【明報專訊】Parents

Many mainland parents are against cancelling English classes in primary schools, saying it is too late to start learning English in the fourth grade. Some say they would send their children to tutorial schools (補習學校) to make up for (補償) the loss of learning opportunities they will sustain under the new arrangements.

Teachers

Teachers seem to find the new policies inadvisable (不明智), arguing that big moves like these should be taken cautiously rather than rashly and they should not be introduced unless they are supported by research. They are sceptical (抱有懷疑) of the notion that these new arrangements may lighten the burden on the student, arguing that they would be under even greater stress when they have to relearn the language after they leave college.

Students

Some students are worried that the new policies will mean the hard work they have done over the years may go down the drain (白費). A secondary school student studying in Yunnan (雲南), where there are suggestions that English listening tests should be abolished next year, says that would be unfair to her because she has put a lot of time and effort into practising listening skills.

A quick survey conducted at a nation-wide English debate in which secondary students took part showed that more than 70 percent of the participants disagreed with making English less important in their National Examination scores.

Commentators

Commentators differ over the issue. Some support such moves, saying learning English stresses students out. They think that, China being the second largest economy on Earth, Chinese students no longer have to learn English as hard as they did and that English should not equal Chinese in status. They also contend that the Chinese government has devoted a lot of resources to English teaching education but has not achieved satisfactory results. Those resources should be put to better use, they claim.

Other commentators argue that it is important for children to start learning another language at a young age as they have better memories than adults. They also criticise these new policies as a manifestation of "narrow nationalism" (狹隘的民族主義), which will not do the country any good.