CHINA, SOCIETY, Opinion: The Case For Flunking
By Beryl Hou
With fierce competition pervading almost everything in our society, I think flunking is not only a positive teaching tool--the fear of which motivates students--but also a good way to let university students have a taste of the sense of crisis which they may encounter frequently in their near future.
In the cocoon of school, students tend to indulge themselves in various kinds of sprees. Meanwhile, they ignore their study and regard it as a burden disturbing their "comfortable" school life. They are content as long as they can get a passing grade, which, in fact, is far from enough.
Teachers nowadays are almost always "kind" enough to furnish them with the consolation prize--a passing grade for fear that if they don't do so, they might break the delicate hearts of the innocent and lovely "children." But the spoiled students may turn out to be Mr. or Miss "good-for-nothings" because of it.
We need flunking to let students know what a crisis is and what they can do about it. It will be too late when they are employed somewhere and can no longer get "passed along."
In such a quick fix, competitive society, graduates have to perfect their skills and cultivate their potentials in order to find their position in our modern society. They must prepare themselves before they enter this free market world. This means making full use of their time in school to acquire knowledge, lest they find themselves struggling just to survive, to say nothing of making a living, after they leave school.
To ensure this, flunking is indisputably an effective way to get students to work harder. All in all, flunking should have its place in the schooling of university students.
With fierce competition pervading almost everything in our society, I think flunking is not only a positive teaching tool--the fear of which motivates students--but also a good way to let university students have a taste of the sense of crisis which they may encounter frequently in their near future.
In the cocoon of school, students tend to indulge themselves in various kinds of sprees. Meanwhile, they ignore their study and regard it as a burden disturbing their "comfortable" school life. They are content as long as they can get a passing grade, which, in fact, is far from enough.
Teachers nowadays are almost always "kind" enough to furnish them with the consolation prize--a passing grade for fear that if they don't do so, they might break the delicate hearts of the innocent and lovely "children." But the spoiled students may turn out to be Mr. or Miss "good-for-nothings" because of it.
We need flunking to let students know what a crisis is and what they can do about it. It will be too late when they are employed somewhere and can no longer get "passed along."
In such a quick fix, competitive society, graduates have to perfect their skills and cultivate their potentials in order to find their position in our modern society. They must prepare themselves before they enter this free market world. This means making full use of their time in school to acquire knowledge, lest they find themselves struggling just to survive, to say nothing of making a living, after they leave school.
To ensure this, flunking is indisputably an effective way to get students to work harder. All in all, flunking should have its place in the schooling of university students.
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