Top Chinese university scraps English tests in move cheered by nationalists
Top Chinese university scraps English tests in move cheered by nationalists
A top university in northwest China has scrapped English tests as a prerequisite for graduation, rekindling a heated debate about the role of the world’s lingua franca in the country’s education system after years of rising nationalist sentiment under leader Xi Jinping.
A top university in northwest China has scrapped English tests as a prerequisite for graduation, rekindling a heated debate about the role of the world’s lingua franca in the country’s education system after years of rising nationalist sentiment under leader Xi Jinping.
In a notice Wednesday, the Xi’an Jiaotong University in the capital city of Shaanxi province said students will no longer need to pass a nationwide standardized English test – nor any other English exams – to be able to graduate with bachelor’s degrees.
The announcement caused a stir on social media, with many praising the decision and calling for more universities to do the same.
“Very good. I hope other universities will follow suit. It’s ridiculous that Chinese people’s academic degrees need to be validated by a foreign language (test),” said a comment with more than 24,000 likes on microblogging site Weibo, where a related hashtag attracted more than 350 million views Thursday.
Passing the College English Test, a national standardized exam first held in 1987, has been a graduation requirement at the majority of Chinese universities for decades – although the government has never made it an official policy.
The common practice underlined the importance Chinese universities placed on English – the world’s predominant academic and scientific language – especially when the once-insular and impoverished country was opening up and eager to catch up with the developed world after the turbulence of the Mao Zedong era.
But in recent years, some universities have downgraded the importance of English, either by replacing the national College English Test with their own exams or – as in the case of the Xi’an Jiaotong University – dropping English qualifications altogether as a graduation criteria.
The goal of this is clearly
- to garner pro chinese nationalist public support
- to prevent your smartest students from seeing better opportunities outside of the country
There is no small number of highly educated chinese that leave the country.
They didn't ban learning English though. They can still learn it if they want. Plenty of country's universities don't have such a requirement.
But it de-emphasizes english which would have that effect, at least in small part.
What about
- Reduce the overwhelming academic requirements on students?
Right? They don't need to, not that the opportunity isn't there.
“English is important, but as China develops, English is no longer that important,” said a Weibo post from a nationalist influencer with 6 million online followers after the university’s announcement.
“It should be the turn for foreigners to learn Chinese,” the influencer said.
The downgrade comes as China turns more nationalist and inward under Xi, who has called on the country to strengthen “cultural confidence” and fend off “Western influence.”
In schools and universities, teachers have been forbidden from using Western textbooks or talking about “Western values” such as democracy, press freedom and judicial independence.
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I'm learning Mandarin at a later age now (40). The keyboard stuff is okay but it NEEDS to be a smart keyboard where you typically use pinyin and it's not that bad for what it is, but my typos are crazy now.
That being said, I'm ethnically Chinese and it's really difficult to pick up. I know a lot of foreign languages are but Chinese feels rougher. Also, other Chinese people can be bloody rude when I'm trying to speak Chinese. I'm tired of hearing "stop trying to speak Chinese" ... well fuck you too, your English isn't exactly music to my ears either, but I put up with it.
I mean it may or may not but its funny that this move would have been better a few years ago when it was all the rage. I mean im not going to learn chinese but honestly foreign language has always been my worst subject. Literally. When graduating college it was the remark I most got from my transcript.
Sounds like the best way to cripple your scientific and tech sector.
They didn't ban learning English though? Plenty of countries don't have this requirement. They'll learn it if they they feel like they want to.
It will still mean less people learn it which has the same effect.
straight up economic as well, being lingua franca means it's the language of business, which nobody would argue.. so it's nothing but retrograde for the actual populace, but great for the political power of a small group of radicals.. like burning books in Idaho..
English speakers really showing themselves in here, huh? I get it, English is my native language too, and it's definitely convenient for us that others have to learn the language I already know, but you're being very hypocritical when you say things like "why do I have to learn Chinese?!" You're also missing the point of the move because this story is about removing the obligation to learn another language. Yes, English is currently the dominant language in a number of areas, but then so was German in the scientific world over a century ago. These things can change, and if that scares you, then I would like you to ask yourself why.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A top university in northwest China has scrapped English tests as a prerequisite for graduation, rekindling a heated debate about the role of the world’s lingua franca in the country’s education system after years of rising nationalist sentiment under leader Xi Jinping.
It’s ridiculous that Chinese people’s academic degrees need to be validated by a foreign language (test),” said a comment with more than 24,000 likes on microblogging site Weibo, where a related hashtag attracted more than 350 million views Thursday.
Passing the College English Test, a national standardized exam first held in 1987, has been a graduation requirement at the majority of Chinese universities for decades – although the government has never made it an official policy.
The downgrade comes as China turns more nationalist and inward under Xi, who has called on the country to strengthen “cultural confidence” and fend off “Western influence.”
In Shanghai, China’s most cosmopolitan city, authorities in 2021 banned elementary schools from holding final exams on the English language, citing the need to ease the academic burden on students.
China made English a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools in 2001, the same year the country joined the World Trade Organization.
The original article contains 715 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
do all Chinese reason in so childish a manner? you will try to force foreigners to learn Chinese, because you are unable to communicate with them in English.. do any Chinese really think that will be effective?
it's just very childish and stupid
it sounds like all Chinese are stupid and childish
每个人，无论是西方人，南方人， 北方人， 还是东方人， 都应该学习多种语言，不那么困难，n'est-ce pas ?