During a meeting of China's top leadership on continuing educational reforms on Monday, President Hu Jintao highlighted the importance of fostering initiative and innovation.

How are we to do this? The most common answer, judging from a search of the Internet, is to encourage students to ask questions.

But this flies in the face of a centuries-old Chinese tradition that only teachers have the right to ask questions. Often, the teachers' questions are as simple as "Isn't that right?" depriving the children of a chance to think for themselves.