I agree with James that the learning and assessing systems in developing countries are too standardised to develop students’ creativity. Chinese education system is a typical example for assessing students mainly by their scores. This way of assessment negatively affects almost all the aspects of education including textbooks, lesson, and so on. In achieving the goal of getting higher and higher scores, teachers teach “a bunch of facts” and create exams by using these facts. Students have to repeat and memorize these facts instead of understanding these facts as rules to solve problems. Majority of activities are also created for the goal of achieving higher scores. Although many students and teachers are aware of this issue, still it can not be changed due to complex reasons such as the huge population, developing economy, and immature management. In a long term, it can strongly affect the creativity and ability of innovation of both teachers and students.
Besides, video games in China are still generally considered to be related to violence, a waste of time, and a main reason for having low scores. Most Chinese parents, teachers and students still believe playing video games is a negative activity which should be strictly banned. I hope they would have the opportunity to learn from this video. They may start to think that video games would be an effective way of teaching and grading. However, as James mentioned in the interview, learning is not just about facts but the skills of solving problems. From my personal experience, I learn many things by doing it and when I meet difficulties I search for people and information that can help me. This is a practical way of learning. The characteristics of video games such as problem-solving, collaboration, and continuously quick feedback are very valuable for teaching and grading.
(Nan LI)
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