Issues of Chinese College Entrance Exam System

My topic is the issues of the present Chinese College Entrance Exam System, Gaokao. In my WP4, I plan to investigate the characteristics of Gaokao, its issues in today’s Chinese society, and ways to improve the system with an analysis of the pros and cons. Gaokao is derived from Imperial Examination (Keju), a test to elect government officials. Keju has a long history and started in Sui Dynasty around the sixth century. It is the fairest form of talented selection for feudalism societies: people from all classes can have an equal opportunity to prove themselves and become government officials. With one local level test, and two tests held by the central government, Keju helps the country absorb talented from different classes and different regions in China, constantly providing new blood and energy to the bureaucracy system. Many talented people from poor families in ancient China took Keju to change their lives and contributed to the development of China. However, more and more people focused not to read more books and learn more things but to research on how to get higher scores on Keju after Song Dynasty. As a result of this trend, many testers apply similar forms for Keju without any creativity. Studying the techniques to get high scores, many mediocre people were selected to become government officials. Gaokao has the same issue. More and more students, teachers, and parents focus on making the students get high scores in Gaokao instead of educating them with knowledge and eyesight that can enable them to chase their dreams or contribute to the country. With limited education resources and few good universities, millions of high school graduates had to compete for good colleges by Gaokao: only one test would determine their college. Students take extracurricular courses to review the high school content again and again to get better scores. The education system is training study machines instead of cultivating the future of the country. What’s more, the different Gaokao standards in different regions caused great inequality and inequity issues.