13. E-learning and E-training

　　With the rapid development of technology and people’s demand for education mounting, so-called e-learning, or on-line long distance education, has become very popular and important in China. In some areas, e-learning has played a role traditional classroom education cannot accomplish.

　　Approximately 90 per cent of the world’s new information is stored and retrieved in English. It is vital for China to use the Olympics as a catalyst to boost English acquisition to prepare itself or the digital revolution. To prepare for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, at least 6 million Chinese, including staff for the organizing committee, and in the service, retail, police, volunteer, technical and medical support sectors, reportedly need to improve their English language skills.

　　E-learning breaks down the barriers of time and location, integrating education resources. When compared with traditional ways of teaching and learning, it is far more cost-effective for both the teachers and the students.

　　14. Teacher-centered or Student-centered Class (233 words)

　　Today in China there exists side by side two different teaching patterns: A teacher-oriented class and a student-oriented class. And the differences between them are obvious.

　　A teacher-oriented class is a typical traditional passive class. No doubt it is a natural product of the deep-rooted examination-oriented education. And there are several characteristics in this kind of class. To begin with, a teacher is the main actor on the stage and all the students are passive audience. Besides, he imparts knowledge to his students in the same way he pours water into a container, never bothering to ignite the sparks or enthusiasm in students.

　　In contrast, a student-centered class is a kind of new active class, resulting from the quality-oriented education system. Naturally, it’s a newcomer of the education reform. The main characteristic of this kind of class is that the teacher and students are all actors and all the students are actively involved in the classroom activities. Besides, the teacher always tries to instill a love of learning in students and stimulates their interest. As a result, students always find it a pleasure to sit in class, asking questions, discussing or even arguing with the teacher.

　　It goes without saying that I prefer the active student-oriented class, not merely because it’s fun, but because it can make may knowledge permanent. . What’s more important, it can develop my creative mind and learning ability.

　　15. Exam-oriented or Quality-oriented

　　At present there exists side by side two contradictory educational systems: the traditional exam-oriented system and the new quality-oriented one, which leads to a heated nationwide discussion as to which is preferable.

　　The exam-oriented educational pattern is the inevitable result of the existing exam assessment system. In order to climb into the ‘ivory tower’ or work for their degrees, students are cramming data and facts only for exams and forget all the information right after the exams. What’s worse, when students become interested in testing techniques, they gradually lose their freedom and creativity. As a result, they always bury themselves in multiple choices and never attach importance to practical ability and originality.

　　In contrast, the quality-oriented educational pattern stresses the creativity of students and their all-round development. Students are not expected to memorize information mechanically and passively as computers. Instead, they are encouraged to do some creative work actively and independently as the programmers of computers. In this pattern, what students aim at is no longer their academic performances, but their practical abilities.

　　No doubt, what the new quality-oriented pattern aims to train and bring up are not merely learners successful in studies, but responsible citizens fit in health, rich in knowledge and competent in their work. Therefore, it’s high time we reformed our existing exam assessment system and adopted the new one.

　　16. Be a Graduate Student or Not

　　According to the reform of our educational system, postgraduates will have to pay tuition to colleges or universities. This brings a dilemma to many undergraduates – to be a postgraduate or to get employed.

　　The main reason for the dilemma is that, on the one hand, they know their parents can’t afford the tuition, and they don’t like to see their parents take on further financial burden for them. During the four-year undergraduate study, their parents have already paid a lot of money for their education and living. Especially the students whose parents are farmers or laid-off workers are more worried about this. But on the other hand, they want to pursue study further, to learn more knowledge and skills in order to make greater contribution to the society in the future.

　　In my opinion, they should get out of the difficult situation and go on with their study as postgraduates. As far as the tuition is concerned, they can always find some ways to fund it. They can do some part-time jobs in their spare time, or loan some money from their relatives or friends or simply banks. They can also try to obtain some scholarship by studying hard and doing well in their research work.

　　So don’t hesitate, study hard and try to become a graduate student. The future will be more promising.

　　17. English Teaching in China

　　Some people say that English teaching in China is a total failure. After ten years of English learning, most graduates can’t properly communicate with foreigners, nor can they translate between languages with confidence, let alone write in English.

　　As far as college English teaching is concerned, there are three main reasons that help bring about the problem. To begin with, College English teaching is, to a great extent, teacher-centered, turning a language class into a lecture on grammar. It is still very common that the teacher explains every language point in detail, with students taking notes all the time. Secondly, culture is neglected in English teaching. Some outdated materials and a great deal of grammar exercises in the book mislead students to pay too much attention to separate words and grammatical rules. Finally, test-oriented education, in a sense, leads astray language teaching in China. For example, the nationwide College English Test is so over-emphasized in some colleges that teacher teach just for the sake of test, and students learn nothing other than testing techniques. As a result, students’ language competence is weakened though the passing rate has increased.

　　Therefore, in my opinion, English teaching in China should be reformed. The education should be oriented towards all-round development of personal qualities. And language abilities should be given priority in language teaching and learning.

　　18.We Need to Learn How to Learn

　　Influenced by the new marketing system, students have quite different opinions about the objective of their study. Some of them hold that a diploma is certainly something they are in college for. They believe that the diploma will enlarge the opportunities in their job-hunting. So their college life is almost focused completely on book learning.

　　Others tend to challenge themselves to learn more than a diploma requires. They believe that it is most important to widen personal interests and develop various abilities while at college. For this purpose, they have every reason to pride themselves on excellent academic achievements in subjects they teach themselves beyond their majors.

　　As a college student, I firmly believe that college is a place where we learn how to learn. We should take best advantage of the chance to broadly – math, history, and various other sciences, not merely for a diploma. On the other hand, it is also quite necessary that we take a wide interest in computer, foreign languages or other practical disciplines rather than just confine ourselves to textbooks, so that we could become versatile candidates in the future job markets. Only in this way can we keep up with the times.