今年两会，全国政协委员、九三学社中央委员许进建议改革义务教育阶段英语的必修课地位。这一建议在网上引发了热议。
许进在建议中表示：
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.
义务教育阶段，英语等外语课程不再设为与语文和数学同等的主课，增加体育、音乐、艺术等素质教育课程占比。
English and other foreign languages should also not be included as compulsory subjects for the national college entrance exam.
不再将英语（或外语）设为高考必考的科目。
许进的解释是：
While English takes up about 10 percent of class hours, less than 10 percent of university graduates use the language at work, he said.
英语教学课时约占学生总课时的10%，但英语只对不到10%的大学毕业生有用。
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，现在的翻译机可以提供口语翻译服务，技术十分成熟。在人工智能时代，翻译职业位居即将被淘汰职业的前10名。
这番话立即引发网友热议。有些网友认为这一建议值得商榷。
复旦大学中文系教授严锋也在微博发文表示反对：
不过，也有网友表示，花了很多时间学英语，日常生活中却用不到，确实有点浪费时间。
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.
《中国青年报》一项在线调查显示，参与调查的人当中，有超过11万反对这项建议，并表示学校应该早开英语课，提升中国在全世界的竞争力。约有10万人支持该建议，认为应该花更多时间学习中文和文化。
许进3月4日在接受采访时进一步解释称，
"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."
“我不是说不要学英语，我是说不要让全民都去学而只有少数人能用到英语，这个就不合理了。根据2019年数据，学前教育和义务教育阶段约有4000万学生学英语，但工作后用得到英语的可能还不到400万。义务教育阶段学9年，最后只有1/10的人有用，让孩子背负那么重的负担，让孩子学一门未来可能用不上的课程，是对教育资源的浪费。”
学英语到底是不是浪费时间？
北京外国语大学教授张连仲此前接受采访时表示，
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年决定从小学三年级开始将英语设为必修课，事实证明这是一个明智的决定，让近亿的孩子开始接触英语，对开阔学生视野，培养文化意识、思维训练等起到良好的作用。
21世纪教育研究院院长熊丙奇表示，
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.
关键是要改革应试教育体制，让英语教学专注于提升学生的语言水平，而不是考试能力。
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.
如果取消英语主课地位，只会导致城乡学生英语水平更大的差异，因为城市学生很有可能会花钱报课外培训班学英语。
同济大学教育政策研究中心主任张端鸿在接受《新民周刊》采访时表示，英语是当今世界的主要国际通用语言，是国际传播最为广泛的语言，全球最顶尖的学术资源绝大多数是英文资料，英语在国际经济与贸易当中所发挥的作用也是支配性的。从未来的发展来看，并不应该因为当前对英语使用人口比例的高低来判断这门语言的价值。
在张端鸿看来，与其讨论英语的必修课地位，不如关心如何改善英语教育方式，让更多的人能够在融入世界的过程中更加高效地使用所学的英语。因此，我国的英语教育体系无论从教学内容、教学方法、师资力量等各个方面来看，不仅不能弱化，还需要进一步强化，达到更加专业化的水准。
来源：中国日报网英语点津综合新民周刊、中国日报
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