<p>Eye opening article in the NY times about what it takes to make the cut for entrance to a Chinese university. No wonder so many Asian families seem to be obsessed with test scores!</p>
<p>June 13, 2009
Chinas College Entry Test Is an Obsession
By SHARON LaFRANIERE</p>
<p>TIANJIN, China For the past year, Liu Qichao has focused on one thing, and only one thing: the gao kao, or the high test.</p>
<p>Fourteen to 16 hours a day, he studied for the college entrance examination, which this year will determine the fate of more than 10 million Chinese students. He took one day off every three weeks.</p>
<p>He was still carrying his textbook from room to room last Sunday morning before leaving for the exam site, still reviewing materials during the lunch break, still hard at work Sunday night, preparing for Part 2 of the exam that Monday.</p>
<p>I want to study until the last minute, he said. I really hope to be successful.</p>
<p>China may be changing at head-twirling speed, but the ritual of the gao kao (pronounced gow kow) remains as immutable as chopsticks. One Chinese saying compares the exam to a stampede of a thousand soldiers and 10 horses across a single log bridge.</p>
<p>The Chinese test is in some ways like the American SAT, except that it lasts more than twice as long. The nine-hour test is offered just once a year and is the sole determinant for admission to virtually all Chinese colleges and universities. About three in five students make the cut.</p>
<p>One could argue US kids have it worse. Let’s add it up, 1 SAT, 3 SAT subject tests, 5 AP tests = how many hours of test taking? And even if one does very well on each, it may not be enough; one still needs 200 hours of public service, ECs of all kinds, and all those pesky essays, all = how much time?</p>
<p>One 9 hour test sounds a lot easier, if less interesting to me.</p>
<p>This might also be indirectly responsible for the “smart Asian” stereotype in the U.S. Only exceptional students have the opportunity to take this test, do well enough to attend a top university, and then leave China for a graduate degree in the West. U.S. immigration from China these days is really only feasible through the special “highly educated” quota. These kinds of parents naturally place a huge emphasis on education, not to mention any genetic inheritance of intelligence FWIW.</p>
<p>“One could argue US kids have it worse. Let’s add it up, 1 SAT, 3 SAT subject tests, 5 AP tests = how many hours of test taking? And even if one does very well on each, it may not be enough; one still needs 200 hours of public service, ECs of all kinds, and all those pesky essays, all = how much time?”</p>
<p>One 9 hour test sounds a lot easier, if less interesting to me. "</p>
<p>You’re forgetting that US students don’t HAVE to do all or even some of the above in order to qualify for admission to ANY US college. There are plenty of SAT optional colleges these days, and many students can always start at the Jr college level. In China there is NO CHOICE- to get accepted anywhere you have to take, and score a certain level on this test.</p>
<p>I’m not impressed by the 9 hour test. My baccalaureate came in two parts, one year apart, and each lasted several days, morning and afternoon. There were written and oral parts to several sections of the exam, and the exam covered everything from biology, chemistry, physics all the way to Phys Ed.</p>
<p>I wonder how top American students would score on the test.</p>
<p>And I’ve seen some Americans (non-Asians) who studied practically the entire summer (five plus hours a day) to get a 1 or 2 point increase in the ACT or a 100 point increase in the SAT. So our standardized tests are a big deal to some people.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but if Americans can’t see the difference between what is at stake for a Chinese vs. American teen, something important is missing from who this article is targeting.</p>
<p>“One could argue US kids have it worse. Let’s add it up, 1 SAT, 3 SAT subject tests, 5 AP tests = how many hours of test taking? And even if one does very well on each, it may not be enough; one still needs 200 hours of public service, ECs of all kinds, and all those pesky essays, all = how much time?”</p>
<p>Which US kids? Enough for what? Such a small fraction of (non CC) US kids would even know what your talking about. To me ( and I’m a Physician), CC is “bizarro” world. Maybe Chinese kids have not heard of what the author is talking about either, but I believe there are more options for non-elite high school graduates in the US.</p>
<p>There are technical schools, community colleges, and regional colleges in China that do not require all that high of a score, so while it still may be a nine hour test, many do pass. The challenge is to rank near the top so as to have a shot at a top school. Also, American higher ed schools are looking to build campuses in China to take advantage of the demand for advanced schooling using largely US not Chinese admission standards. </p>
<p>The “life belongs to the state” thing ended a while ago. Demonstrated entrepreneurism is now even required for party membership.</p>
<p>If the government can relocate you, tell you what job you can or can not have, what school you can or can not attend, how many children you may have, and whether you may or may not participate in government, then your life belongs to the State.</p>
<p>We have friends in China, who have opened businesses in variety of cities (not big industries, small businesses), whose kids had several schools to choose from, and who have changed jobs several times. Having one child is indeed encouraged for good reason. And choice of leaders is definitely lacking. Still, it is not as bleak a picture as one might think. We have followed the progress of the kids through the Chinese educational system and my kids spent some time visiting their high school. My kids also have had extended stays with our friends in a non-tourist city and hung out with their kids, and though there are differences, there are many similarities. They are fond of saying about the government, “They are trying, they are now only 10 years behind the people.”</p>
<p>The government can do that in the US, as well. But this power is exercised more often in China due to more vigorous dam-building efforts.</p>
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<p>Err, they do this in all countries. After all, US law specifically states only US-born Americans can be president, only people over 25 can serve in Congress, etc.</p>
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<p>I don’t see how it’s wrong for the government to set certain admissions criteria for their public schools. Certainly it’s done in the US as well.</p>
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<p>They mainly tax extra children, a policy adopted by democracies like Singapore.</p>
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<p>Only if you have a certain, narrow definition of life.</p>
<p>Ray192 - I’m not too familiar with the nuances of U.S. law, so please clarify. Does the U.S. government have the power to relocate ordinary private-sector jobs? (All jobs in China are public, I believe, so they would be “equivalent” to private-sector jobs where the vast majority of people are employed.) Does the U.S. government mandate that you are, for instance, only allowed to work in fast-food restaurants and not as a chemist?</p>
<p>The difference is that U.S. regulations, IIRC, apply only to jobs in the public sector. This affects a small minority of the U.S. working population.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of the US government (or the PRC in recent years, for that matter) mandating a person to take a certain job, but I can see plenty of instances of where the government can bar people from certain professions. Professional athletes in boxing and MMA, for example, must be licensed by government agencies to fight in certain states, and if they don’t meet requirements they cannot do so. Same with health and law-related professions, I believe. Regardless, there is precedent where the US government can control what jobs are available to people.</p>
<p>And not all jobs in China are public. In fact, the majority of them are now private. China has been privatizing for decades now.</p>