今年兩會，全國政協委員、九三學社中央委員許進建議改革義務教育階段英語的必修課地位。這一建議在網上引發了熱議。

In the proposal, Xu said that English should not be a core subject like Chinese and math during compulsory education and more course hours should be given to improving students' skills in physical education, music and art.
許進在建議中表示，義務教育階段，英語等外語課程不再設為與語文和數學同等的主課，增加體育、音樂、藝術等素質教育課程占比。

【單詞講解】

Compulsory這個詞我們都很熟悉，表示“強制的，義務的，必須做的”意思，除了表示“義務教育（compulsory education）”以外，學校里設置的“必修課”是compulsory courses，再比如，It is compulsory for all motorcyclists to wear helmets.（所有騎摩托車的人都必須戴頭盔。）

Xu said English and other foreign languages should also not be included as compulsory subjects for the national college entrance exam.
不再將英語（或外語）設為高考必考的科目。

許進的解釋是：

While English takes up about 10 percent of class hours, less than 10 percent of university graduates use the language at work, he said.
英語教學課時約占學生總課時的10%，但英語只對不到10%的大學畢業生有用。

Moreover, smart translation devices can offer sophisticated translation services and in the age of artificial intelligence, translators will be among the top 10 professions to be eliminated, he added.
此外，現在的翻譯機可以提供口語翻譯服務，技術十分成熟。在人工智能時代，翻譯職業位居即將被淘汰職業的前10名。

這番話立即引發網友熱議。有些網友認為這一建議值得商榷。

復旦大學中文系教授嚴鋒也在微博發文表示反對：

不過，也有網友表示，花了很多時間學英語，日常生活中卻用不到，確實有點浪費時間。

According to a online poll by China Youth Daily, more than 110,000 respondents opposed the proposal and said English should be taught early at schools to enable China to compete with other countries. However, around 100,000 people supported the proposal and said it would be better to spend more time learning Chinese language and culture.
《中國青年報》一項在線調查顯示，參與調查的人當中，有超過11萬反對這項建議，并表示學校應該早開英語課，提升中國在全世界的競爭力。約有10萬人支持該建議，認為應該花更多時間學習中文和文化。

許進3月4日在接受采訪時進一步解釋稱，

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't learn English. I'm saying that we shouldn't let the whole population learn the language while only a few can use it, and this just doesn't make sense. According to data released in 2019, there are about 40 million students learning English in preschool and compulsory education, but probably less than 4 million will use it at work. They learn English for nine years and in the end only 1/10 of them will use the language. It is a waste of educational resources to make children shoulder such a heavy burden and ask them to learn a course that they may not use in the future."

“我不是說不要學英語，我是說不要讓全民都去學而只有少數人能用到英語，這個就不合理了。根據2019年數據，學前教育和義務教育階段約有4000萬學生學英語，但工作后用得到英語的可能還不到400萬。義務教育階段學9年，最后只有1/10的人有用，讓孩子背負那么重的負擔，讓孩子學一門未來可能用不上的課程，是對教育資源的浪費。”

學英語到底是不是浪費時間？

北京外國語大學教授張連仲此前接受采訪時表示，

The Ministry of Education made English a compulsory course from third grade in 2001. The decision had proved to be a smart one as hundreds of millions of Chinese students have broadened their horizons and improved their cultural awareness and critical thinking ability through learning the language.
教育部2001年決定從小學三年級開始將英語設為必修課，事實證明這是一個明智的決定，讓近億的孩子開始接觸英語，對開闊學生視野，培養文化意識、思維訓練等起到良好的作用。

21世紀教育研究院院長熊丙奇表示，

The key is to reform China's exam-oriented education system so that English teaching will focus on improving students' language skills, not exam-taking ability.
關鍵是要改革應試教育體制，讓英語教學專注于提升學生的語言水平，而不是考試能力。

Removing English as a core subject will only result in greater imbalances between urban and rural students in English proficiency as urban students will more likely resort to costly after-school training to learn the language.
如果取消英語主課地位，只會導致城鄉學生英語水平更大的差異，因為城市學生很有可能會花錢報課外培訓班學英語。

參考來源：新民周刊、中國日報

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）