Curriculum Compacting: The Best Way to Bridge the Education of School-House Giftedness and Creative/Productive Giftedness in China

The controversial about education of school-house giftedness and education of creative/productive giftedness in China has become heated in the past few years. Educational reform, however, is not an either-or choice, i.e. replacing education of school-house giftedness with that of creativelproductive giftedness. These two types of education are different from each other, but they are usually interactive. This article discusses the possible combination of these two types of education through curriculum compacting. It further discusses the necessity and possibility of curriculum compacting, and concludes that the combination of examination education and curriculum compacting is the best way to reach the goal of education of creativelproductive giftedness in China. *Email: yangwen@msu.edu Volume 22 No 1, 2006, 101 Currently, a popular topic in China's education reform is a discussion of whether to nurture and develop school-house giftedness or creative /productive giftedness. School-house giftedness is a "test-taking or lesson-learning giftedness", while creative/productive giftedness is realworld problem-solving giftedness. To most Chinese people, these two categories of giftedness are antagonistic with each other. Based on this argument, some (Qin, 2000) have suggested that China should switch from education of school-house giftedness to that of creative/productive giftedness. They insist on eliminating the current examination system. The author believes that these two categories of giftedness interact with each other (Renzulli & Reis, 1986, 1997) and that educational reform in China can best develop the individual's giftedness and talents by bridging these two types of giftedness. Education of School-house Giftedness and Creative/Productive