深圳今秋初一分科教学改革遭质疑

Wang Yuanyuan

Junior 1 students in the city will see changes to their "science" and "history and society" curricula starting September, according to the city's Education Bureau.

After course reforms are introduced, the "science" curriculum will be separated into physics, chemistry, and biology. The "history and society" curriculum will be separated into history, politics and geography.

The education bureau refused to explain the changes, saying "they had no authority to do so."

Many teachers thought the move was to make the transition from middle-school to high-school easier and to improve the status quo that there has been too many students doing arts degrees in the city.

Shenzhen launched an integration reform on junior courses more than ten years ago. The reforms were based on the example of American junior schools' methods.

"Since the reform was put into effect, the schools have faced serious shortages of qualified teachers. This was not good for students to build their knowledge of the subjects. Many students struggle with physics and chemistry, so they found it hard to follow after entering high school. And this was also the reason why there had been so many students doing arts degrees in the city because many students found science subjects too hard," said a teacher surnamed Liu from Shenzhen Experimental School.

According to statistics, about 56 percent of the students sitting this year's National College Entrance Examinations (NCEE) chose to pursue arts subjects, while 70 percent enrolled by colleges and universities were students of science subjects.

Controversies has been lasting for a long time over the necessity of course reforms. Some thought that the new courses could help improve students' creativity and gain more practical experience, while some thought the combination did not help students. "Students could not manage each subject well nor have an integrated understanding of science subjects," said Liu.

Schools were also not ready for the reform. "For example, at my school, physics teachers and chemistry teachers were sent to teach science subjects. However, as a physics teacher, I did not know anything about chemistry and biology and I had to learn the subjects from scratch. Although I had taught the 'science' subjects for some time, I still did not think I could manage it very well," said an unidentified physics teacher from Shenzhen Donghu Middle School in Luohu District.

"I think the separation is a good thing because it will make students learn other science subjects at high school much easier and gain higher scores at the NCEE. But of course, it may create more pressure for missle school students," said Wang Yufan, a Senior 2 student from Donghu Middle School.