{"id":14,"date":"2008-06-19T08:28:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T12:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=14"},"modified":"2008-06-19T08:28:58","modified_gmt":"2008-06-19T12:28:58","slug":"china-test-gaokao-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/china-test-gaokao-school\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mother of All Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things that China lacks: oil, a decent network of highways, a quality control system for food and drugs, clean air in its cities.\u00a0 One thing that China absolutely does not lack: people.\u00a0 Everywhere you go in China, with the exception of some of the more sparsely populated Western provinces, you can\u2019t help but feel surrounded by humanity.\u00a0 From the early hours of the morning until late in the evening, Chinese cities are teeming with them, from the very young to the very old. But spend any time in Beijing or elsewhere and you\u2019ll begin to notice the absence of one particular age group: kids from middle school to high school age.\u00a0 During the school year, if you see them, they are either on their way to school or on their way home.\u00a0 Kids in this age group have school for about 6 hours per day, then have an average of 6 hours of homework every night. When Chinese students reach the age of 10 or so, they simply vanish, not to reappear until after they\u2019ve sat for the test that will determine pretty much their entire future \u2013 their career, their financial status, everything.\u00a0 Just imagine that the 8-10 years of primary school through high school is nothing more than preparation for a two-day exam, known as the gaokao<\/strong>, with the direction of your life hanging in the balance.\u00a0 Each year, millions of high school kids complete the test in competition for a place in the countries universities, institutions which can accommodate only about 60% of their numbers.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s pressure.<\/p>\n

If you want to read more about this test of tests, check out this excellent article by Manuela Zoninsein in Slate<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Things that China lacks: oil, a decent network of highways, a quality control system for food and drugs, clean air in its cities.\u00a0 One thing that China absolutely does not lack: people.\u00a0 Everywhere you go in China, with the exception of some of the more sparsely populated Western provinces, you can\u2019t help but feel surrounded…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[378679,62,2681,2684,2564],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-culture","tag-education","tag-population","tag-school","tag-test"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t