Reversing the Utility of "Speculative Entrance Exams" with Art Examination Reform
On September 24, the Ministry of Education held a video conference on the reform of admissions reform for art majors and high-level sports teams in colleges and universities, and issued two guidelines for the art professional examinations in ordinary colleges and universities and the high-level sports team examinations in colleges and universities.
Both opinions proposed to improve the cultural performance requirements of candidates and reverse the tendency of "emphasizing professionalism and neglecting culture".
Art enrollment examinations and high-level sports team examinations are an important part of my country's college entrance examination system, and they play an active role in the selection of talents for the country.
At the same time, we must also see that in recent years, many widely criticized problems have emerged during the implementation of these two exams.
One is the prominent problem of utilitarian registration.
Because the enrollment requirements for art exams are significantly lower than those for ordinary candidates, high-level sports team exams often reduce admissions by two to three hundred points, objectively causing many candidates and parents to take these two exams as a "shortcut to the South", regardless of whether they have expertise or not. People who are interested are all rushing to apply for the exam.
In this way, it not only blocked the opportunities for real talents, but also caused the employment rate to fall. In fact, it was a waste of national education resources.
Second, the fairness and standardization of the examination needs to be strengthened.
In recent years, incidents such as "black box operations" and "violating regulations for examination" have occurred in various places, although they are rare, but their impact is bad.
The third is the obvious trend towards entertainment.
In the annual art test, some artists are enthusiastically sought after by the media and fans, which objectively affects the seriousness of the test and the professional evaluation.
This time, the relevant state departments have introduced policies and measures from various aspects such as improving the cultural performance requirements of candidates, raising the threshold for applying for examinations, and strictly controlling the scale of on-site examinations, which directly point to the actual accumulated frauds and deep-seated problems, and are aimed at reversing the tendency of "emphasizing professionalism and neglecting culture". It is of far-reaching significance to “speculatively apply for exams” to curb the impulse of illegal exams, and to promote the return of art exams and high-level sports team exams to their essence.
Different children have different talents. Under the national college entrance examination system, special examinations are specially arranged in order to respect differences, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and scientifically select candidates. The pursuit is fairness and justice in the college entrance examination; For issues such as cultural achievements, violation of discipline and cheating, targeted policy adjustments and system reforms are also pursued for fairness and justice.
The reform is not to deny past policies and measures, but to make the original intention of the policy better realized. Only by building a foundation of fairness and justice can we select out those who have both professional expertise and cultural literacy and realize the true meaning. Teach students in accordance with their aptitude and guide the situation.
In this sense, in the execution of art exams and high-level sports team exams, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and fairness and justice are actually a dialectical and unified relationship. The two can be achieved at the same time if they are organically balanced and neither partial nor partial.
The college entrance examination system involves thousands of households and affects the nerves of the entire society. Every minor reform of the college entrance examination system is not a trivial matter.
I look forward to the implementation of the reform of admissions examinations and effective results. Through a more rigorous and standardized examination system, a group of high-level talents will be selected and cultivated, so that every young person's dream of studying, seeking knowledge, striving for progress, and making economic use can be fulfilled. .
(Author: Li Sihui, a distinguished researcher of the Center for News Review Research, Huazhong University of Science and Technology)