China’s Unreasonable College Entrance Examination System
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In China, the college entrance examination (Gaokao) has become a tool for maintaining social class. Students from economically developed regions have better educational resources and can easily achieve high scores, while students from impoverished regions face immense competition and a lack of educational resources. This unfair phenomenon makes it difficult for children from poor families to change their fate through education.
In China and the Confucian cultural circle, the worship of academic credentials has become a nearly pathological ideology. This phenomenon is particularly evident in China’s economically underdeveloped regions.
People often view the Gaokao as the only path to success, and in typical Chinese families, parents who have failed in their own lives often treat their children as a means to achieve success, rather than as independent individuals. In high schools, schools prioritize the college admission rate over students’ survival rate, with slogans like “Life can be reincarnated, but the Gaokao only comes once.”
But is this the case throughout China?
Let’s acknowledge that the Gaokao is the only path to success, but as such an important exam, it should at least be fair.
In remote regions like Tibet, which are part of China, educational resources are underdeveloped, so some people propose adding points to the exam scores of students from these regions.
However, since 2000, the situation has changed.
Provinces with weak educational resources and economic underdevelopment (e.g., Shandong) have not received additional points for their students, but rather additional points for their score lines. Educational resources are concentrated in economically developed regions, and the Gaokao score lines are lower in these regions. In Beijing, the capital of China, the Gaokao exam papers are different from those in other regions. In a sense, this is no longer a matter of fairness. The Gaokao is the only means for poor families to achieve social mobility. This is a class issue.
The root of this phenomenon lies in the uneven distribution of educational resources in China. Schools in economically developed regions have better facilities, higher-level teachers, and more diverse courses, while schools in impoverished regions lack these resources. This gap makes it difficult for students from impoverished regions to compete with students from economically developed regions.
We, as Chinese citizens, are deeply angry and disturbed because China’s Gaokao system has become a tool for maintaining social class.
We believe that this unfair phenomenon is a serious violation of “communism” (ha ha, this word is too funny for the Chinese government). Every student should have an equal opportunity to receive education and achieve their dreams, rather than being discriminated against due to their birthplace or family background.
Therefore, we demand that the Chinese government take the following measures:
We hope that through our protests and demands, we can promote the Chinese government to reform the Gaokao system.
Signed by:
[1] EOL, “Gaokao Score Inquiry”, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.eol.cn/e_html/gk/fsx/. [Accessed: 2024-08-13].
[2] Sohu News, “Students and Parents under Gaokao Pressure”, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://news.sohu.com/20160622/n455677894.shtml. [Accessed: 2024-08-13].
[3] Bilibili, “The Truth about Gaokao”, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Z24y1D7yP/?p=2. [Accessed: 2024-08-13].
[4] Chinese Government Website, “Opinions on Strengthening Education in Tibet”, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-08/03/content_5629261.htm. [Accessed: 2024-08-13].
[5] EOL, “Shandong Province Gaokao Score Inquiry”, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://gaokao.eol.cn/shan_dong/dongtai/202406/t20240625_2619302.shtml. [Accessed: 2024-08-13].