Young at art

摘要

IN EXAM-OBSESSED China, educators have long struggled with the problem of overworked schoolchildren. Attempts to do away with some test-oriented teaching often face resistance from parents, who worry that their offspring could lose out in the race to get into a good university. Some enlightened officials are taking a new tack. In the south-western province of Yunnan they have not only revamped the physical-education test in the zhongkao, an examination for entrance to senior secondary school. They have also given it the same weighting in the exam as all-important subjects like maths and Chinese. Eight provinces have joined Yunnan in including art and music tests in the zhongkao. These reforms are in response to demands by the central government for a more well-rounded approach to education. In 2017 primary and secondary schools were ordered to hire only specialists to teach pe and art. In October they were directed to organise daily gym classes; to include pe and art in the zhongkao; and to make pupils' graduation conditional on their fitness (it did not say how to assess this). The government says it wants to foster a "lifelong habit of exercise" and, through art, "noble sentiments".