Candle throws light on education reform

IN A GRADE 3 CLASS OF A SCHOOL IN HANGZHOU, East China's Zhejiang province, a teacher showed the students a white candle. But 95 percent of the children didn't know what it was. Yanzhou Metropolis Daily comments:

The white candle was not the only thing the pupils failed to recognize. When the teacher lit a match, the children were so scared that some girls ran out of the classroom.

The teacher posted a video clip of the incident online and asked a question: Are our textbooks out of date, or should the children acquire more knowledge about the not-so-distant past?