Fri May 18, 2012
Photo credit Jiang Sija
Chinese students take the Gaokao which determines their future
China Tests the Future
By Jiang Sijia, China
While students in the U.S. might think the SATs are tough, I can assure you the Gaokao is much harder. Having just survived Gaokao, I feel released from a haunting burden. What is the Gaokao? It is the three day Chinese national college entrance test that takes over 10 years to prepare for. Because futures are forever pigeonholed after Gaokao, Chinese students have been known to take Gaokao for years until their scores are satisfactory.
The word, gaokao comprises two ordinary Chinese characters that mean test and dreadfulness – Gaokao is a very dreadful test that haunts every Chinese person from birth. Gaokao tests skills in Chinese, English, and Math –and students are tested in physics, chemistry, bio, politics, history and geography.
Unlike American students who declare their majors during their sophomore year in college, Chinese students must decide their major when they take the Gaokao. So a lot rides on Gaokao’s outcomes and parents and even government officials have been known to help insure successful results. Noisy cicadas have been driven away, construction work paused, and even air traffic has been cancelled near testing sites. Some parents have hired private chefs to prepare nutritious meals while others have booked hotel rooms for their children to catch up on their rest between the testing intervals. Still others families temporarily move to provinces where Gaokao is considered to be slightly easier.
Extreme cases – maybe, but it is not hard to understand why this test musters such a response. The importance of a good score on Gaokao comes with two generations’ expectations. The Cultural Revolution in the 1960s sabotaged an older generation’s dreams of ever attending college so it’s natural for those unfulfilled dreams to fall on the next generation. A good score on Gaokao is the path to college and the only chance for a successful future for students from poor, rural areas.
Sometimes even a good score isn’t good enough. While Gaokao’s purpose is to assess students’ abilities, intense competition has caused some students to feel like failures. No one cares if students are talented outside the test subjects, and no importance is placed on developing abilities. High schools are more interested in nurturing their top students for their own aggrandizement.
Scholars, educators, officials, students and teachers know that reform is necessary but reform takes time. Educating 300 million students is an enormous undertaking that requires new strategies. Until reform occurs, the dreadful pressure for Gaokao test-takers will continue as will the unforgettable stories of how students prepare for their future.
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