Better education? Better country?

"Better educational outcomes are a strong predictor for future economic growth," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria.

Cai Fang, head of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics, sees opportunity for economic growth in the potential of China's educational development.

China's education still lags far behind that of developed countries. China will see a significant increase in its labor productivity with the improvement of education, Cai said.

Research shows labor productivity will generally rise by 17 percent when the average education of a company's workforce is extended by one year. If all of a company's workers are high school graduates, then its productivity could jump by 66 percent if each of its workers has a college degree, he explained.

"Improving education, especially in rural and inland China, will extend the demographic dividend of the country and sustain the competitiveness of the country's manufacturing industry," Cai said.

But Xiong, among others, worries whether China's educational system can produce enough talented citizens who can support the country in its bidding for social and economic transformation.

The greatest disadvantage of China's education is the cultivation of personality, integrity and innovation, which is vital for the making of true talents, Xiong said.

According to a survey by the International Assessment of Educational Progress in 2009, China was at the bottom in all 21 polled countries in its students' imagination and ranked 17th in children's creativity. However, they ranked first in math skills.

Amid criticism, China issued a 10-year national education plan (from 2010 to 2020) on July 29, pledging to build an assignment burden monitoring and reporting mechanism to lessen the burdens on primary and secondary school students.

Education reform was also included in the proposed 12th Five-Year Plan, a roadmap for China's development from 2011 to 2015, right after economic growth.

According to the plan proposed by the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, China will strive to improve education, enhance people's ability to innovate and expand the pool of creative talents to build an innovation-oriented country with more advanced science and technologies, a better-educated work force and innovative management mechanisms.

It is imperative for educators and the authorities to find a way to free Chinese children from heavy burdens and encourage development of personality so that they can learn to innovate, to think independently and to apply their knowledge in practice, Xiong said.

"It's not a simple task. Changes must be made in schools, in exams, in higher education and in the job market," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2010)