Original title: How to standardize the competition projects in primary and secondary schools.
Guangming ** reporter Chen Peng.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Education issued two notices on primary and secondary school competitions: one illegal competition was investigated and punished, and the other competition qualification was revoked.
In September 2022, the Ministry of Education announced the list of national competitions for primary and secondary school students for the 2022-2025 school year, known as the "White List Competition", with a total of 44 competitions on the list.
How has the "whitelist competition" been carried out for more than a year?Why is the "black race" not on the "white list" repeatedly banned?What is the attitude of parents, children and teachers towards these two competitions?
The "Whitelist Contest" is subject to periodic review and approval
Since 2018, the Ministry of Education has announced the list of competitions that have passed the review three times, and established a "white list" system for competitions to strictly control the number of competitions, improve the quality of competitions, and ensure the public welfare attributes of competitions.
In 2022, in order to further improve the management system of competition activities for primary and secondary school students and reduce the excessive burden on students caused by competitions, the Ministry of Education and other departments jointly issued the "Measures for the Management of National Competition Activities for Primary and Secondary School Students" (hereinafter referred to as the "Management Measures"). The "Management Measures" emphasize that any school, students and parents adhere to the principle of voluntary participation in the competition, and at the same time clearly require that the organization of the competition must adhere to the public welfare and shall not be for profitThe work of the competition shall not be entrusted or authorized.
In September 2022, the Ministry of Education issued a notice requiring that the shortlisted "white list competition" be held from September 2022 to August 2025 in principle, and that no more than one time per academic year be held during this period, and no more than three times in total. The competition and the results of the competition are not used as the basis for enrollment in primary and secondary schools and the extra points of the college entrance examination.
Recently, the Ministry of Education issued a document to revoke the "Salute to Heroes" National Youth Cultural and Artistic Creation Theme Education Competition, which originally belonged to the "white list" activities, but the competition has outstanding problems such as private sub-competitions, layers of subcontracting, illegal fees, and chaotic management, which has caused a bad impact on the society. After many interviews and reminders, the organizer still did not properly rectify, seriously violated the relevant provisions of the "Management Measures", and was seriously dealt with.
So far, there are only 43 "whitelist competitions" left.
This is not only the need to further implement the 'double reduction' policy, but also to better warn relevant institutions to run the competition in compliance, and truly make the competition a useful supplement to school education, rather than a commercial operation, and there can be no luck. Dong Shengzu, a member of the National Expert Committee on the Supervision of Extracurricular Training and director of the Private Education Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences, said.
Xue Haiping, a member of the National Expert Committee on the Supervision of Extracurricular Training and Dean of the Institute of Extracurricular Education for Primary and Secondary School Students at Capital Normal University, believes that some competitions may exaggerate the role of awards in publicity to attract students and parents to participate, but the actual recognition of the awards is not high; or the lack of transparency in the organization of the competition, and the unclear judging criteria, resulting in unfair results.
Xue Haiping suggested that the "whitelist competition" that has passed the review should also be regularly checked and approved. Under the premise of ensuring the code of conduct for the competition, students who have spare time can be encouraged to participate in the "white list competition", cultivate students' innovative spirit and ability, and lay the foundation for the country to cultivate scientific and technological innovation talents.
Why the "black race" is repeatedly banned
The reporter noticed that in addition to the "white list competition", there are also a large number of "black competitions".
On the way to participate in the painting competition, Liu Yan and her son have been dreaming about how to draw the theme of this competition - "My Dream".
In order to attract Liu Yan to take the children to participate, the teacher of the painting tutoring class told her, "Those who participate will be rewarded." The child is about to go to elementary school, and Liu Yan's calculation is that "if I win the award, it will look better on my resume."
When it came to the game, the situation was not at all as expected.
The teacher asked the child what he liked, and the child said he liked boats. So, the teacher made a boat on the Internet and asked the child to copy it.
Liu Yan said frankly: "This has nothing to do with the theme of the competition, and it does not give children any space to use their imagination, reflect their inspiration and talents." She saw from the TV surveillance outside the classroom that when she drew some difficult points, "the teacher actually got started."
This kind of competition coaching course cost Liu Yan 6 class hours, and each class cost a lot of money.
What Liu Yan encountered was a "black competition" purely for profit.
A teacher at a tutoring institution admitted: "The purpose of holding a competition is to sell classes. If there is a competition and can win awards, it will be more powerful for parents and children. Otherwise, how can parents consume the lesson bags they buy? ”
In the market, why is the "black competition" for primary and secondary school students repeatedly banned? Dong Shengzu analyzed that some institutions or individuals, out of profit-seeking, circumvent administrative supervision, hold competitions in violation of regulations without authorization, and confuse the majority of students and parents by fabricating various "good news" to achieve the goal of "those who wish to take the bait".
Some parents of students are affected by old concepts and habitual thinking, and still mistakenly believe that as long as they win awards in competitions, they will help their children go to higher education or be promoted, and they want to 'optimize their resumes' for their children, and there is a herd mentality. There are also some parents who want to keep track of their children's learning, but they can't meet their requirements by relying only on internal exams, so they choose to participate in competitions. Dong Shengzu said that these psychology of parents were used by commercial organizations or individuals, resulting in repeated bans on "black competitions". In addition, some experts pointed out that a small number of schools have not yet screened the competition results when recruiting students, and the tendency to "look up" has also invisibly intensified the pursuit of competition by parents and students.
Due to the diversity and flexibility of competition activities, it is difficult for relevant departments to achieve comprehensive, timely and dynamic supervision, which also gives the "black competition" an opportunity. The China Association for Private Education recently reminded that some institutions and individuals held "Hua Cup" competitions in Handan, Hebei, Tai'an, Shandong and other places in the name of research trips. After verification with the relevant local ** department, the competition is an illegal competition, the test papers have been confiscated, and the relevant responsible persons are being investigated by the relevant departments.
Xue Haiping said that research travel is an emerging education model and consumption format in recent years, involving education, cultural tourism, market and other management departments, and it is also easy to provide soil for the "black competition", which needs to be strictly supervised.
Interest cultivation and quality improvement, so that the competition returns to its original meaning
Parent Li Xin has always been keen to let her children participate in various competitions. Whenever there is a competition notice in the parent group, "they will take a closer look, for fear of missing the opportunity".
Even though Li Xin knew about the existence of the "whitelist competition", she still felt that "the more participants, the better", and she didn't care much about the gold content of the competition.
Once, when his son participated in an online math Olympiad competition, Li Xin found that the invigilation was not strict at all. "In order to get a good position, I went straight to the game myself. Anyway, as long as you submit the answer, you will be rewarded. ”
On Li Xin's child's admission resume, the first prize of this "Olympiad Competition" was also included. She was sure, "You don't look at these Olympiad competitions and other nonsense, but it must be one of the important criteria for schools to select children." ”
For a long time, the competition award certificate has been regarded by parents as a bargaining chip for small promotion to junior high school and competition for high-quality educational resources. Therefore, it is necessary to make great efforts to guide parents and students to truly break the superstition of competition. Dong Shengzu said that the role of the competition should be viewed rationally, for some students with subject expertise and interest, and have spare time to learn, participating in the competition can broaden their horizons, stimulate their potential, and achieve the purpose of educating people through competition. However, not all students are suitable to participate in the competition. "Do not participate in all kinds of useless competitions with a utilitarian heart, and consciously resist all kinds of 'black competitions', otherwise it will increase the extracurricular burden of students and affect the healthy growth of body and mind. ”
The Ministry of Education has clearly stipulated that even the "white list competition" will not be used as the basis for enrollment in primary and secondary schools. Xue Haiping believes that the purpose of this move is to purify and optimize the competition environment, so that the competition can return to the original meaning of interest cultivation and quality improvement, and truly become a powerful starting point for promoting the all-round development and healthy growth of students.
Xue Haiping also suggested that the enrollment and enrollment behavior of primary and secondary schools should be strictly supervised. Local education departments should keep an eye on important time nodes such as the enrollment season, deploy and carry out special inspections, seriously investigate and deal with the conduct of secretly linking competition results to enrollment and enrollment, and pursue the responsibility of relevant personnel in accordance with laws and regulations for schools with violations.
*:Bright**].