打开课本见爱豆，可还行？ Textbook uses pop singer's speech to inspire

A newly compiled politics textbook for junior school students has recorded popular Chinese singer Wang Yuan's speech at the 2017 Youth Forum of the UN with the aim to motivate students in their lessons.

▲ Wang Yuan, a member of China's well-known teenage boy band TFBOYS, attends the 6th UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum at the UN headquarters in New York between Jan 30 to Jan 31, 2017. 

The name of Wang, 18, a member of the popular Chinese band TFBOYS and also UNICEF Special Advocate for Education, appeared in a textbook on education in politics for ninth graders.

According to a photo posted by a Sina Weibo user, it is an essay called "Open China needs me," which mentioned the singer. The photo shows Wang speaking in English before the closing plenary of the 2017 Economic and Social Council Youth Forum in New York in January.

"Using recent, popular examples like Wang's address is a good way of making ideology and morality education more accessible to middle school students," Shi Wenxue, a Beijing-based culture critic, told Global Times on Wednesday, adding education experts who edit the textbooks took Wang's positive influence into consideration.

In November 2017, Wang was named one of  30 "Most Influential Teens" by Time magazine.

On Sina Weibo, Wang has amassed more than 68 million followers. In 2016, his single Because I met you was watched more than 300 million times and reposted more than 400 million times, reports said.

Parents and teachers interviewed on Wednesday agreed with the method. A parent of a middle school student in Beijing said "Children have their own idols. As long as these idols have a positive impact on them, parents will not disrupt it."

A middle school teacher in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi province has a similar view, noting "taking a positive idol as a role model can help students pay more attention in class and improve teaching quality."

However, some netizens pointed out Wang is only an entertainment star who shouldn't be given such great credit. Too much praise and honor may make this 18-year-old young boy's confidence skyrocket, and even get inflated, which is not good for his future development. They argue the speech was not written by the idol himself, therefore he does not deserve the praise.

What is your view? Which idol would you like to see in a textbook? 

The following is the whole speech delivered by Wang Yuan at the 6th UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum.

Dear Excellencies, friends and colleagues,

In my role as UNICEF's Special Advocate for Education, I've seen for myself, how education is a key factor in building happy, confident and resilient children. I visited two child-friendly schools in Sanjiang county last year, where school has become a fun experience where children were encouraged to work together to create solutions to problems and to learn important life skills which will set them up for success in the future.

However, not all children can access this type of education, and it saddens me that there is still this massive inequality in the world today. That is why I am committed to my role as UNICEF Special Advocate for Education and plan to work with them this year to call attention to the importance of the universal quality education for every child.

I plan to join another mission with UNICEF to meet children attending schools in some of the poorest areas where there is a need to develop a more child-friendly approach to learning. I will also take part in the development of a video production to promote the child-friendly school initiative. I am to raise the awareness of the very real need to invest in improving the quality of education in China, and to leverage more support for this.

This year, I am going to support UNICEF to bring the SDG to life for children and young people in China through the creative use of multimedia. This will empower young people to better understand what the SDGs are, and why they are important for their future and for the future of the world.

As a young artist and a student, I am lucky to have a large following on Chinese social media, in fact I have over 35 million followers. I see it as my duty to use this following for good. I will participate in discussions on topics such as #youth2030 and #childfriendlyschools on social media channels. I hope that my posts can reach millions of people to draw attention and inspire progress towards universal access to quality education and the achievement of the SDGs.

Finally, I will also play a leading role in my own social good project, which is providing direct assistance to improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children and the elderly.

So, I hope that with my voice and action, I can motivate more youth to contribute their talent and creativity in making a difference in their communities and lend their support to the achievement of SDGs.

Thank you all for listening!

Source: Global Times

Intern editor: Shang Zhen

Click here for audio and translation of the story 

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