Despite repeated orders from the education authorities, there are many signs that the momentum of the "volume" competition among primary and secondary school students has not decreased.
From the next primary school students' contest under doctoral guidance to the junior high school students' science innovation contest whose masters were defeated, as well as RFID technology, Monte Carlo algorithm, glioma stem cells, etc., many of the award-winning projects of science innovation competitions for primary and secondary school students have been too "supra syllabus", and once it was suspected that a group of adults were competing, that is, "agent war".
Screenshot of the winners of the 39th Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition Some judges of the sci-tech innovation competition pointed out that the number of students participating in the competition has increased significantly in the past two years. Taking Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition as an example, as the largest youth science and technology competition in the city with the largest number of participants, the number of applicants reached 15000, an increase of 11.2% over last year.
However, as early as 2018, the Ministry of Education explicitly stipulated that the competition and its results would not be used as the basis for primary and secondary school enrollment. Since then, various measures and documents have been introduced.
When entering a higher school is "decoupled" from the competition, why are these primary and middle school students "involved" in the competition?
01 Baby tired Parents tired
"Everyone is tired to death". After the live competition of "air model" (aerospace model) with their children, Zhejiang parents Xixi sighed.
Ono, the child of Xixi Family, is in Grade 5 this year. He has participated in space model competitions at all levels since last year. Within one year, he has successively won district and municipal awards and was shortlisted for provincial competitions; At the same time, Ono will also participate in "3D modeling" related competitions and consider participating in the Maker Competition.
The preparation for the competition occupies almost all the children's spare time, and parents have to take turns to accompany the competition. Sometimes they send their children to participate in outdoor training early in the morning, and their company lasts for a day.
The cost of time is high, and there is a lot of money invested.
Beijing parent Kaka introduced that Mike, a junior in high school this year, had participated in the competition from the third grade. In the primary school stage, the cost related to the competition was more than 100000 yuan. For example, in 2017, in order to participate in the "National RLC Robot Engineering Challenge", more than 13000 yuan was spent on competition and training alone, as well as 20000 yuan/year for training at ordinary times.
For some parents who are dedicated to winning prizes, the investment is "no ceiling".
Xiao Chun, the parent of primary school students in Beijing, reported to their children this year for a math contest and a "white list" scientific innovation contest held by an overseas institution. The online exam depended on cheating, and the scientific innovation production was arranged by "teachers", charging 115-150 yuan per class hour, which can be called "spending money to buy certificates".
Xixi also complained that in a certain musical instrument competition, it was an unknown association that stamped the certificate and created a "special gold award" on top of the "gold award".
The Ministry of Education has repeatedly stressed that the compulsory education stage (from primary school to junior high school, from junior high school to junior high school) should strictly implement the principle of "entrance to nearby schools without examination", but in reality, different regions still have "secret examinations" and "secret examinations" in the "junior high school", which makes some parents have to "brush their resumes" with various competition awards.
As an "experienced person", Kaka in Beijing pointed out that the awards of Mathematical Olympiad, Olympic Games, musical instruments and other competitions are "helpful" in the "junior high", even if it is not a white list competition, even if "the gold content is not very high", it will be written into the curriculum vitae.
The so-called "non white list" competitions are also illegal competitions outside the "white list" of the education department, namely "black competitions". For example, the "Olympic English Competition", "Mathematics of Hope" and "JEA China" are illegal competitions reported by the Ministry of Education.
However, in order to enrich the curriculum vitae, some parents "take everything in black and white", that is, "white list" and "black competition". Sometimes, knowing that the "black competition" has a large amount of water, but because the surrounding students are "taking the exam", they are also forced to "test" the certificate.
02 The new "shortcut" of the college entrance examination?
Of course, some parents of primary school students pay attention to "long-term planning" and prepare for the entrance exam in advance.
For example, the Ministry of Education has explicitly prohibited the addition of points in the high school entrance examination competition, but some key high schools have the quota of "science and technology talents", and some universities have the corresponding policy preference for the competition in the "strong foundation plan" and "comprehensive evaluation".
Science and innovation events have become "admission tickets" for special enrollment of some high schools However, most children are not suitable for taking the competition route. Yang Mei, an educational consulting practitioner in Chengdu, said that due to the "deceptive" performance of primary schools and the poor information of training institutions, parents will be exaggerated about the "benefits" of letting children participate in competitions. "After years of observation, no more than 5% of the competitors can really make achievements in the competition."
Even if children are good at competitions, in the eyes of parents, they are just "icing on the cake" when they enter school.
Xixi complained that the local high school entrance examination policy "changes every year" and "we don't know which direction we will go". In addition, for some "niche" competitions, one school will open one or two places. "It is no longer meaningful to place hope on such a narrow channel, so it is better to prepare for the high school entrance examination".
The principal of a public K12 school in Chengdu pointed out in a previous interview that some high schools have science and innovation specialty classes, and will assess students accordingly, "but will never take the award of a science and innovation competition as a necessary condition". In the enrollment brochure of a high school in Beijing, the high school entrance examination scores of students with special skills in science and technology account for 60% of the total.
When entering the high school stage, only a few top "contestants" can be escorted. Kaka said that after Mike won the first prize of the "Xinao" provincial first prize in his freshman year of high school, he dared not take the risk to rush to the "National First Year" and decided to suspend the competition for one year to prepare for the college entrance examination. "Without relatively high scores, a strong foundation will not be accepted".
However, for truly gifted children, competition is not a "good way".
Yi Mi, the parent of a junior high school student in a city in Guangdong, said that a local key high school would sign contracts in advance with students with talent for competition. Among them, the total score of students was low, ranking more than 200 in junior high school grades. But because of excellent mathematics, they were admitted in advance by the school
03 Let interest return to interest
Of course, competition is not bad for entering a higher school.
In addition to the award "bonus", Xixi found that the mathematics and physics knowledge learned in the preparation process would "feed back" in class learning; In addition, children have more motivation to learn in order to participate in the competition.
But the original intention of the competition should not be just "for further study". Respondents generally pointed out that students who have won many awards in competitions often have enough interests and talents. "It is not advisable to simply take the competition as a shortcut to enter a higher school", "It is very difficult for children to walk away from the award obtained by coaching".
However, some parents can also understand their painstaking efforts. They are afraid that the "genius" will be delayed and that the "Puwa" will fall behind, and they will participate in competitions everywhere, also for the purpose of "multiple tracks and multiple roads". However, education is not simply "adding", let alone helping others. What is suitable is the best.
Going in the wrong direction is not only bad for children's growth, but also makes the marginal benefit of "volume" decrease, wasting time and money.
In recent years, the Ministry of Education has become more and more determined to cut off the interest chain of "training competition promotion", and has made greater efforts to balance the educational resources of primary and secondary schools and crack down on "pinching" enrollment. This year, many parents found that many middle schools in Beijing had cancelled their open days. Without resumes and interviews, all kinds of competition certificates will gradually lose their usefulness in college entrance.
As Xiong Bingqi, the president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, once pointed out, in order to manage the competition and reverse the "utilitarian education concept", we must establish a new education evaluation system, reduce the utilitarian color of interest and expertise, and let interest really return to interest.
After all, if all evaluation indicators are turned into tests, routine and introversion, and children are forced to "roll" into "standard configuration", then the alienation is not only the competition, but also the children themselves.
With the advent of AI era, educators should really think about how to make our children have sustainable competitiveness and adaptability, rather than what classes to apply for and what competitions to participate in.
(At the request of interviewees, Wen Xixi, Ono, Kaka Mike、 Yimi is a pseudonym)
Original title: Focusing on primary and secondary school competitions: the subject makes doctors sweat, and the award-winning projects are too "super syllabus"
