CRI听力:Olympic Math Training has been Called Off in Beijing

Consensus has been achieved that the frenzy Olympic math training must stop, because it damages the kids' interest and confidence in learning mathematics.

Many parents, however, doubt the efficiency of that statement.

"The government bans the training from time to time, but the junior middle schools never stop selecting the students with good Olympic math scores. No parents want their kids to learn Olympic math, but they don't have a choice. I don't believe the latest ban has practical effects."

"If the government doesn't have a fair and public junior middle school enrollment, the ban will be meaningless. For instance, the schools may not ask for Olympic math scores, but to require our kids to achieve a certain mathematics level. The pupils can not learn algebra nor Calculus, so they have to learn Olympic math."

Actually, a similar regulation was issued in 2005, and later the policy of including Olympic math on junior middle school entrance examinations was cancelled.

Likewise in 2010, the Ministry of Education cancelled a regulation that the winners of Mathematics Olympiads could be recommended for admission to junior middle schools.

But the Olympic math frenzy never stops. On the contrary, Olympic math training brings nearly 2 hundred million yuan annually to the schools and training centers.

Li Yifei is the vice director of the Research Center for Science Communication and Education of Beijing Normal University.

He points out the reason of the failure is the lack of a reasonable school evaluation mechanism.

"The middle schools in China believe that the so-called excellent students are vital because they can not stand out nor have an enviable reputation without them. Therefore, they have to use Olympic math scores as the ruler to select students."

Li says many schools in western countries adopt the evaluation in terms of improvement, which the domestic counterparts can learn from.

"The western schools don't care whether the students they enrolled are excellent or not. They care how much improvement they have achieved during the time they study there. The more the students improve, the better the school is. That's the evaluation western countries largely adopt."

Li says the frenzy of Olympic math training can not be cooled unless a reasonable school evaluation mechanism is established.

The municipal education commission is now discussing the junior middle school enrollment policy.

Li suggests the government establish an information platform, on which the parents can have full knowledge of the schools nearby and select one which is suitable for their kids.

For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.