<p>Yes, you can take it again. I don’t know how many times, though.</p>
<p>You have one chance a year. If you do not do well, then you could do it again next year. There was an article in a Chinese news paper about what parents would do to make sure their kids would be in tip top shape for the exam - they put girls on birth control to make sure they wouldn’t get their period during the exam time, they pump all kinds of vitamin in kids to make sure they could endure the long test, the paper showed parents waiting in the hot sun with drinks and food for their kids.</p>
<p>My dad moved from Taiwan to the States when I was 12 because he didn’t think we could pass the exam.</p>
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<p>I have a picture, cut out from my local paper (under the World section - I’m not from China) showing young Chinese girls studying for the gao kao while hooked up to an oxygen machine, the idea being that more oxygen to the brain = better cognitive performance. Everything else that has been mentioned - even the birth control one - simply teeters on the edge between dedication and obsession, but an oxygen machine - to my mind that is lunacy.</p>
<p>3 in 5 students pass the test. Doesn’t seem that hard to me, and I agree that taking one 9-hour test seems easier than what American students do to get to college.</p>
<p>As an American that has worked with Chinese students for many years I can say without any doubt that Chinese students work like NO American child could even imagine. The pressure is on from the time they are three years old. As Americans we can not understand a culture that is so dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and most people in our country only see the pitfalls without understanding the culture. These children and their parents see education as the only means to future success because that is how they have grown up. In the Chinese culture children have the responsibility to care for their their elders unlike American children that will consider care for their elders as having selected the best assisted living or nursing care facility and making weekly visits.</p>
<p>As I have learned in my experience, We can only trully understand if we attempt to walk in their shoes. I have come to respect and honor the Chinese culture which is so dedicated to excellence. Most Americans will without any understanding say that Chinese students are robotic in their motivation and studies and are lacking American values such as sports and community service. The Chinese student is thinking about how to make a life for himself and these other American activities seem frivolous to them. The first generation Chinese are learning what it takes to be a candidate for the top American schools so watch out American parents because these kids have the desire to work hard and now they are playing hard to build their college resumes. If we are concerned that American born kids can not compete with first generation Chinese American kids we should be. There is no comparison. American parents are buying their kids gaming systems and over taxing their kids with sports while the Asian parents are picking and choosing the things that will serve their children well into their adult lives. Americans are too quick to talk and even quicker to judge. Observe more and talk less there is alot to learn by watching how other cultures raise their children.</p>
<p>I agree that there’s lots to learn from seeing how other cultures raise their kids. When I was in Detroit, I learned from my Caldean neighbors to have my kids do academic review books during summer vacation. After I moved, I learned from my African and Asian immigrant friends’ various ways of encouraging my kids education.</p>
<p>Since my kids aren’t immigrants’ kids, neither had the work ethic of my immigrant neighbors’ kids nor did they have the focus that I – a Caribbean immigrant’s child – had when I was in school. However, both of my kids did benefit from what they got from what H and I passed on from our family heritages (We were not parents who gave my kids video games or allowed unlimited TV) and what we also passed along from what we learned from other cultures, something, incidentally, my mother also did with me. </p>
<p>Every culture has something to offer, and the more we look for and embrace the good in the variety of cultures in the world, the better off all of us will be – and by “better off”, I’m referring to fulfillment and success in even more than economic measures.</p>
<p>^^Hear! Hear! NSM.</p>
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<p>…but by second generation, the kids are just as American as our kids with the same advantages and disadvantages…</p>
<p>To Queen’s mom - the second generation kids are being raised by their first generation parents and the culture remains strong. If you notice most Chinese kids will visit China nearly every summer and while they are there they are going to school. These visits back to the homeland keeps these kids well grounded in the culture and the work ethic remains to be steadfast.</p>
<p>momma-three: May be not the second generation. But cultural effect will fade out with the third, fourth,… generation. Look at the chinese people coming to the US during the 19th century in the Bay or LA areas. They are totally different from the new immigrants.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, 3 out of 5 passing means very little. It’s how well you do that determines your placement. The difference between scoring 97.5% and scoring 98% can determine your entire life’s path from that moment on. Is it any surprise that these kids study so hard for this?</p>
<p>And yes, second and third generation Chinese will be more americanized and less like first generation immigrants, but face it, they still have the stereotype applied to them, and have to work harder than other american kids to get recognized.</p>
<p>To Hawkwings- Becoming more Westernized in terms of dress, food, and possibly religion but the desire to achieve is heavily embedded. I would be surprised if that ever changes. The Chinese immigrants are not like other immigrants in terms of their respect for their parents, themselves, and their understanding that education is a valued gift. </p>
<p>I also disagree that Chinese kids are working harder to be recognized. They do not need to prove themselves. Their performance everyday in the classrooms speak for their ability. American kids need to prove themselves when there is any form of competion that involves a Chinese student.</p>
<p>coolweather, they may be different, but they are still very high-achieving. Take a look at the ethnic makeup of the UC system or the Ivy Leagues 
Not that there is anything wrong with that. If you work as hard as many of these kids do, you deserve the admission to top schools.</p>
<p>Honestly I don’t get what is so bad about assigning people to jobs when for the last 10 years in China it is widely said that a college diploma is an unemployment certificate. It used to be that these people would be guaranteed reasonable (i.e. not manual labor) jobs; not anymore, and college graduates have tons of problems finding reasonable jobs.</p>
<p>it’s not passing the exam that is the issue. likewise, it’s not hard to get 18/36 on the ACT or 1200/2400 on SAT. you have to do WELL on the exam. and trust me, Chinese students have it much harder. starting from elementary, you have to participate in all kinds of contests and extra classes. American 7 year olds go to the park on the weekends; many Chinese 7 year olds have almost no weekends. you have to test to get into junior high, test again to get into senior high, before testing to go to university. even in elementary, the teachers finish 6 years of curriculum in 5 so the 6th year would be used for studying. for the gao kao, students study 12+ hour a day, at least 6 days a week, for the whole year. tell me what American program requires that. I’m IB diploma and have to take 5 IB exams in all, which mounts to 12 exams, plus both ACT and SAT and 3 SAT II exams, and I still only used a fraction of the time that Chinese students use. and in the end, got into a better university than most of these students who worked so much harder will. I met a gr.12 Chinese student last winter break. her whole face looks ashen and she said she wakes up at 4am to study. I remember a guy who stayed at school from 6am to 9pm everyday during his senior year, and in the end he still only got into a university that has the quality and reputation of an university here that most American students can just slack off and get a 3.0 and still get in. you have to take in the competition into account. china has 1.3 billion people. the number of post secondary educational institution, especially good ones, is less than the US in proportion to their population. furthermore, there aren’t enough jobs, let alone good jobs. going into a good university can truly determine the rest of your life, unlike here where there are many other options. there are no transfers, so you can’t go to CC first and still end up with a bachelor, nor can you get your act together in university and transfer to a better one the following year. labour work, even skilled labour, are paid very low. around where I live, bus drivers can earn the same as an accountant. you wouldn’t dream of that in China. therefore the only way to a good life is to get things right the first time around - gao kao. there are also less opportunities to go back to school during adulthood. all in all, gao kao is far more important to Chinese students than any test for American students and the work they have to put in and stress and pressure they have to
endure is far more than most American students can imagine.</p>
<p>p.s. sorry for the lack of capitals. I’m typing on my ipod touch and it’s a bit of a pain :o .</p>
<p>Well put moosey</p>
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<p>Moosey, I think you may be describing an extreme case. The students who do this are not normal, even in China, although they may be the most visible/vocal students. </p>
<p>I have cousins in China who are studying for the gao kao, and from what they describe, while there are kids like you describe, they aren’t the majority. One of my parents (I know, it’s long ago, but the system can’t have changed that much) got 2 weeks off from school before the test, and studied maybe 8 hours a day, and made a very good school. So while it’s a lot harder than what we have, it’s not quite one year of studying 12 hours per day hard. Let’s keep it in perspective.</p>
<p>Is this the reason why Chinese students prefer American colleges, or is it because of one of the other thousand reasons why America is better than China?</p>
<p>Is this being pointed out as a flaw with China, or an advantage it has over America (more dedicated students)? What about the Chinese student who is simply not as smart as the others, and therefore studying harder really makes no difference? Is the point of their education bragging rights, or to better their lives?</p>
<p>So American students don’t spend as much time studying, yet somehow American Universities are the best around (I infact don’t even know of a Chinese University…). Does that mean that Americans are just way more intelligent, or that Chinese students aren’t learning anything useful?</p>
<p>The system in China (from what I understand) pretty much bars anyone who is of below average intelligence from doing anything other than manual labor or factory jobs (still often manual labor). In America, people of below average intellegence still have plenty of job options, with much less worthlessness than jobs for similar Chinese people.</p>
<p>Chinese students study harder so they can be the best. What’s the difference in quality of life between the guy who scored 50th percentile on their test, and the guy who scored 90th percentile? If it’s similar to what I’m expecting, it sounds like their studying is a wasted effort.</p>
<p>Addiction, could your cousins be in big cities, such as Beijing or Shanghai? Chinese universities have different admission standards for different provinces. For example, one university may admit everyone who got 550 on the test from province A, but only admit everyone who got 620 on the test from province B. The difference can be over 100 points at times. My cousin, who lived in Fujian, did around 650 but did not get in Peking University, while people who lived in Beijing could get in with around 550. If you’re lucky and lived in one of the places that have lower admission standards, you could study less, but in many provinces, 12 hrs a day is actually for the majority. Another cousin of mine, who lived in Northern China, was required to be in school for “morning study” at 7am, then school, then afterwards they had “night study” until 9pm. Attendance is mandatory. Whether or not students really studied hard each night is questionable, but you do have to remain in the class regardless.
Also, the system has changed dramatically in China since your parents’ time. I assume your parents did Gao Kao in the 1970s or 1980s. IIRC, 1978 was the 1st year that all the universities reopened and Gao Kao actually occurred. Before that, going to university needed recommendation and thus, not accessible to most people. Plus many of them were shut down due to the Cultural Revolution. When universities reopened, even though the acceptance rate was lower, it is actually easier than it was today. A friend of my dad completely failed his math test (as in less than 30%) and still got in. My dad himself barely passed the math test and got into finance. My aunt, who haven’t been in school for 4 years got into a good university. They had less subjects and less materials to study. School taught far less during the time - education wasn’t valued, people could graduate at 15/16 without skipping a grade because the education system constantly changed. Also, pressure to get into an university, especially a good university is far less less. 1. 10% or less people got into universities/colleges, therefore no matter how good/bad the university is, university students were valued. 2. Jobs were distributed, so regardless of the quality of your university, you are guaranteed a job anyway. 3. Again, education wasn’t valued. Intellectuals were the victims of Cultural Revolution. One of my uncles was able to get a recommendation to go to university, but his parents wouldn’t let him and told him to stay as a factory worker. Even though Mao was dead when Gao Kao came back, people’s minds were not changed in a day. I had a lunch with my dad and his old friends last winter, and all of them said that at the time they didn’t give a crap about university. They grew up at a time where university and good jobs were not concern. Most jobs were paid around the same amount under the communist government. However, now, going to a good university is drilled into the children from elementary school. No one guarantees jobs anymore, and jobs sure as hell don’t all pay approximately the same salaries. The pressure is much, much higher. In communist China, there were no competition. There were no 50 people competing for 1 job or the concept of such. The mentality of modern day Chinese and that of pre 1980s Chinese is quite different. Additionally, with the one child policy, parents put all their expectations and high hopes on one child, and that child also have the sole responsibility of taking care of their parents. Less job security + higher living costs + higher expectation = X(.
China is not the only country with notoriously energy draining college entrance exams. Countries such as Japan or South Korea also practices similar measures. In S.Korea, on test day, government workers arrive late to work in order to avoid jamming the road. On the days leading up to the exams, many stores open late and close early, to allow parent time to help their kids study.</p>
<p>QwertyKey, studying will help. Maybe someone who is less intelligent will never get 95% on a test, but can get 85% with a lot of effort. With no effort, that person may fail. The quality of life IS different between someone who gets 50% and someone who gets 90%. Yes, there are university graduates who washes dishes. But at least you have a chance of going somewhere better. There is pretty much no chance for someone who doesn’t have a degree (unless they start a business themselves). Plus, just because two people are paid the same doesn’t mean the quality of life is the same. One could be working outside in the blistering heat for 12 hours a day, while another could be sitting in an air conditioned office for 8 hours a day. One could argue some like to work outside in the blistering heat, but I think most students who go to Gao Kao are aiming for the air conditioned office.
In regards to university quality and reputation, remember that quality and reputation takes time. It takes time to build up a quality team, to do great research, to attract famous faculty. Universities like Harvard had over 300 years. Most Chinese universities essentially only had about 30. They were closed down during the Cultural Revolution, many of them separated into different universities, and then later combined back again in the 1990s and onwards. All these reorganization efforts takes away attention from focusing on education and research. Also, traditional Chinese education had no research. It wasn’t about science or engineering or even math. Furthermore, China was closed off for most of its history. Even if it had HYPSM like universities, most of the outside world wouldn’t know much about it, and consequently, probably wouldn’t score very high on the peer review and employer review. Keep in mind that as famous as people think American universities are, most non-Americans don’t know many American universities outside of HYPSM. University of Chicago? Brown? Northwestern? UPenn? Most (if not all) LACs? Not exactly something that would ring a bell for citizens of most other countries. Also, American students actually work WAY harder in university. Chinese students work their butts off beforehand, but once they get in, they don’t really have to do much work. It’s very very rare that someone wouldn’t finish university in 4 years in China. For grad school, you take entrance exams for admission, so really GPA is not much of a concern.
As to the whole less-than-average-intelligence Americans can get better job than a similar Chinese, well, no duh. China has one billion more people than US, with not much more resources/space. That’s like saying less-than-average-intelligence Canadians can have a better life quality than similar Americans. It’s easier for Canadians to get into universities. Top Canadian universities such as McGill, UT or UBC require no EC for most of its majors, no standardized testing, no essays, no recommendation letter, nothing other than your transcript. UBC only takes the average of your 4 best gr.12 subjects. Your grades of gr.9-11 is of little to no consequence. The average quality of Canadian universities, especially undergrad education, is higher. Minimum wage is higher and applies to everyone (including tipped employees), socialised medicine, better welfare, better pension - overall, a below-average-intelligence Canadian’s life would be easier than American’s. It has nothing to do with the intelligence of Canadians. Canada has more resources as it only has a little over 1/10th of US’ population. Less competition for more space. If China’s population magically shrank to 30 million, I don’t doubt the problems of Gao Kao would all but disappear.</p>
<p>Excellent post, Moosey!</p>
<p>A major reason for some Chinese students wanting to come to the US to study is the opportunity to become fully competent in English.</p>
<p>Also, there are of course top quality universities in China. Their graduates are doing well in graduate programs around the world.</p>