Call to remove core subject status of English revives debate in China

The controversy has revived a long-running debate over the role of English in Chinese schools.

The argument came to life again after Tang Jiafeng, a maths teacher known for coaching students through the national postgraduate entrance exam, said on social media that children, parents and schools had devoted disproportionate amounts of time and resources to English, a subject he argued had little relevance to the jobs most people eventually did.

“I publicly call for English to be stripped of its status as a core subject,” Tang wrote on Saturday. “No country in the world places English in such a supreme position as we do.”

He argued that Chinese children were being pushed to cram in English before they had even mastered their own language, despite the country’s thousands of years of civilisation.

“English is just a tool. It is enough to know how to use it,” Tang said. “The history of Chinese people worshipping foreign things and fawning over foreigners should end!”