<p>
The Cultural Revolution’s experiment with “affirmative action policies” for university admission targeting rural peasants and workers with “good political backgrounds” caused so many problems with universities and the state that bringing back* and keeping the ruthlessly competitive gaokao is** viewed by many ** in Chinese academia and the senior CCP leadership since Deng Xiaoping took over as a way to avoid a repeat of having universities overrun by academically un/underprepared students who are going to run riot. </p>
<p>Not to mention the fears by senior CCP leaders and academics that such Cultural Revolution policies are also** perceived as having the potential to further lower the academic reputation **of Mainland Chinese universities rather than strengthening their reputations to be remotely competitive so their graduates are well regarded by employers and grad schools domestically and internationally …not the politicized laughingstock of the rest of the world.
</p>
<p>God, it really is all about appearances, is it? There cannot be a thread about China without worries about how x and y appears in the eyes of others. What a limitation it is to always worry about what you look like in someone else’s eyes. That’s why I’m not worried about China overtaking the US any time soon.</p>