Is the reform of the Chinese University Entrance Examination necessary?

In 1978, the Chinese University Entrance examination was resumed. After which, flaws in the system has become increasingly unbearable and the desire for a better system has been prevalent in the current society. The term ‘Chinese University Entrance Examination’ refers to a system of selecting students from high school by university through a national examination in China. The examination is also known as “Gaokao”. In this presentation, the argument of the reform of Gaokao is necessary is supported. The reasons behind this include firstly, the examination does not judge the students comprehensively, secondly, different provinces and ethnic groups create unfairness and lastly, students are given too much pressure under the examination. First of all, the national examination is a very limited way of judging the calibre of students. There are three basic subjects which are compulsory, Chinese, Mathematics and English. In high school, students are divided into two main streams, the liberal arts stream which include students who study politics, geography and history and the science stream, those who study physics, chemistry and biology. For most of the Chinese students, the only way to go to the university is to perform well in these subjects. Teachers would suggest students to try to memorise everything. According to Michael Pettis, a Professor of Finance at the prestigious Peking University, the way to do well in an examination is to basically memorise. In my personal experience, this is generally the easiest way to succeed in the examination. In addition, Michael also revealed that, doing any sort of additional reading or research out of interest is a complete waste of time. The only thing that is needed to be considered is the topics which are going to be examined and the content which is considered to be the correct answer for those examinations. It can be inferred that answers of the examinations are usually (what?). In science, only one answer may be acceptable, but for arts subjects, the correct answer may prove to be more flexible depending on the explanation the students provide in the examination. Moreover, professor Pettis supported by saying that, a number of extremely bright and imaginative students are excluded from the top universities because their minds might not necessarily work in that way. This strongly argued that some of the abilities of students are ignored by the Gaokao system. Secondly, the grading system for different provinces and the additional bonus point earned by special ethnic groups increase the extent of unfairness. The grading system for Gaokao is based on residence rights. The quota for local student going into each college and majors are set out first and then work out the portion of students taken from other provinces (不懂). As most of the top fight (five?) Universities are in Shanghai and Beijing, this system gives a huge advantage to students in the two cities. According to professor Pettis, Different provinces have very different quotas, compare with the population measure, it is far easier to get into the top universities if you are from Beijing or Shanghai. Therefore, students from other provinces would have a smaller chance to be enrolled into the top universities in China because of the unfair grading system. Moreover, as partial compensation, students from ethnic minorities, orphans with a parent who was a soldier, or if they belong to other underprivileged groups, would receive bonus points to their scores. University is a place for students who have the ability and desire to learn. It is unfair if bonus points were given to a student simply because they belong to an ethnic minority group or if he is an orphan with a parent who was a soldier. Thirdly, students are under too much pressure while preparing the exam. In an increasingly competitive economic environment, enrolling into a prestigious university is cardinal to success. As the consequences of failing Gaokao is too serious, it is extremely stressful for students to prepare the Gaokao. Heidi A Ross, director of the East Asian Studies Centre at Indiana University at Bloomington, and an expert on Gaokao reform, said that, ‘passing Gaokao remains the only real route for families to get their perfect, precious bundle into a higher income bracket’. From thousands of years of the Chinese history, it is popular to select elite through examinations. Hence, passing Gaokao is considered to be the only way to succeed. This is a picture taken after the commencement where third year students began to throw their exam papers and books. At first people tore them into pieces following by even more exaggerated actions. It was a release from the stress accumulated in the exam year. Additionally, every year, there will be a number of suicide cases because students cannot withstand the heavy stress of the Gaokao. In conclusion, there are several factors which strongly support the argument that the reform of the Chinese University Entrance Examination is necessary. These factors include that the Gaokao does not judge the calibre of students comprehensively, the grading system for different provinces and additional bonus points for special ethnic groups create unfairness, and the great amount of pressure that the students undertake.