Debate rages over proposal to ax English 取消英語(yǔ)主科地位引發(fā)熱議

田洪霞

中國(guó)人民政治協(xié)商會(huì)議第十三屆全國(guó)委員會(huì)委員許進(jìn)在今年的兩會(huì)中提出，建議在義務(wù)教育階段不再將英語(yǔ)設(shè)為類似于語(yǔ)文和數(shù)學(xué)的核心課程。因此引發(fā)了持續(xù)的熱議和爭(zhēng)議。

A national political advisers proposal that English be dropped as a core subject for Chi?nese primary and secondary school students has triggered heated discussion among experts and netizens.

In a proposal to the ongoing two sessions， Xu Jin， a member of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Con?ference， said that English should not be a core subject like Chinese and math and more course hours should be given to improve students kills in physical education， music and art.

Xu said English and other foreign lan?guages should also not be included as compul?sory subjects for the national college entrance exam. While English takes up about 10 percent of class hours， less than 10 percent of university graduates use the language at work， he said. Moreover， smart translation devices can offer perfect translation services in the age of artificial intelligence. He added that translators will be among the top 10 professions to be eliminated（淘汰）.

His proposal has triggered heated discus?sion on social media platforms and the debate “removing English as a core subject for primary and secondary school students” has been read 120 million times on Sina Weibo.

Some netizens agreed with his proposal and said they had wasted too much time studying English at school and did not use it in their dai?ly lives. Others said the idea is not in line with the countrys pursuit of further openness and will likely not be adopted by authorities.

Zhang Lianzhong， a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University， said the Ministry of Education made English a compulsory course from third grade in 2001. The decision had proved to be a smart one as hundreds of millions of Chinese students have broadened their horizons and improved their cultural awareness and critical thinking ability through learning the language， Zhang said in an interview with Beijing News.

As a student， do you think it reasonable and necessary to ax English？