Trained to succeed in life

Yan Yajun, associate professor, College of Education, Zhejiang University

The Hengshui High School publicly says it employs the exam-oriented model while most schools in East China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces would avoid using such a label. The fact is, though the Hengshui school's students may get admission to premier universities, they will have to be properly trained to meet the challenges in later life, which the school also provides.

Students from less-resourceful families need competence-oriented education much more than those from well-off families, because the education offered by schools are generally the only choice for them to improve their social status.

No matter how clichéd it may sound, the school is aimed at preparing children for long-term success. By criticizing the Hengshui model, people are actually curtailing the chances of students from weaker economic backgrounds from getting a chance to access higher education and improve their social status.