Good afternoon/good evening,everyone:
My topic is “Education in China: Do Not Be an Outsider”
Before I start my speech, I want to share you one of my true story. I grew up with my grandparents in a small town where there was no access to preschool education. When I reached my school-age,my education became a headache for my parents. I can still recall my first day for school. Before going through the registration process, the teacher in charge of the recruitment quizzed me and asked me to count from one to twenty. I was totally overwhelmed by this question. Because I never learnt how to count.My parents, they were busy with work; my grandparents, they were illiterate; plus,I had never been to a kindergarten before. As a seven-year-old child, I felt hopeless for the first time, assuming that I was going to be rejected by the teacher and the school. Tears filled my eyes and I started to cry. The teacher,however, burst into laughter. She looked at the poor me and then said: “It is ok if you do not know, you will learn it in school.”
That is my bitter-and-sweet story on my first school day. You may laugh at my naivety now. But the teacher’swords really mean a lot to me at the time. Until today, I still feel grateful for the teacher with a beautiful heart. She opened the first door to my early education.
However,education, which was the equivalent of knowledge, is now being tarnished. The education kids receive nowadays has been criticized for its hidden threat. Cases like child abuse,molestation, school bullying are no news to us. On the one hand, a lack of supervision and regulation has worsened the education problems in China; on the other hand, Internet has become an outlet, magnifying both rumors and facts. We tend to tell our children that the world is dangerous,that strangers are all bad, that no one is trustworthy except the family. But is it the right way to tell them what a world they are living in? My answer is no,absolutely no. We need to teach our children to protect themselves, but at the same time we adults should make a difference. Because our kids will grow up in the world we are creating. Because our kids learn from us how to solve problems. If we do not try hard to solve the problems, they will suffer. If we turn a blind eye to the problems, they will know when they grow up. One day, my kids may ask me: “mom, why the world becomes so terrible?” I do not want my answer to be: “Because I stood aside and failed to offer my help.”
Thank you!