Wang Yuanyuan

cheekywang@hotmail.com

According to recent statistics, the number of students doing arts subjects has increased sharply in the city.

There are 11,997 students doing arts degrees and 12,616 students doing science degrees this year, while the numbers of arts students and science students last year were 13,866 and 15,550 respectively, the city’s examination and admission office said.

However, key universities plan to enroll about 38,000 students from Guangdong Province. Among these, 28,000 are doing science subjects and about 10,000 are studying arts. “According to their enrollment plan, the number of arts students should be about 30 percent of the number of science students. However, under such circumstances, the competition for arts students will be much fiercer than for science students,” said Song Deyi, a teacher at Shenzhen Middle School.

A growing number of Shenzhen students are choosing to study arts subjects as they are thought to be easier than science subjects, said Song.

From key high schools such as Shenzhen Middle School and Shenzhen Experimental School, there are more science students than arts students, but many other schools produce more arts students. “A lot of schools produce similar amounts of arts students and science students,” said Song.

“In science, you can only get credit when you give the correct answer, but the rules are more flexible in arts subjects. And arts subjects are easier to learn. If you have a good memory, you don’t have to have a strong knowledge to gain high scores,” said a student surnamed Zhong at Luohu Foreign Language School.

So why do students nowadays find it harder to learn science subjects?

“Education reforms in junior middle schools have made science subjects too easy. Many students find it very hard to catch up after entering high school, so a lot of students decide to study arts subjects instead in order to gain higher scores at the NCEE,” said Song.

Zhao Li, president of Shenzhen No. 2 Experimental School, said that the reform for science subjects in junior middle school was based on American education for science subjects.

“Science subjects, such as physics, chemistry and biology, are combined in junior school, so many students don’t have a comprehensive understanding of each subject. When they enter high school and start to learn science subjects designed according to the Chinese education system, many of them will find it hard to follow,” said Zhao.