One of your commentaries entitled "Rote learning harms students' courage," published on Wednesday, made me think of a trend of what the Chinese students are like today.

They seem to have professional skills, but cannot express themselves clearly and freely; they seem to have mastered textbook knowledge, but cannot think independently; they seem to be able to ace the exams all the time, but cannot carry out simple tasks in their daily lives, such as cooking or keeping their rooms clean and tidy.

It seems that Chinese students are indeed missing something, and critical thinking seems to be a big part of the gap.

Thanks to an exams-first system, Chinese students seem to only care about "the standard answers" the most, rather than "how the knowledge can be obtained." For example, when Chinese students are studying about WWII, all they do is remember the official version "when, where, what, who and why" of every events in that piece of history. Because those are the answers they need for the sheet. In the end, the thinking pattern of each different Chinese student will develop the same way, withering their imagination.

However, when the students from the Western countries learn the same thing, they would study and discuss it in groups, analyzing the causes of the war, and if there are possibilities to prevent it from happening.

That might explain the lack of innovation among Chinese students, and why there is no Chinese version of Steve Jobs despite the substantial quantities of graduates in the country.

Not long ago, I heard a story about US pupils criticizing the popular Chinese tale of "Kong Rong giving up pears." The story tells of a four-year-old child, Kong Rong, who was asked to pick first after his parents brought home a big basket of pears. The boy picked the smallest one, leaving the big ones for his parents and elder brothers. The tale has been told for generation after generation in China to show young people the modest spirit of offering precedence to others.

However, many US students don't find it a touching story. Instead, they consider that it encourages people to suppress, or even twist their desire to win others' praise, and it is a psychologically unhealthy act.

Can anyone possibly imagine the tale could be criticized this way by Chinese children? If they do so, their teachers or parents would highly likely to raise eyebrows. They would think the children are spoiled and cannot realize the noble personality of Kong, and they would persuade the children of how Kong's spirit is worth learning from.

But the teachers and parents have failed to realize that questioning is what Chinese students exactly need at the moment. Protecting their critical thinking is a crucial part to prevent them from blindly imitating others. It will help them to judge for themselves after a series of questions and hypotheses. It's not supporting students to find fault with everything, but motivating them to raise questions, to observe and get to know the world with different perspectives. And it is the only way toward genuine self-improvement and innovation.

Confucius, China's greatest thinker and educator, had over 3,000 students, but none of them has exceeded their teacher. The thinkers from ancient Greece, however, tell another story. Aristotle was a student of Plato, while Plato was a student of Socrates. Among these students and teachers, each generation surpassed the preceding one. This should be the significance of education. Just as Aristotle once said, "I love my teacher, but I love the truth more."

There is no denying that the Chinese way of teaching and learning has its own advantages. But in the meantime, we should never shield ourselves from the merits of the Western style, like protecting critical thinking for our students.

Duo Duo, a freelance commentator based in Beijing