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.
