Cut the red tape at schools

Divesting our schools from the grip of bureaucracy is an essential first step toward modernizing our primitive education system. If this step is not taken, the nation's ambition of building world-class colleges will remain simply wishful thinking.

As some insightful critics have observed, once bureaucracy is stripped, it will prove the most revolutionary move in the newly published guidelines for education reform.

But, just as expected, it has invited mixed feelings, even at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. For advocates, it is a ray of hope. For others, it apparently is something to worry about.