Hundreds of students sit in a room bending over test prep books preparing for standardized tests that will determine their future. In today's society a lot rides on test scores. In China a standardized test called the gaokao determines whether or not a student will be accepted to college. It is the only factor in determining whether or not a student will be accepted and there is a lot riding on this single test. It is completely ridiculous how much pressure and emphasis is put on doing well on these tests and how high the stakes are for the millions of students taking the gaokao.
Tests like the gaokao put so much stress on students and many Chinese students go to cram schools just so they can study even more. For example, “Two years ago, a student posted a shocking photograph online: a classroom full of students all hooked up to intravenous drips to give them the strength to keep studying.” This photo shows a completely disturbing picture. These students have so much riding on this test that they need to use drugs in order to keep studying. The gaokao is so high stakes that students to stop at no limit in order to get a high test grade. In addition “ ‘If you connected all of the practice tests I’ve taken over the past three years,’ he said ‘they would wrap all the way around the world.’ ” This continues to show how much preparation and time is spent preparing for the gaokao. The amount of stress placed onto Chinese students is preposterous and unjust.
The gaokao replaces learning, and the expansion of one’s brain with test prep and memorization. This does not provide students with a good education and does not teach them to think critically. For example, one former student of Maotanchang, a cram school, Yang Wei, said “There is nothing to do but study.” This shows how students are not being given an education but are really just memorizing information and studying for a test. This is wrong and unfair to students and does not prepare them for real world situations. In addition this is the curriculum at a typical Chinese highschool “Everything taught in the 10th and 11th grade in focused on what the gaokao tests [are on]... In 12th grade, students typically just review and memorize what they’ve already learned.” This shows how four years are devoted completely for preparing for a test. This creates an environment where students don’t become critical thinkers, but instead become memory machines. This is extremely unfair to the students and creates an environment that is focused solely on testing.
If a student doesn’t do well on the gaokao then they will most likely have to take an industry job and won’t have a good future. This causes even more stress around the gaokao. For example “The boys knew that manual labor would be their fate too, if they failed to do well on the gaokao.” This shows how much pressure there is to do well on the gaokao, especially if they live in families with less money. Many families take on extra jobs and do as much as they can so that their child can attend schools like Moatanchang. If students fail it is a huge disappointment and they have to take a job as a factory worker. In addition, “Cao, tanked on the exam. Cao’s family was heartbroken. His father had worked 12 hour days 50 weeks a year… Cao really had just one option: manual labor.” Students who are less successful at taking tests are unfairly denied admission to college. Everyone learns differently and not everyone can take a test well.
Basing everything on a test is ridiculous and doesn’t represent a realistic student body. The gaokao has so much power and can ruin someone’s life just because they do not get a high score.
Darrell Hammond, an American philanthropist said “We are raising today's children in sterile, risk-averse and highly structured environments. In so doing, we are failing to cultivate artists, pioneers and entrepreneurs, and instead cultivating a generation of children who can follow the rules in organized sports games, sit for hours in front of screens and mark bubbles on standardized tests.” This quotation helps us to see the outcome of standardized tests like the gaokao. They create environments where students are surrounded by stress and pressure. It creates machines, not critical thinkers. The gaokao is extremely unfair and unjust and should not be used to determine whether or not a student is fit for college.
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