Shervin

The Notorious GAO KOA

In Mandarin Chinese Gao Kao means the high (tall) exam. Gao Kao is another name for the national university entrance exam. Soon after graduating from high school students are required to take part in this exam to secure a place in any higher educational institution. The notorious Gao Kao was established in 1952. Although the goal of this two-day national exam was to allocate places for students in universities based on meritocracy in a fair way, the stress and the frustration spread by the exam have caused serious mental problems for many Chinese students. Besides health issues many critics also believe that this testing system causes students to suffer from lack of creativity since the test forces the students to engage in shear memorization.

University admissions in China are based entirely upon the Gao Kao score and that’s why this exam creates huge amount of pressure on both test takers and their parents.  To the average Chinese family, success of their children on the Gao Koa means receiving a degree from a top university and the likelihood of securing a college-level job in the competitive Chinese job market. A college-level job gives the students a better chance of obtaining higher social and financial status in the Chinese communist system. Each year more than 9 million students take Gao Kao. For most of them the exam is a combination of years of dedication to study and immolation of their personal lives (The Economist). They know that failure to do well in Gao Kao is equal to having no future in China. Accordingly, the Chinese educational system in high schools is designed solely to prepare the students for this exam. Therefore due to the intensity of competition students are drawn to rote memorization without even realizing the meaning or the application of what they are memorizing. In fact most of the students suffer from shear lack of creativity and critical thinking in high schools.

The pressure caused by the exam induces extensive anxiety and frustration leading to serious health issues in China. Although the number of enrollments at universities has increased in the last couple of years many high school students still suffer from severe anxiety; as a result some students are looking for professional help concerning how to overcome this psychological pressure. Wang Dong, who specializes in digestion disorders at the Shanghai Chang Hai Hospital, says that many young students are suffering from digestion disorders because of drinking too much tea and coffee so they can stay up late to do their homework and study for the exam. Some schoolgirls even ask the doctor for contraceptives to postpone their periods (gbtimes). Furthermore critics say although the numbers of admissions increases by almost 3% every year, only a very small percentage of elite students (less than 0.2%) are able to secure a spot in China’s top universities. Job opportunities for the graduate students of the top universities are not comparable to any other higher education institution in China therefore some parents also put extra pressure on their children to make sure that they do a good job on the exam( BBC News). Many Chinese families also tend to pay more attention to those children who do well in their studies and those children are usually the ones who get all the attention and support from their parents. For example in “One Amazing Thing” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni we can see how education impact inequalities among children. Lily explains how her brother, Mark, used to get all the attention from their parents because he was so obedient and serious about his studies. Lily says: “My parents believed—and I secretly agreed—that Mark was the perfect child. In fact, he hardly seemed like a child at all.” (74) Therefore Lily tries to be just sufficiently disobedient to force her parents to notice her too. As soon as their parents figure that Lily has an outstanding talent in learning to play flute, she suddenly becomes the subject of much admiration at home and amazement at parties. However it is important to point out that even students who usually get high grades in high school may not be able to do very well at Gao Kao due to the heavy psychological stress caused by their parents.

Another major problem associated with this educational system is that many of the students dedicate most of their time in high school to studying and worrying about the exam so they hardly have enough time to be just like kids and as soon as get admitted to a university they forget how hard they have worked to achieve this spot. During all those years they have been told that actually the Gao Kao is the final step of their success and as soon as they get admitted everything is over and from that point on everything would be so easy then. As a result there are many young students who do not take the university seriously and despite all the achievements they had in the past they start to get lost in their own immaturity.

The opponents of Gao Kao also suggest that as well as causing massive psychological stress on young students the exam endorses shear rote memorization that lacks creativity. They believe the traditional educational system in China has deprived students from creativity. In fact in Chinese educational system creativity has been replaced by memorization, recitation and repetition. Chinese students are usually very good at memorizing and repetition but when it comes to creativity and imagination they usually confront many problems. The educational system in China is designed to program children from early ages to memorize answers and solutions therefore when they are faced with new problems they usually find it hard to come up with a solution of their own. In a survey done by the International Educational Progress Evaluation Organization in 2009, among 21 countries, the counting skill of Chinese children ranked first, while imagination ranked last and innovative skills ranked fifth from the bottom (People's Daily Online).

However the defenders of the Gao Kao believe that the exam is necessary to ensure that the most talented and elite students are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement. Moreover, the supporters emphasize that standardized testing allows students from poor areas to compete with wealthier students from urban areas in a fair way. However even the supporters of the Gao Kao admit that the stress involved is quite prevalent among the students especially in their last year of high school. Due to the stress of the test there are many smart and capable students who cannot do very well in the exam therefore they are forced to apply for lower level universities or even vocational colleges with poor educational system. As a result there is no doubt that the national university entrance exam besides robing young Chinese students of their curiosity, creativity, and childhood, generates massive amount of pressure on students that might eventually lead to many physical and psychological disorders.

Works Cited:

Clark, Taylor.  “Plight of the Little Emperors.” One World, Many Cultures. 8th ed. Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. Longman, 06 Jan. 2011.  42-48. Print.

Hanlu,Wang. “China's young students lack imagination, creativity.” People's Daily Online. 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2012

N, A .“Testing Times.” The Economist Shanghai. The Economist. 13 Jun. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

N, A .“ Psychological stress before Gaokao.”  gbtimes. 06 Jun. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012

Sudworth, John. "China's students take on tough Gaokao university entrance exam." BBC News. BBC. 8 Jun. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.