Throughout the millennia, students of all ages in China have had to endure the miseries of learning by rote. Teachers have stifled creativity in the pursuit of the accumulation of facts, and parents have forced children to spend mind-numbing hours cramming for exams. But for the past year, the government has been experimenting with what could amount to revolutionary changes in China's classrooms. The aim is to make education more pleasant, more useful and, above all, to challenge students to think for themselves.

What has prompted the reforms is a belated recognition that China's education system is failing to produce enough innovative thinkers. In addition, students are deeply unhappy. A survey conducted by the Education Ministry five years ago found more than 80% of students disliked school. Dropout rates have been rising in rural areas—partly for economic reasons but also because of the stultifying atmosphere of their classrooms. Exam pressures frequently lead to suicides. According to a survey last year among senior secondary-school students and university freshmen in one area, more than 50% had considered killing themselves.

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Several other countries in East Asia, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are grappling with similar problems. But the implications of China's reform efforts are particularly profound. China's traditional education methods are ideally suited to a political culture that requires citizens to submit blindly to authority. By encouraging students to question their teachers and regard them as equals (even official literature now talks of fostering a “democratic” atmosphere in classrooms), China could be ushering in a new kind of relationship between the rulers and the ruled.

整个几千年,在中国所有年龄段的学生不得不忍受苦难的死记硬背。老师扼杀创造力的追求事实的积累,和家长迫使孩子花的小时死记硬背的考试。但在过去的一年里,政府一直在尝试什么革命性的变化在中国的教室。目的是使教育更愉快、更有用,最重要的是,挑战学生独立思考。

什么促使改革是一个迟来的承认,中国的教育系统是无法产生足够的创新的思想家。此外,学生感到非常不满。五年前教育部进行的一项调查发现,超过80%的学生不喜欢学校。农村辍学率一直在上升的经济原因,还因为愚蠢的教室的气氛。经常考试压力导致自杀。去年的一项调查显示,在高级中学学生和大学新生在一个地区,超过50%的人认为是自杀。

其他几个国家在东亚,包括日本、韩国和台湾,也面临着类似的问题。但中国的改革努力的影响尤为深刻。中国传统的教育方法是适合一个政治文化,需要公民提交盲目权威。通过鼓励学生质疑老师和把他们视为等于(甚至现在官方文学对话培养“民主”的气氛中在教室),中国可能成为引领一种新的统治者和被统治者之间的关系。