Chinese Gaokao brings nothing but stupid student

Chinese Gaokao brings nothing but stupid student

Mr Peng’s handicap is part of an attempt by the university to redress a greater imbalance in Chinese education. Students sit the gaokao in the place they are registered in the hukou system, which has the effect of putting students from rural areas at a steep disadvantage. Close proximity of a test-taker’s registration to an institution raises the chance of admission; it is 16 times easier for a Bejiing student to get a place at Tsinghua than it is for a student from Hunan, where there are few first-rate options. Many urban students are registered in the countryside, so they return to the village for the exam. Last October a group of leading scholars submitted a petition to Wen Jiabao, China’s president, calling for the abolishment of the hukou restrictions.
Mr He, a law professor at Tsinghua University and one of the petitioners, sees a further flaw in the gaokao system. It promotes the survival of the fittest, he says, but not of the best. The students are trained exclusively for the studying and answering of test papers. But the majority lack the skills to join in classroom discussion. Independence of thought is subordinated to the demands of rote learning. The students who emerge from this system often find it difficult to make basic social engagement, let alone intellectual collaboration.
This was true for Mr Peng. Because he was star pupil, he was kept away from boys in class who could distract him. He has no friends, he says, and turns to internet cafes to ward off loneliness. But, gaokao score permitting, Mr Peng is now looking forward to his move to the big city. He hopes to find time for a girlfriend, and for other distractions besides. He fell in love with a girl at his high school. “But I knew a relationship would ruin my dream of getting out. So I never told her.”
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