working in the stuffy editing-room , and was deeply moved by their spirit.

The principal regularly shows the TV productions thus made during school assemblies, and invites all students to discuss and comment on the works about their contents and techniques.

As the TV productions are done as an extracurricular activity, the students' schoolwork is not compromised.

When interviewed by the visitors, the principal shared her experience, joy and pride in helping the students run their own TV station. She did not touch on the children's scholastic performance or results in various competitions.

I cannot help comparing education in Singapore with that in those two schools.

Our country values a strong administrative background in a school principal. The head of an educational institution must be an excellent administrator, but may not have a clear idea of education or the drive for bold moves beyond the set rules.

Of course, an educator is different from an administrator. But which is more needed for our schools?

Is bookplate-making or a student's TV station so peculiar to those schools in China that it can't be emulated in Singapore for lack of ideas and facilities? In fact, the activity per se doesn't matter, but the initiative to boost the students' motivation does.

The essence of education lies more in activating a desire in the educated to study on their own accord.

In Singapore, waves upon waves of new policies, re-set targets, appraisals and assessments tend to make even the most competent principals feel inadequate.

Besides, a principal is judged by his executive abilities rather than his commitment to the ideal of education.

Of course we have no lack of educators highly actuated by ideals, but they hardly have the urge to break through the various restrictions. Principals and teachers alike may have lots of fresh ideas of how to do a better job, but they have yet to take an even tougher challenge and uphold the ideal of education for the benefit of their students.

Here we have a perfect education system, which provides a regular environment for normal growth. Yet our practices, on the whole, still encourage excellence and fulfilment of potentials while neglecting the balance between intelligence and character in the educated.

Education should be different from business management. If our principals can free their minds to pursue their ideals on a reasonable assumption, we can expect to see more of their cherished dreams come true.

•The author is editor of Thumbs Up , a weekly newspaper for Primary pupils. Translated by Allen Zhuang

我们的教育欠缺些什么？

● 蔡深江

作者最近率领本年度模范华文教师访问中国山东和北京，参观当地的中文教学情况。这是他的感想。

最近在中国参观了两所学校，校长办校的理念让人暗自喝采。

中国也面对新生代学生不爱阅读的问题，济南一所小学的校长于是在学校推行制作藏书票的活动。

不但是全校各年级学生要制作藏书票，老师也必须参与制作。整个制作藏书票的活动成了学校最主要的一个工程，每一年浩浩荡荡举行。

美术老师负责课后教导学生以石膏刻制版模，其他科目的老师则鼓励学生阅读课外书，点出制作藏书票的意义。

最后，所有师生的作品都展示出来，藏书票加上简单的读书报告，成了学校最漂亮的成绩单，不但达到了鼓励阅读的目的，也巧妙地提炼了学生的美学观念。

校长的出发点很平实，只是想通过藏书票这个古老的印刷方式，结合美的教育和阅读习惯，让学生通过一种更轻松有趣的认知过程，加强学习效果。

北京的一所中学则是让学生成立电视台，从节目的策划到台前幕后的大小工作都由学生负责，连担任电视台台长的学生也是通过校长和全校师生一人一票选举产生。

校方则提供相当有限的制作经费，以及设立简单的摄影棚和条件不是很好的剪接后制场所。

我和负责同学在闷热的剪接室交谈，夏初的暑热使人难受，然而我对学生们的精神十分佩服。

校长用周会放映学生拍摄制作的节目，并且让学生公开讨论，辩论解说节目的内容和制作水平。

学生在课余时间进行摄制的相关工作，不影响他们的正课学习。

面对访客，校长不谈学生的学业成绩和其他辉煌的比赛记录，专心分享她和学生成立电视台的用心、效果以及骄傲。

我不得不将本地的教育情况带出来比较。

新加坡信奉的是完整扎实的行政经验，能当上一校之长，一定是出色的行政官，却不一定有清楚的教育理念，或者敢大胆推行规定以外的政策。

教育家和行政官是两种很不一样的角色，我们要的是何者？

难道这两所学校的作法非常特别吗？或是本地学校没有这样的构思和条件？

其实活动的设计本身并不重要，推动与激发学生自由学习的原动力，才比较接近教育的本质。

在一波接一波的教育政策、预期目标、评估与成绩的压力底下，再勇敢的校长也会力有未逮。何况，制度重视的是校长的执行操作能力多于对教育的热情。

本地当然有充满理想的教育工作者，在种种限制中却不见得有打破体制的冲动。校长和老师也许不乏推动教学的新点子，然而，能不能以学生的角度出发，为教育坚持理念，是一个更大的挑战。

我们的教育有完善的体系，也提供了中规中距的成长环境，然而，整个教育过程鼓励的是追求更杰出的表现与更好的可能，忽略了在心智与人格发展上的平衡元素。

办教育应该不同于管理一家公司，如果学校校长敢于摆脱束缚，在合理的假设上追求一些理想，相信我们会看到多一些执着的梦想成真。

•作者是小学生周报《大拇指》主编