(LI SHIGONG)

In the autumn of 2010, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality will launch reforms at the local senior middle school curriculum. A new course, general technology, which covers basic living skills, will be introduced as a new graduation exam subject.

Education experts say the teaching of this subject is much stressed in developed countries. The United States adopted it nearly 70 years ago; in Germany, more time is spent on living skills training than on subjects such as physics and literature; in Japan and Britain, living skills are taught all the way from kindergarten to high school.

But whether the course, which teaches such things as how to repair toilet fittings and change light bulbs, should be listed among other exam subjects is still being debated.

Supporters believe these are all basic living skills, so it's necessary to have courses like these covering them during basic education. They say it is a most useful form of education, which will benefit students for the rest of their life.

But some insist the new course is unnecessary despite its well-meaning intention. They believe families should help students develop living skills, rather than schools. Besides, apart from the skills taught in the curriculum, students have a lot of things to learn such as cooking, washing clothes, domestic electric appliance repairs, and so on. If only the use and repairs to fixed items such as toilets and light bulbs were required to be tested, they will become new burdens but no different from other exams. While focusing on items included in the test, students might ignore the development of other living skills.

More exam-oriented education

Hu Yi (Times Business): The teaching of basic living skills is family's responsibility, and not schools' obligation. The development of basic living skills is a process, not something that examinations can impart to students.

In order that children will attain graduation diplomas without trouble, parents certainly pay attention to education authorities' requirements. They are very likely to send their children to after-school classes for training in these skills. As a result, students might have to spend more time on them.

Encouraging students to develop these skills is a good thing that is practiced in many countries, but we must notice the different education environment between China and those countries. In Chongqing, for example, living skills are to be tested as a required course for a graduation diploma. When these skills are incorporated in requirements for a graduation exam, it is adding to students' burdens.

Is it necessary for students to learn some living skills? Of course it is. But that should be based on students' personal interest. We should also take into account the heavy study burden on them from current exam-oriented education. If more classes are added to the current curriculum in the name of developing all-round qualities, will students feel happy about quality-oriented education?

Shen Runzhou (Beijing Youth Daily): Criticism of current high school education focuses on the gap between what students are taught and what they need in real life. While students are able to attain high scores in exams, they are incapable when it comes to basic living skills. To what extent a general technology course will help to solve this problem is unknown.

Since it is an exam subject, there must be specific rules for it, such as its content and grading standards, or it will be impossible to put into practice. But students will be therefore able to pass the exam by cramming before it or by other methods. It will become another exam-oriented course.

In an information society, it's not difficult to learn and develop basic living skills and it's unnecessary to begin a course like this in senior middle school. Besides, even if students cannot carry out technical work, in today's society, professionals are ready to help and they can perform these tasks better.

Long Minfei (www.xinhuanet.com): It seems that without exam scores, we are unable to know a student's capabilities. That's why a new curriculum soon deviates from its original good intention once it's connected with examinations.

Repairing toilet fittings and things like that should be basic living skills that everyone can do, but once they are among exam subjects, students will begin to treat them the way they do other subjects. Exams will not help improve students' living skills. This kind of so-called "curriculum reform" is not a good idea.