In 2017, Xueersi has gone through a 13-year journey, from dozens of students in the beginning to now influencing millions of students and families; because of trust, perseverance, and love, Xueersi is willing to work together with parents to discover and solve potential problems in educating children, and help cultivate a backbone of society for China's future. Addressing common concerns of parents, on June 29, 2017, Xueersi hosted the "2017 Education Philosophy Expert Symposium," inviting 9 renowned education experts to provide guidance.

The Increasing Importance of Comprehensive Quality Education, Multiple Colleges and Schools to Start Pilot Admissions

"The term 'quality education' may not be unfamiliar to all of us, but the vast majority of parents are still faced with the dilemma of choice: the evaluation standards in the education system still mainly focus on 'grades,' and children have limited time and energy. What should be done if the focus on comprehensive quality education results in neglect of major subjects? Fang Yunjia, Executive Dean of the Mathematics Research Institute of Capital Normal University, believes that comprehensive quality education is becoming increasingly important." "In 2014, the competent authorities issued regulations related to education reform, not only requiring the cultivation of students' sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit, and practical ability, but also putting forward important requirements for the talent training of junior and senior high school students — attaching importance to the evaluation of comprehensive quality." Fang Yunjia introduced that in provinces such as Zhejiang, eight colleges and universities have started pilot admissions in the college entrance examination: if the final score is 100 points, the college entrance examination results account for 60%, comprehensive quality accounts for 30%, and daily performance accounts for 10%. Good Future (haoweilai-tal) has learned from China Education Online that the Education Department of Hainan Province has recently issued a notice, clearly stipulating that, starting from the middle of 2017, the additional points for students in sports, arts, and other subjects will be cancelled, and related preferential policies will be discontinued. Ordinary high schools will have more autonomy in admissions, and expertise in sports and arts will be included in comprehensive quality evaluation. Therefore, we recommend that parents maintain a relatively open attitude towards quality education, and make comprehensive balance under the current selection system in order to prepare for future changes.

Enable Children to Gain a Sense of Happiness in Learning

In the forum, almost every expert mentioned that the ultimate goal of education is people, and "people-oriented" is the basic principle. Cheng Fangping, a professor at the School of Education of Renmin University of China, believes that the core of education should be related to the lifelong learning of learners, and should focus on improving learners' autonomy in learning and research. In simple terms, it is to enable children to have the ability they need for lifelong learning and growth, to exert their autonomy, and to turn "I have to study" into "I want to study". However, parents may ask, "I also want my child to have autonomy in learning, why is it always ineffective?" Don't worry, Professor Cheng also proposed a solution - let children feel a sense of happiness in learning. "We need to know the mechanism for the development of abilities if we want to cultivate learners' abilities. In addition to motivation and interest, we need to let learners understand the interest and the future value of these abilities or knowledge, so that they can feel happiness in learning and arouse their enthusiasm."

Sound Character Requires Adversity Education

Almost every once in a while, the media reports some unfortunate events of children. Not doing well in exams, being criticized by teachers, parents disconnecting the internet... From minor grievances and not taking the initiative to communicate, to more extreme events such as jumping off buildings or into rivers, they easily leave this world. Children are the precious treasures of parents. Parents are afraid that light words might not work, while heavy words might hurt their self-esteem. Therefore, many parents have always used "encourage, encourage again, you are the best in the world!" to give feedback to their children. This may actually ignore the significant importance of adversity education. Children will eventually enter the society and cannot always live in the sheltered harbor of home. When they face the real world, how should they balance parental feedback with the reality of the world? Wang Xiaohui, a professor at the International and Comparative Education Research Institute of Beijing Normal University, emphasizes the need to pay attention to the integrity and adversity education of individuals. Wang Xiaohui believes, "We cultivate abilities and guide children with interests and hobbies. At the same time, we must also pay attention to their mental quality. We must consider the integrity of children, their ability to overcome difficulties, accept criticism, not fear criticism, or dare to face challenges or difficulties. It is a psychological quality of children." In simple terms, this is a bit like "exposure therapy" in the process of diagnosing and treating mental illness, presenting real information, eliminating fear, and increasing awareness.

Face the Internet, Embrace Change, and Meet Challenges

The rapid development of the Internet and its invasion of children's time makes some parents see it as a monster. In recent days, the media reported that parents lamented the numerous crimes of a certain online game. However, if parents were to reconsider: the world is constantly changing, and the Internet has penetrated almost every aspect of life. Instead of "stopping," it is better to let children learn to manage time and needs, and get along with the Internet in a friendly manner. On the other hand, social change poses new requirements for talent cultivation and learning quality. Zhao Gang, a professor at Northeast Normal University, pointed out that in the next few decades, a large amount of work may be replaced by robots. Therefore, the education of the new era should focus more on cultivating children's learning ability, helping them find their talents and strengths. This requires parents to have a forward-looking judgment on the future when cultivating their children, to identify which skills may be replaced by the Internet and robots in the future, and choose a direction of effort that is irreplaceable. On the road of growth, we always need a guiding light, warmth, and companionship; Good Future is willing to become a better parent with you. Thank you to the guest speakers who participated in the symposium: Professor Cheng Fangping, School of Education, Renmin University of China Fang Yunjia, Executive Dean of the Mathematics Research Institute of Capital Normal University Special commentator Gao Wei of People's Daily Professor Liao Fenglin, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University Visiting scholar of the Ministry of Education, Wang Dalong Former Chief Editor of Guangming Daily, Wang Ling Professor Wang Xiaohui, International and Comparative Education Research Institute, Beijing Normal University Professor Yuan Guilin, Beijing Normal University Professor Zhao Gang, Northeast Normal University