Issue No. 111 模擬

"A nation must maintain a highly competitive educational system--a system in which students compete among themselves and against students from other countries--to ensure its own economic success."


The claim in question is that if a nation is to ensure its own economic success, it must maintain a highly competitive educational system in which students compete among themselves and against students from other countries. I strongly disagree for the following reasons.

First of all, a country must be good at what it already dose, not at what other countries are good at doing. Only in this way will it be competitive. For example, consider two countries, A and B. Country A is good at producing bicycles very affordably and country B is good at manufacturing computers very affordably. The intelligent thing to do, guided by the above claim, would be to have everybody in country A schooled in computer science and everybody in country B schooled in the technology of bicycles. But this is pure nonsense, at least if trade flows freely between A and B. A will make (and sell) what it is good at making, and B will do the same.

In addition, different people learn in different ways, and what is good for the people of one country might not be good for the people of another. A highly competitive education in which students compete among themselves might work in one place but not in another. Furthermore, overemphasis on scholastic competition and high grades can undermine freedom of thought, something that a country needs if it is to be economically competitive. With freedom of thought comes inventiveness and originality, which are essential ingredients in any successful economy.

Finally, the success of a country depends not just on its economic performance. Part of its success depends also on its level of culture--its awareness of its own history, its appreciation for the arts, its love of books, and so forth. However wealthy a country is, it is something less than successful if it is devoid of culture. Evidently, a successful country must also educate its citizens about its culture-- a kind of education that has little to do with achieving economic success.

In summary, I strongly disagree with the claim that if a nation is to ensure its own economic success, it must maintain a highly competitive educational system in which students compete among themselves and against students from other countries. I strongly disagree because a country must be good at what it already dose, not at what other countries are good at doing. Moreover, different people learn in different ways, and what is good for the people of another country. Finally, the success of a country depends not just on its economic performance.

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