Don't let candidates choose subjects because 'easy to take the test, easy to pass'

The high school goals stated in the 2018 General Education Program are career-oriented, but many students choose subjects and high school graduation exams with the criteria of 'easy to take and easy to pass'.

N MANY REASONS FOR STUDENTS CHOOSING SOCIAL SCIENCES

Fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training defines the goal for general education as: "Ensuring that students with secondary school qualifications have basic general knowledge, meeting the requirements of strong streaming after secondary school; high school students must approach careers and prepare for quality post-secondary education".

High school is a career-oriented level, students choose subjects and take exams that are appropriate to their career orientation. However, due to many different reasons, students choose subjects and take exams that are not appropriate to their career orientation, creating a trend that may be contrary to the needs of human resources. In the past 8 years (2017 - 2024), students choosing social science combinations have increased. In 2024, the rate of students choosing social science combinations was the highest at 63%, only 37% chose natural sciences. Meanwhile, the demand for human resources in science, technology, and engineering is increasing.

Candidates complete procedures to take the social science subject group exam in the 2024 high school graduation exam. In recent years, the number of candidates choosing this group has increased.

First of all, it is because social science subjects are easy to learn and easy to get high scores. The average total score of the three subjects history, geography, and civics is always higher than the average total score of the three subjects physics, chemistry, and biology.

Next, according to some high school principals in mountainous districts, due to low input quality, schools must direct students to choose social sciences to study and review for exams right from grade 10. Only a very few students who are good at natural sciences choose the natural science combination.

The high average high school graduation rate of the whole country (approximately 99%) creates pressure for schools in disadvantaged areas. Some schools achieve this rate of 80 - 90%, but are still considered low compared to the average, forcing schools to organize teaching and learning towards the goal of increasing the graduation rate.

According to the 2018 General Education Program, at the high school level, compulsory subjects are inclined towards social sciences and humanities. Specifically, there are 8 compulsory subjects and educational activities, including: mathematics, literature, foreign languages, history, physical education, national defense and security education, experiential activities, career guidance and local education. Of which, only mathematics belongs to natural sciences, while the subjects and educational activities belong to social sciences and humanities.

With the educational program design leaning towards social and humanities, it is understandable that students choose social science subjects to study and take exams. In fact, in the past 3 years, according to the Association of Universities and Colleges, currently in some provinces, the number of students choosing the group of subjects physics, chemistry, biology accounts for only 11 - 15%.

The number of majors related to social sciences has increased in recent years, including groups such as: journalism, law, pedagogy, culture, tourism, police, military, psychology... Even some technical schools choose groups with subjects such as history, geography, economic education and law. This is also the reason why the number of students choosing to study and take exams in social sciences has increased.

However, some localities with developed socio-economy, increased demand for human resources in science, engineering, technology, economics, etc., may affect the number of students choosing natural science subjects to study and take exams. Ho Chi Minh City is an example. In 2024, the percentage of students in Ho Chi Minh City choosing natural science groups was nearly 61%, the highest in the country.

BALANCE EXAM SUBJECTS TO MATCH HUMAN RESOURCE NEEDS

In fact, the labor needs of society are very diverse. The orientation of our country's socio-economic development in the era of development requires more and more human resources in the fields of science, engineering, technology, economics, and services, in addition to the social and humanities.

However, the structure of student differentiation into two groups of natural sciences - engineering and social sciences - humanities is too broad, it needs to be divided into more groups. For example, the group of subjects math - physics - chemistry - biology - information technology - technology should be divided into many small groups such as: math - physics - chemistry, physics - chemistry - biology, math - information technology - physics, math - physics - technology...

Grade 12 students will take the 2025 high school graduation exam with many innovations.

photo; jade

To overcome the above limitations, it is necessary to restructure the general education program to be more suitable with career guidance goals.

At the high school level, students should be divided into three main streams: the first stream is for general education and the high school graduation exam; the second stream is for specific careers, such as medicine, engineering, arts, business administration, social sciences, foreign languages, agriculture, etc., conducted at vocational or technical high schools (students studying at vocational and technical high schools will both study high school culture and learn a trade, and upon graduation will be awarded a "vocational high school" diploma equivalent to high school, and can study at colleges and universities); the third stream is for direct labor, but requires elementary vocational training. The vocational high school/technical high school model has been successfully applied in many countries and has the direct participation of businesses, helping students both learn theory and accumulate practical experience.

It is necessary to train a team of professional career counselors. In addition to training a team of professional career counselors, pedagogical universities also need to teach career counseling experience courses for all pedagogical students, including primary school teachers. The team of career counselors can come from public schools, private schools or other professional social organizations and have the participation of businesses. Let junior high school students experience career counseling at businesses and at universities and colleges early, helping them have the opportunity to access careers to study and work early.

The transfer of vocational education to the Ministry of Education and Training is an advantage and opportunity to arrange and classify students at all levels in a scientific, reasonable and appropriate manner to meet human resource needs.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-dung-de-thi-sinh-chon-mon-vi-de-thi-de-do-185250113183014608.htm