Recently, in the draft regulations for secondary and high school entrance exams, the Ministry of Education and Training withdrew the proposal to randomly select the third subject for the 10th grade entrance exam. The third subject will not be fixed but will change annually, announced before March 31st, aiming for comprehensive education and preventing rote learning or unbalanced learning. According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marie Curie School, even without the phrase "randomly selecting the third subject," this move will still put the Departments of Education and Training in a difficult position, leaving them with "no other option but to use a lottery to choose the third subject." The reason is that choosing based on the subjective opinions of the Department's leaders could lead to many problems, such as concerns about parental and student opposition, or students being able to guess the exam subject through elimination... Therefore, this unit still has to find a way to avoid public criticism by using a lottery. “In education, it is taboo to draw lots because this is a ‘lucky thing to do, unlucky thing to do’. We cannot, because of our ‘inability’ to manage teaching and learning at the secondary level, fear that if there are no exams, students will not study, but instead put teachers, students and parents in a situation of luck, causing tens of thousands of people to live in a state of insecurity. Education needs to be clear, transparent and stable for many years,” said Mr. Khang.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang, Chairman of the Marie Curie School Board (Photo: Thach Thao)

According to Mr. Khang, all students who have been recognized as having graduated from junior high school already meet the requirements in terms of character and competence. Therefore, there is no need for this exam to "comprehensively assess students in the basic education stage" anymore. "This exam must be geared towards the future, that is, towards the high school level. Thus, specialized schools will recruit according to the school's regulations, while regular schools will decide on the recruitment method depending on the pressure from the number of applicants," Mr. Khang said. For example, schools with enrollment quotas equal to or less than the number of applicants should only use selection criteria, not an exam, to save time and money. Schools with more applicants than the quota can organize an entrance exam or a combination of both. In the case of an entrance exam, the third exam subject should be standardized nationwide and remain stable in the long term. According to Mr. Khang, the best option is to organize exams with three fixed subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and a Foreign Language (primarily English). The reason is that at the high school level, English is one of the eight compulsory subjects for all students. Furthermore, Political Bureau Resolution No. 91 requires gradually making English the second language in schools. “Therefore, choosing a third subject as a Foreign Language is necessary,” Mr. Khang said. Some also argue that fixing the third exam subject will not promote educational activities, especially comprehensive education, and may easily lead to rote learning and unbalanced learning. Instead of drawing lots or choosing a fixed subject, students should be allowed to choose their third exam subject based on their strengths to create a foundation of specific competencies for their high school studies. Through this, students will have career guidance and streaming earlier, instead of focusing solely on the three years of high school. However, according to Mr. Khang, this option is not feasible and could even cause problems for localities organizing the exam because the Department of Education and Training would have to design many more exam questions in the subjects that candidates register to take. "On the other hand, the 10th grade entrance exam is conducted from top to bottom to determine the cutoff score, therefore it is very difficult to assess and lacks fairness if candidates choose to take exams in many different subjects," Mr. Khang said.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/chon-mon-thi-thu-3-thi-vao-lop-10-nen-co-dinh-la-ngoai-ngu-2335643.html