Similar to South Korea，China's education
system is also very competitive. The most memorable part for students is
GaoKao.
GaoKao is the college entrance
examination in
mainland of China and takes place in
7, 8, 9 of June every year. Different education modes are being carried out in different regions and
are divided into liberal arts, science and combined. To be admitted into their
dream school, students have to submit Secondary School Transcript, Academic
Level Test, Secondary School Graduation Examination and GaoKao scores. Those
who want to major in fields of arts, sports or languages need to take
individual tests, as well.
In addition, students can also apply for universities in Macao, Hongkong
and Taiwan with Gaokao scores since 2012(personal applications with A-Level or
SAT are always possible). More and more
universities and colleges in Europe and Australia are getting to accept GaoKao
scores, and because of the strong competition, more and more parents are going
to send their children abroad.
“The number of students participate in GaoKao ranges from 9~10 million
each year.” As a reference, the population of Seoul is about 10 million according to
a recent survey.
“The admission rate has raised steadily these years, staying at around
75% for 3 years since 2012 and is predicted to hit 90% until 2020”, according to Beijing municipal commission
of education at the end of August 2014.
Most universities in China are national, the better the school is, the
cheaper the tuition fee is. Let’s take Peking University as an example. There
are two semesters in a year. Tuition is about $ 1000 each semester and
accommodation fee is about $ 600 each semester, while it usually doubles or
triples in minor private universities. That’s the reason why parents and school
teachers turn out to force students to go to private educational institutes and
stay up late.
Although there are often some educational
experts criticizing about relative evaluation system, we have to admit that it
is the only feasible solution in the short term. If we use absolute evaluation
system, it may lead to an accumulation in certain grades because the base number is
too big.
At the end of 2012 when I was preparing for the coming GaoKao, some
influential experts in China in the field of high school education said that
“ Most of the top scorers in GaoKao are just better adapted to the exam-oriented
education.
Many of them don’t know how to get along with others and somehow lack of a
touch of human feelings. They are more probably to be poor at arts or sports. (name of the magazine:招生考試通訊, Vol 12, 2012)”
After the academic magazine was out, it truly led to a heated
discussion about the disadvantages we have ignored about GaoKao before.
The problem of students’ health caused by
their tight schedule is really a serious
one to deal with in
my opinion. Many students can’t have a rest regularly. It has led to more and
more high school students having bad habits of living. For example, they sleep
for only 3 or 4 hours or even stay up to finish their homework though it seems
like an impossible mission at times and it may
“cause serious emotional depression like trend of suicides if they don’t have enough
sleep.（《高中生心理分析报告及关于自杀倾向研究》）”
Therefore, this report has studied on factors
of high school students’ trend of suicides, which contributes theoretical value
and significant practical meaning to build up a high school students’ suicides preventative
system.
What’s more, they may have headaches and their
eyes may go bad easily due to long time concentrating on work. In addition,
they often feel great stress during the examination period so some of them eat
more to distract their attention in order to release their stress. Thus, combined with little exercise and
sitting most of the time they spend both at school and at home, it has led to a
common phenomenon of obesity among high
school students.
Most importantly,
students are losing the energy of teens and becoming more and more meticulous
and even tend to stay indoors in their free time because they don’t know how to
communicate with others. They live in a set pattern of school, cram school and
home: just a line of three points. The competitive educational system make
students selfish and sometimes they may even refuse to cooperate with others
and it is really a sad fact.
To solve the problem of health, the government
or the Chinese Education Bureau could enact policy that may help remit the students’
pressure, but we all know that it’s not as easy as we are just talking about it
and it will surely take a long time to implement these policies in the whole country,
because it’s really a huge coverage and there are many different local
education systems in 34 different province we have to face.
So I hope high
school students could free themselves by making some adjustments in their daily
schedules and making use of their time properly. A student may feel really
tired and sleepy if he or she slept late or stayed up whole night the day
before. I think it’s a good idea if they have short naps in class break time or
after lunch, and they will be better-concentrated on classes in the afternoon.
Also, I don’t think
self-study at night must be carried out in classrooms. Those who want to study
have consciousness at home as well, but those who don’t just won’t do it at
all. It’s better if they can choose to study at school or not at night. Home
could provide a more suitable environment as it is quiet, and others may have
time to develop a new kind of hobby instead of feeling bored at school. Exercise is also necessary. Doing
exercise can not only relieve their stress, but also strengthen their bodies and make them fit.
In a word, the problem of students’ health is rather serious and we may
not able to solve it radically in a short time, but we can truly improve the
situation if we aim
to do so.
In the academic
part, while exam-oriented education is being carried out in most Asian
countries, western countries may focus more on children’s ability in
independent thinking and team work. We may not able to implement these
education modes right, but we can use it for reference gradually.
There are several
universities in China that are overseas campus of foreign universities.
For example, the University of
Nottingham Ningbo China, Duke Kunshan
University, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool
University and NYU Shanghai.
Teachers in these universities are from the main campus overseas and tuition
fee is the same.
“As a member of NYU’s
global network, you have the world at your fingertips. Why not reach out and
incorporate it into your course work? The study away opportunities available to
you as an NYU Shanghai student are unparalleled in higher education and are
easily integrated into your program of study.” (http://shanghai.nyu.edu )
The Chinese Educational Bureau is really expecting these universities
to play an important role in history of Chinese education.
As
I have said before, more and more parents are going to send their children
abroad. I think it is a good choice as long as the student’s language skills
are fit for studying and the family won’t have a pressure in economy.
One
of my friends who is studying in America once answered me that
“It’s hard to distill what exactly the ‘typical’
American university experience is. Is it thousands of screaming students
Saturday night in a football stadium or the red brick hallowed halls of Harvard
University and the Ivy League?” when I asked her how was
the campus life there.
When most people think of an American
university experience though, they probably are thinking of Hollywood films
like Animal House and Old School and speaking from experience,
a large public university is where you will experience that kind of lifestyle.
With thousands of teeming students
living in a virtual city of young adulthood, you will see the typical array of fraternity
and sorority students decked out in their Greek letters, and occasionally on
weekend nights, in a bed sheet doubling as a toga. You’ll see scores of hulking
football players towering over normal students on their way to class as well as
facing off in a sea of green grass against your school’s rivals.
But you’ll also see students sitting
around discussing Victorian literature and throwing around a Frisbee in the
quad. Weekend nights are celebrated by the occasional (or more than occasional,
if you prefer) drunken debauchery and trouble-making followed by a late-night
sojourn to the local greasy spoon.
“The American college is a collection of groups and activities catering to
any and every interest under the sun. From politics, to media, to sports and
everything in between the American college’s specialty is in the fact that it
is all-inclusive. Universities in the United States really and truly have
something for everybody.”(《我们在美国教育中学习什么》)
Describing the wide variety of schools
in the US is a tricky task. The wide range of American institutions – from
impeccable bastions of higher education like Harvard to illustrious sports
academies like Michigan State – makes it almost impossible to condense their
various unique identities into a one-size-fits-all “stereotype”.
And yet whilst the singular
specialities of your Harvards and Michigan States might bring people in, they
also push them out. Forget the high tuition (which averages $50,000 per year) and the gnawing unemployment after
graduation (57% of all US unemployed have
college degrees); these are all symptoms of the broader problem of
“hyperspecialization”. Most American schools choose a singular defining detail
instead of the whole picture: this compartmentalization into one field or
another – whether academic, athletic, artistic or alterative – leaves so much
to be desired.
On the
contrary，most Canadian schools do not suffer from institutional
“monoculture”. Places like University of Toronto, McGill, University of British
Columbia, or Dalhousie are known for offering very broad college experiences.
No one department within these colleges is seemingly better than the other –
even amongst the highly competitive Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics faculties.
This is not to say they are all equally
bad or good, nor that all receive similar funding. Instead, Canadian
institutions focus largely on the holistic approach to education. When one
section is raised, all are lifted. Funding in Engineering, for example, betters
the liberal arts through cross-faculty collaborations (such as in various Arts
and Science programs). In this way, Canadian Universities are better not
because they are stronger in one area or another, but because they see value of
all portions, rather than just one.
Each education
system may has its pros and cons. We are trying to find a integrating point,
keep the good part and learn from the experience of other countries.
I know that the problem of GaoKao has existed for quite a long time，and every
student has complained about it, more or less. Although it is somehow cruel, or
it may not be fair at times, it is still the major way to succeed in the current society of
China, and the only chance ever given for those who are eager to come out of
poor mountainous areas.
Although it may take
quite a long time, it’s a fine start that the Chinese Educational Bureau has
puts a high value on quality-oriented education. And I believe that one day, we
could fulfill the long-contemplated dream.
