However, another NPC deputy Zhou Hongyu, president of an educational research institution, firmly advocates the separation into arts and sciences streams.

Zhou believes that the separation has not resulted in the appearance of students who are ignorant in either sciences or arts. If the separation is cancelled at once and the curriculum isn't reformed and implemented in a timely manner, the quality of education in high schools will decline.

Many students also worry that canceling the separate streams may result in much more schoolwork than before.

"I am a high school student. Why do the education authorities make us learn more subjects while shouting the slogan of alleviating students' heavy burden? I don't think learning more subjects will be helpful for us to find a good job," a student from Sichuan said in the forum of China's portal website sina.com.

Some students also complain that it is unnecessary to learn subjects they may never use after graduation.

If the new selection system is implemented, it is not immediately known whether talented students might be deprived of the opportunity to be accepted into a good university. A female teacher surnamed Zhu from a key high school in Beijing said that students with similar academic performances in all subjects will benefit most if the separation is canceled.

On the other hand, students who have extraordinary talents in a certain subject may not get high marks in all subjects tested in the college entrance examination, as under the current recruitment system, the total score of all subjects is decisive.

(China Daily March 6, 2009)