Chen Weizhi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and president of Shanghai New Epoch Education Group, a private K-12 school group, suggested canceling English courses for first and second grade primary school students and also reducing the course hours of English for secondary school students.
全国政协委员、上海新纪元教育集团董事长陈伟志在提案中建议取消初中、高中英语的主科地位，全面取消小学一二年级英语课程，降低英语课程在初高中教学中的比重。
To reduce the competitiveness of exam-oriented English teaching and learning, English should become an elective subject for the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, he told news outlet ThePaper.cn.
同时，陈伟志在接受澎湃新闻采访时表示，为了降低应试英语教学的竞争力，建议将高考外语必考科目改为选考科目。
According to Sichuan Radio and Television, Tuo Qingming, a deputy to the National People's Congress and principal of No 2 Middle School of Yucheng District in Ya'an, Sichuan province, suggested lowering the weighting of the English test in the gaokao from 150 points to 100. The total scores for gaokao are 750.
据四川广播电视台报道，全国人大代表、四川省雅安雨城区第二中学校长庹庆明也提出了类似建议，希望将高考外语科目的分值从150分将至100分，高考总分为750分，以此间接降低英语学科的主科地位。
He believes that English takes up too much in weighting in the gaokao and too much time for students to learn, yet it is not useful for many people.
庹庆明认为高考外语分值过高，会耗费学生大量的学习时间和精力，进而增加学生的学习负担；其次对于很多人而言，外语的使用价值并不高，将来工作很少会用到，可是却要花费远超课时比例的时间去学习。
However, Dong Hongchuan, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and president of Sichuan International Studies University, said proposals on reducing the importance of English education should be treated carefully, as strengthening English education is in line with the country to pursue high-quality opening-up, building a community with a shared future for mankind and participating in global governance.
针对这种声音，也有不少教育界人士提出了不同的意见，全国政协委员、四川外国语大学校长董洪川表示，应谨慎对待关于降低英语教育重要性的提案。他认为，在新时代新征程上，我国应该继续加强外语教育，着力培养服务高水平对外开放、构建新发展格局的涉外人才。
"The basic policy of opening-up remains unchanged. If we do not understand foreign languages, we cannot understand the development of other countries," he said in an interview with China.org.
在接受媒体采访时，董洪川说：“中国对外开放的基本国策没有变。如果不懂外语，我们无法了解世界各方面的发展。”
"Faced with the provocations of Western forces blocking China and their rumors tarnishing the country, if we do not understand foreign languages, we cannot fight back."
“同时，面对美西方势力近来向中国挑衅、对中国进行封锁、散布抹黑中国的言论，如果不懂外语，我们无法掌握相关信息，如果不懂外语，我们怎么进行反击？”
Foreign language and translation play an important role in international communication and in today's world, translating China's voices to the world is as important as translating the world's voices to China, he added.
他补充说，外语特别是翻译在国际传播中发挥了非常重要的作用，当今时代，“翻译中国”和“翻译世界”同等重要，并驾齐驱。
Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the reason for skepticism about English education is that the exam-oriented English teaching has not been effective for Chinese.
21世纪教育研究院熊丙奇院长指出，建议降低英语教学比重的原因很多，但是作为义务教育教学标准的重要组成部分，硬性降低教学比重，其实也存在诸多隐患。
Reducing the weighting of English in exams won't solve problems, he said, adding instead more autonomy should be given to universities in determining the requirement for students enrolling in different majors. This way, students can choose how well they plan to study the language based on the major, university and career they want to pursue, he said.
熊丙奇认为，要解决这个问题，最根本的是要改革我国的考试招生制度，建立多元的评价体系。比如不同的大学和专业，可以根据自己的育人标准，提出不同的英语成绩要求，学生可以结合自己的大学和专业以及未来的职业发展选择怎样学英语。
Provocations
英 [ˌprɒvəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n] 美 [ˌprɑːvəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n]
n. 挑衅
skepticism
英 [ˈskeptɪsɪzəm] 美 [ˈskeptɪsɪzəm]
n. 怀疑态度
