TOPIC: ISSUE5 - "A nation should require all its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college rather than allow schools in different parts of the nation to determine which academic courses to offer."
　　WORDS: 594 TIME: 0:45:00 DATE: 2007-8-1
　　With explosive development of science and technology, people devoted in education, a permanent subject in human society, are always being seeking for a higher quality of instruction for students. When it comes to curriculum, which might plays one of the most important roles in the process of education, a host of different ideas are held by different educators in different disciplines. Should a nation require all its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college? Admittedly, the national curriculum will benefit most of students over the country. However, perhaps not all districts of the nation should be required to use the national curriculum.
　　To begin with, under the national curriculum, a higher quality of education will be gained. The national curriculum as it is, it must be built by the most authoritative persons from the country so as to ensure that the curriculum is scientific enough that it can benefit the most students from different districts of the nation. Besides, the national curriculum ensures that all students have opportunities to learn the traditional values and experience that have been accumulated and examined by our ancestors during the long history. In light of this, most students will receive better education resulted from the national curriculum.
　　In addition, requiring all the students to study the same national curriculum will provide an impartial learning environment for all students all over the country, no matter they are pupils, middle school students or college students. studying the same national curriculum, students in all primary schools and middle schools have the same education experience until they go to university or college. Because of this, it becomes much easier for college instructors and faculties to build curriculum and select education materials for the freshmen based on the same level of their education experience before. Thus, no one in college will complain that his/her curriculum in college is much above or below his level. Viewed in this fashion, it seems a fact that all students are sure to benefit from the national curriculum.
　　Nevertheless, while students from most parts of the nation may benefit a lot from the national curriculum, perhaps it cannot always gain the desired result in every district of the country, especially in some minority areas. As a matter of fact, some peoples in minority areas have their own traditions and customs that are totally different from those in any other district of the nation. UFor example, perhaps most people in the nation insist on antitheism but for Muslims, they believe in Allah. Thus a national curriculum might not be able to accord with they cultures and social values, or even totally goes against their traditional moralities or ethics and such a national curriculum will bring about severe damage to their education and cultures.
　　Besides, the national curriculum might not necessarily meet the needs and interests of all the students all over the country. While demanding most of districts in the country use the same national curriculum, we should allow different schools to provide different extra programs specially designed to meet the needs and interests of their students, which will benefit much more for students.
　　In summary, to some extent, most of students who have not yet entered college will benefit a lot from the national curriculum. However, as for some minority areas where the national curriculum cannot meet the general needs for students, the nation should allow schools there to determine which courses to offer. After all, what the nation is seeking for is to gain a higher quality of education all over the country.