The country should end its damaging English learning craze, says a signed article in Qilu Evening News. An excerpt follows:

It has been reported that there are about 300 million people learning English language in China, accounting for one-fourth of the country's total population. Among them more than 100 million are students, from primary school to university.

Experts predict that in the years to come the English-learning population in the country will surpass the total population whose mother language is English.

However, there is no reason for us to applaud the ever-growing English "craze" among Chinese, although it demonstrates to some extent the degree of the country's openness to the outside world.

Because of the accelerated English-learning rush and the prevalence of the talent evaluation system with English proficiency as a key standard, the proficiency of the mother tongue of many Chinese children has been on the wane in recent years.

In the history of education at home and abroad, no course has been as time-consuming and inefficient as the English course in China.

A survey shows that 56 per cent of non-English university students spend a large portion of time on English learning, and another 19 per cent spend almost all of their time on English.

The mastering of the foreign language has already played a pivotal role in deciding their success in gaining diplomas or another chance for further study.

However, many of them seldom use English in daily work after graduation.

It is unscientific to rigidly set an English proficiency standard for people from all walks of life. It also runs against the general trend that the market economy demands diversified talents.

 "Were I Minister of Education, I would first reform the current English teaching and learning system, and abrogate the CET-6 (College English Test-Band Six)," a professor at Zhejiang University said.

Despite being a little radical, his words are a symbol of a widespread wish that English should return to its original function as a tool.

The country should create a system in which English is learned mainly by people who will use it in the future.