Op-ed | Vocational education contributes to the diversity of educational system

2022-05-12 23:00:15 source: In Zhejiang


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Education is a priority among all the other issues in connection to people’s livelihood. 


This is for sure that choosing to learn something new to further your career is a big deal. The fact is that whether you’re starting a new career or retraining for something different, you’ve got some major decisions ahead of you. Higher education or academic degrees, normally conducted in universities and vocational colleges, have their unique presence in the discussion started by people from all walks of life, from renowned professors to ordinary bus drivers. Getting deep into theory and ideas versus getting hands-on with actual tasks. There is a lot to weigh up. 


The dilemma of vocational college students around the world


However, the fact is that a large number of people will pay attention to a university degree, either undergraduate or postgraduate, that is required by the entrance examination system throughout the world, such as gaokao in China, and SAT in the United States, and so forth. We can see that the number of registered candidates is also rising exponentially. At the same time, vocational education and vocational college students seem to attract less attention from the public. 


Traditional narratives around students with vocational diplomas are often directly linked to stereotypes, whether believing that they’re incapable of mastering professional skills or at least doubting their work performance. But these aren’t enough. Prejudice against them even rises above their personalities which means they’re regarded as someone lazy, hedonic, and less morally behaved as students in universities. In all possible ways, some people intend to label them as inferior.  


Vocational education versus academic education 


Broadly speaking, vocational courses take practical and hands-on approaches, of which the focus is on teaching skills like plumbing, programming, and film editing so that students would be more employable in real-life scenarios. Academic courses tend toward the theoretical and consider more traditional subjects like literature, history, maths, and so forth. 


We can see that the wide variety of vocational courses on offer, paired with the increasingly competitive job market, means that this option of vocational education is becoming more and more popular. After all, a vocational qualification teaches students the practical skills they need to start climbing the professional ladder as soon as they graduate, and can be a great way of standing out to employers.


China eyes high-qualified vocational education and strong protection of employment rights of vocational college students


China has been pushing hard to balance the employability gap between uni students and students with vocational education backgrounds. In a guideline released on Oct 12, 2021, the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, spelled out a set of policy measures aimed at beefing up support for vocational schools and improving the quality of skill-focused education.


In China, students have a variety of options to pursue their further education. Lower scores in "gaokao" don’t close all doors to better education. For the diversity and equality of the Chinese education system, “zhuanshengbeng”—the promotion examination for vocational college students to make undergraduate education available, has left a path for vocational school students to pursue their dreams of uni degrees. 


Nowadays, students have more willingness to further their studies and stand at a higher place. As a Zhihu user said, it is the promotion examination that gives me a higher platform to unleash my potential and tells me where I should head to. The comment has been thumbed up over 1600 times until now, with more than 200 feedback which I hardly detect any detractor.


Undoing discrimination against vocational college students matters to the world 


Some preemptive and scornful views against vocational students should be thrown out. One of the major functions of the vocational college is to produce talents with technical skills that are supposed to fill up blanks in some spheres. With a stereotype that puts test scores and higher academic degrees at the top, the scale of technical skills and academic education seems to lose balance. 


Just as President Xi’s remarks at the First Innovation Exchange Conference for Craftsmen of the Nation, he pointed out that technical workers are an important force that makes "made-in-China" and "created-in-China" a reality. 


And during the meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress on April 20th, the revised vocational education law was adopted, which is the first major form since its enactment in 1996. 


China, not difficult to notice, is in an initiative to further deconstruct the unreasonable distinction between two kinds of education. To make China an international powerhouse, the cost of slighting vocational education is too frighteningly high to afford. It is high time that we should scrap irrationality and irony toward them as they’re a key component of development. 


The perception that it’s not an easy job to undo any long-standing stereotypes is a matter of truth. But discarding the old outlook is not antagonistic to reset a new reasonable one. Time is needed and efforts must be paid. We should put a new complexion on this. 

   

The promotion examination of Zhejiang has been postponed to May 14th. The registered students are squeezing every minute to study, running the last mile to their second "gaokao". You can barely see their presence in night pubs or Internet bars. The reality they all should be aware of is that graduation is not a single-answer question but a multiple-choice one.


Author: Fan Wenwu

Editor: Ye Ke

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WechatIMG58.jpeg


Education is a priority among all the other issues in connection to people’s livelihood. 


This is for sure that choosing to learn something new to further your career is a big deal. The fact is that whether you’re starting a new career or retraining for something different, you’ve got some major decisions ahead of you. Higher education or academic degrees, normally conducted in universities and vocational colleges, have their unique presence in the discussion started by people from all walks of life, from renowned professors to ordinary bus drivers. Getting deep into theory and ideas versus getting hands-on with actual tasks. There is a lot to weigh up. 


The dilemma of vocational college students around the world


However, the fact is that a large number of people will pay attention to a university degree, either undergraduate or postgraduate, that is required by the entrance examination system throughout the world, such as gaokao in China, and SAT in the United States, and so forth. We can see that the number of registered candidates is also rising exponentially. At the same time, vocational education and vocational college students seem to attract less attention from the public. 


Traditional narratives around students with vocational diplomas are often directly linked to stereotypes, whether believing that they’re incapable of mastering professional skills or at least doubting their work performance. But these aren’t enough. Prejudice against them even rises above their personalities which means they’re regarded as someone lazy, hedonic, and less morally behaved as students in universities. In all possible ways, some people intend to label them as inferior.  


Vocational education versus academic education 


Broadly speaking, vocational courses take practical and hands-on approaches, of which the focus is on teaching skills like plumbing, programming, and film editing so that students would be more employable in real-life scenarios. Academic courses tend toward the theoretical and consider more traditional subjects like literature, history, maths, and so forth. 


We can see that the wide variety of vocational courses on offer, paired with the increasingly competitive job market, means that this option of vocational education is becoming more and more popular. After all, a vocational qualification teaches students the practical skills they need to start climbing the professional ladder as soon as they graduate, and can be a great way of standing out to employers.


China eyes high-qualified vocational education and strong protection of employment rights of vocational college students


China has been pushing hard to balance the employability gap between uni students and students with vocational education backgrounds. In a guideline released on Oct 12, 2021, the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, spelled out a set of policy measures aimed at beefing up support for vocational schools and improving the quality of skill-focused education.


In China, students have a variety of options to pursue their further education. Lower scores in "gaokao" don’t close all doors to better education. For the diversity and equality of the Chinese education system, “zhuanshengbeng”—the promotion examination for vocational college students to make undergraduate education available, has left a path for vocational school students to pursue their dreams of uni degrees. 


Nowadays, students have more willingness to further their studies and stand at a higher place. As a Zhihu user said, it is the promotion examination that gives me a higher platform to unleash my potential and tells me where I should head to. The comment has been thumbed up over 1600 times until now, with more than 200 feedback which I hardly detect any detractor.


Undoing discrimination against vocational college students matters to the world 


Some preemptive and scornful views against vocational students should be thrown out. One of the major functions of the vocational college is to produce talents with technical skills that are supposed to fill up blanks in some spheres. With a stereotype that puts test scores and higher academic degrees at the top, the scale of technical skills and academic education seems to lose balance. 


Just as President Xi’s remarks at the First Innovation Exchange Conference for Craftsmen of the Nation, he pointed out that technical workers are an important force that makes "made-in-China" and "created-in-China" a reality. 


And during the meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress on April 20th, the revised vocational education law was adopted, which is the first major form since its enactment in 1996. 


China, not difficult to notice, is in an initiative to further deconstruct the unreasonable distinction between two kinds of education. To make China an international powerhouse, the cost of slighting vocational education is too frighteningly high to afford. It is high time that we should scrap irrationality and irony toward them as they’re a key component of development. 


The perception that it’s not an easy job to undo any long-standing stereotypes is a matter of truth. But discarding the old outlook is not antagonistic to reset a new reasonable one. Time is needed and efforts must be paid. We should put a new complexion on this. 

   

The promotion examination of Zhejiang has been postponed to May 14th. The registered students are squeezing every minute to study, running the last mile to their second "gaokao". You can barely see their presence in night pubs or Internet bars. The reality they all should be aware of is that graduation is not a single-answer question but a multiple-choice one.


Author: Fan Wenwu

Editor: Ye Ke

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