10 million sit for the world's biggest exam
- Source: The Global Times
- [06:52 June 08 2009]
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Driven to quit
In a country where diplomas are often attached greater importance than practical skills, the gaokao is decisive in determining a student’s future career and social status.
But the new generation seems to be facing the exam with a lighter heart than their parents. Zhou Xiaolei, a boy examinee at the Tuanjiehu No. 3 Middle School, said he felt no anxiety about the exams because the numerous trial exams had numbed him.
A father surnamed Teng said, “My son is nervous. Our children are facing a harder life than our generation.”
He was talking about the bleak job market college graduates face today.
At least 1 million of the 5.6 million university graduates in 2008 failed to find employment as the job market shrank due to the global economic downturn.
“Nowadays, some students changed their minds about getting a good job through higher education. They simply quit” and don’t take the exam, according to a recruitment officer with the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Guarantee of social mobility
Even so, the college entrance examination still enjoys a special place in the hearts of Chinese.
Reinstated in 1977 after being abandoned during the “Cultural Revolution” (1966-76), the exam was initially hailed as a success and one of the first acts of the reform and opening up of China.
“The gaokao, in my eyes, is the only fair and authentic exam in China,” said an emotional Han Hongzhu, a bus driver in Beijing whose daughter sat last year’s gaokao.
Even so, it seems that the principles of justice and fair play are being undermined, as some students use increasingly sophisticated cheating methods, such as tiny radio receivers, mobile phones and illegally obtained question sheets.
But some say that corruption poses a bigger threat. In another report, 19 college entrance exam candidates received an extra 20 points for their model ship performance test in Shaoxing city, Zhejiang province, even before they took the exams. And most shockingly was that 13 of the 19 were children of local government officials, and the rest were of high school teachers.
An extra 20 points means the chance of jumping ahead of more than 1,000 competitors.
Some find ways to change their ethnicity at police stations from the Chinese Han majority to that of an ethnic minority group, because they get extra points as part of preferential policies for minorities.
Although several scandals have emerged around the exam, Zhang Yiwu, a culture professor at Peking University, told the Times that the system is the “purest fair play,” and it can’t be replaced by any other talent-determining system.
“All men are equal before the mark. It’s still the most important channel for most citizens to realize their Chinese dream and to find confidence in the basic value of society,” Zhang said, noting that the gaokao is a basic guarantee of social mobility in China.
Zhang compared the gaokao with the test system in the US, where many students are recommended by professors to enter prestigious colleges.
“The American system can’t apply here, since complicated connections in Chinese society will definitely affect equality of the selection,” Zhang said. “In China, almost everything is about relationships.”
Cong Mu, Ji Beibei and An Baijie contributed to this story
