Gaokao: The Fairest Exam on the World? Not for Shandong
“I just want her to give back my lost 16 years.” Chen Chunxiu said in front of hundreds of cameras.
In 2020, an event happened and shocked the whole of China: this event is not the coronavirus, but the Gaokao Stolen Identity event. According to the report, Chen Chunxiu took Gaokao in 2004. She performed well and earned 546 out of 750. However, Chen Chunxiu did not receive the admission letter until September 2004, so she thought that colleges denied her. Then, she became an ordinary worker in cities. After 16 years, Chen Chunxiu suddenly found out that someone studied and graduated from the Shandong University of Technology with her ID. Soon, the police revealed the whole thing: 16 years ago, Shandong University of Technology accepted Chen Chunxiu and sent an offer. Then, a local officer, using his local authorities, secretly intercepted Chen Chunxiu’s admission letter and stole her ID for his nephew Chen Shaungshuang. As a result, Chen Shuangshuang went to college and found a good job after graduation, while Chen Chunxiu spent 16 years as an ordinary factory worker. What is more shocking, after this event, the local office investigated many students’ IDs and found out that 242 students’ identity theft took place in Shandong from 2002 to 2009 (Tan).
This is a great shame that such an ugly thing happened in my hometown Shandong, a northern province in China. This event brings up another heated topic: why Shandong specifically? One of the answers worth noticing: Shandong Gaokao is ridiculously harder than other provinces.
Before digging deeper into the harder Gaokao in Shandong, it is essential to clarify what Gaokao stands for to Chinese students. China has a unique education system, which is dissimilar to any other country’s education system. Specifically, the Chinese College Entrance Exam (CEE), also called Gaokao, is the sole criteria for Chinese colleges to admit students. In other words, the higher the Gaokao score is, the better the college is. As a result, Gaokao is incredibly extremely important for Chinese students. Many Chinese students study hard for over ten years to get an excellent score in Gaokao. I am not saying that Gaokao is the only way for students to access higher education: some students can study abroad without taking Gaokao. However, for many underprivileged students, like Chen Chunxiu, Gaokao is probably the only opportunity to access higher education and achieve social upward mobility. Therefore, many students will do anything they can to have a better Gaokao score: some engage in studying for years, while others, like Chen Chunchun, impose illegal measures.
Granted, many people argue: if students study hard, it is easy to succeed in Gaokao. Unfortunately, Gaokao is more complicated than they expect. Gaokao is notoriously hard in the world: not like SAT which only takes English and Math, Gaokao is much more comprehensive and challenging. For example, Gaokao takes two days, nine hours in total. Besides, Gaokao includes advanced math, English, Chinese, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, etc (Ma). Shandong, where the Gaokao thefts are the most rampant, has a worse situation: Shandong Gaokao is one of the hardest in China. In other words, Shandong students have a harder time getting high scores in Gaokao. According to the data from Tencent, top-tier universities have higher admission rates (4.07% & 3.62%) for Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. However, these same top-tier colleges only accept 1.75% of Shandong students every year (Tencent). I am not trying to justify these Gaokao thefts — — it is always illegal and ugly — — but the reason behind it worth considering: Why is Shandong Gaokao so tough?
Firstly, Chinese college admission is province-based (Tencent). For instance, Peking University accepts the top 1% of students in each province. As a result, students have to compete with their classmates in the same province, and here is the problem of Shandong. Shandong has a reputation as a hard-working province. Shandong is famous for its huge productivity of manufacturing, so as its people: Sandong schools admire hard-working and high scores. Shandong education is highly exam-oriented. Therefore, many Shandong students are good at taking exams. Many people get high scores in exams and cause score inflation. The average score in Shandong is higher and higher, and students work harder and harder to catch up with this inflation. Although no one likes the insanely high average score, this province-based competition makes Shandong Gaokao an inferno.
However, I do not regard this fact as the sole reason for Shandong Gaokao’s competitiveness because it cannot explain the unusual low admission rate in Shandong compared to other provinces. Here is another reason to explain the low admission rate: the lack of educational resources. On Zhihu, the Chinese Quota, there is a heated discussion about Shandong education resources. As previously stated, Shandong is a big fan of “hard-working”. It is a “commonsense” among teachers in Shandong: practice makes perfect. This proverb itself makes sense, but teachers in Shandong overestimate the importance of practice and ignore the significance of advanced resources. For example, we had IT classes every week in my primary school. However, the IT class is not true IT with computers: we just sat in ordinary classrooms and read IT textbooks for final exams. As a result, I can remember every detail in the textbook but never touched a computer in school by myself. Our teacher always said: “put double effort into reading the textbook, then you do not need such advanced computers”. My story is a common experience for students in Shandong. Therefore, Shandong students have little access to the most updated education resources and knowledge. In the end, although Shandong students perform well in their own exams, they can hardly compete with students in Beijing or Shanghai, who enjoy the most advanced educational support and the most innovative knowledge, such as advanced computers.
Granted, Shandong Gaokao makes students desperate, especially students who work hard but cannot get into their dream college. However, I am not saying that it is a deadlock for Shandong students: there are some alternatives for students. The world always gives ways to genius, so do Gaokao. The Independent Enrollment Exam is the way. Gaokao adjusts for talented students: if students can earn a great score in universities’ independent enrollment test, students can receive a bonus in Gaokao score (20 points in most cases) so that they can reach the Gaokao requirement much more easily (Times). Although it is good news for talented students, the independent enrollment exam can not alleviate the harsh situation on a large scale. First of all, the independent enrollment exam is incredibly difficult, especially for students who do not have an outstanding talent. “It is a fierce competition.” Jiang Jie, the writer of “An Alternative to the Gaokao”, acknowledges (Times). For example, the Communication University of China only accepts 128 students nationwide (Times). Besides, the independent enrollment exam gives the bonus score, not universities’ offers. Therefore, most students, even though they earn a great score in the independent enrollment exam, still have to take Gaokao. Therefore, the independent enrollment exam does not release the immense pressure on Gaokao in Shandong.
As the independent enrollment exam cannot alleviate the dilemma, Gaokao has to reform itself to release the enormous pressure and relieve the grim competition among Shandong students. However, Gaokao reform is a much more complicated, controversial game. For instance, Gaokao reform has to settle the problem between equity and diversity. As many professionals blame Gaokao as monotonous and exam-oriented, the Minister of Education intended to make the Chinese college admission process more inclusive and diverse. Making Gaokao score less essential for admission, the Chinese education could be more flexible and individualized (You&Hu). Immediately, this reform proposal receives many objections, even more than the original Gaokao. These defenders argue that Gaokao “offers a yardstick to measure the aptitude of college students, essential to maintain the equal opportunities in higher education within the Chinese political and cultural milieu” (You&Hu). Therefore, the first reform died in its cradle.
Although there are many barriers, the Minister of Education is working on a solution. In 2020, here comes the second, more comprehensive Gaokao reform. I think this reform is challenging but much more influential. 2020 Gaokao reform is more flexible while still have great equity (郭凯). Specifically, students are allowed to choose subjects they want to take in Gaokao. In other words, students can take subjects that they are good at and want to explore more in college. Also, college admission is related to the subject choice. For instance, the History Department of Peking University is more likely to accept a history-geography-politics student than a chemistry-physics-biology student. So far, this reform goes well and many students take the updated Gaokao and are accepted by universities. What is more important, the 2020 Gaokao reform motivates students since it allows students to focus on subjects they are interested in. I researched in 2020. I interviewed over 50 students in Shandong about their comments on the 2020 Gaokao reform. Surprisingly, over 70% of students claim that “they are glad to see the reform finally comes”. One student, who attends Tsinghua University this year, said: “I can finally get rid of subjects such as Politics and History. Now, I can engage in studying Physics. I am happy to be the first generation with the new Gaokao”.
It is undeniable that Shandong Gaokao is unfair to some extent. However, I am optimistic about the future. With the 2020 Gaokao reform, Gaokao itself will be more flexible and inclusive. It can be a new era for Shandong Gaokao and students in Shandong. It is an opportunity for students in Shandong to get rid of stressful exam-oriented education and embrace new education with inclusiveness and diversity.
References
郭凯. “New Gaokao Reform System to Be Built by 2020.” China, www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-10/20/content_33488526.htm.
Ma, Alexandra. “The Gaokao Is China’s Notoriously Tough Entrance Exam, Which Can Also Get You into Western Universities — Check out Its Punishing Questions.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 5 June 2019, www.businessinsider.com/sample-questions-from-chinas-gaokao-one-of-worlds-toughest-tests-2018-6.
Reforms to China’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination — the Gaokao, internationaleducation.gov.au/news/latest-news/Pages/Gaokao.aspx.
“The Strange Shandong Gaokao: Ridiculous Low Admission Rate of Top Universities.” Tencent, new.qq.com/omn/20200704/20200704A08DC800.html.
Tan, Yvette. “How One Woman’s Stolen Identity Exposed a System of Exam Fraud.” BBC News, BBC, 9 July 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53316895.
Times, Global. “An Alternative to the Gaokao.” Global Times, www.global times.cn/content/837673.shtml.
You, Zhuran, and Yingzi Hu. “Walking a Policy Tightrope: The Dilemma of Balancing Diversification and Equality in Chinese College Entrance Examination Reform.” Higher Education Policy, vol. 26, no. 3, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 309–24, doi:10.1057/hep.2013.3.
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