Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes

I sense great desire for change in the Chinese teacher education students. They realize that their system does an effective job at transferring a comprehensive and unified curriculum to the unit called "Chinese students". But, they want to be better able to reach the students as individuals. Here is a sampling of questions.

• How can I generate student interest in a topic that they don't like?
  
• How can I motivate a student to learn if he or she does not want to learn?
  
• What are some ways to make students interact more in my classroom?
  
• How can I manage my classroom if I introduce inquiry-based learning?
  
• What changes in the classroom when the students are more active?
  

Not a single student has expressed concern that they will cover less content if they introduce inquiry learning. Not a single student has worried that students will not do as well on the standard college entrance exam that all Chinese high school students must take. My sense is that they are so convinced that education reform is the way to go that the testing system will just have to change. This strength of conviction makes it more likely that change will occur. A strong centralized government such as China's has strengths and weaknesses. One weakness is that ill-functioning systems tend to stick around longer than they should. One strength is that once a good idea is in place, it tends to remain in place. There seems to be much government inertia in the existing education system in China. For example, the primary school students do hours of homework each night to get into a good middle school. The middle school students do hours of homework each night to get into a good high school. The high school students do hours of homework each night to get a good score on the college entrance exam. Then, the college graduates who teach prepare their students for the same system. Based on the great questions I heard, I think this generation of new teachers will be the ones to really change the Chinese education system for the better.