Scientific reference system needed
Although it's improper to make 6 years the cut-off age for kids to be admitted to school, it should not be scrapped unless more serious problems in the education system are solved, says an article in Chongqing Times. Excerpts:
Many parents feel angry and frustrated when their children cannot get admitted to a primary school because they were born a few days after the cut-off date. Since they have to wait for another year such children lose one full year in their academic calendar.
That's why people welcomed the acknowledged but quickly denied remark from the Ministry of Education that schools could enroll even "almost 6-year-old" kids.
The ministry's ambiguous attitude is in complete contrast to the overwhelming majority of online calls demanding a deregulation of the cut-off age for admission to primary school. But that is because our limited educational resources don't allow us to attempt a complete reform of the system.
Age should not be the only criterion for admission to primary school because many kids below 6 years show greater aptitude for school than some who have crossed 6.
Whether the age bar can be made flexible or not is not the key to the problem. Instead, we need to devise a scientific reference system to replace the age criterion so that our limited educational resources could be better allocated.
(China Daily 12/10/2009 page9)
