Natalie Van Alstyne 711 4-15-15

China / “Gaoko” exam essay

In the article, “China’s Cram Schools” by Brook Larmer readers learn that in China, all teenagers in public high schools have to take an exam called the “Gaoko” which basically determines their future. This test is not fair to the thousands of students who take them, and so much should not be riding on them. Sometimes these students use medication and other harmful things to stay focused and study hard. The “Gaoko” exam should be more like our “SATS”, but unfortunately it is not. This exam is different from our “SATS” and too much is riding on these chinese students.

The “SATS” for American high school students, is very different because how well you do can contribute to where you go to college, but it doesn’t determine necessarily  what job you might have or how you make a living. On page 3 of the article it states, “The boys knew that manual labor would be their fate too, that if they failed to do well on the gaoko.” This shows that if students don’t do well on the exam then they would have to do manual labor, but if students got to take tests similar to the “SATS” then that wouldn’t be the case. Also, on the second page of the article it states,“In some ways, the gaoko is like the SAT or ACT but its more than twice as long and an the stakes are much higher: Given every June over several days the test is the only thing that matters for admission to universities.” This is not like the SATS at all because the SATS only count towards some of your application to universities (colleges) but mostly grades count as well as outside activities, your family history, etc.

The “Gaoko” test is definitely not fair for these high school students. The test can cause damage to teens and older children such as such as use medication and, even killing themselves. On the first page of the article there is a picture, and above it, “Intravenous Drips: Students in Hubei go to extremes to study beyond the point of exhaustion.” The photo also was of students using medication to focus and study hard. This statement shows students would do anything to prepare and get good grades on the exam. Also on the third page of the article, “Teenage suicide rates tend to rise as the gaoko neers.” This quote shows that students are so stressed and tired of doing this work, that they commit suicide. The effects of the “Gaoko” are not very good, and could possibly get worse.

Overall the “Gaoko” exam and there effects are very bad. If it were up to me, I would change the tests to be more like the “SATS”so the 20000 students that take the exam would not have to stress so much and could relax a little. The test is not fair and it basically determines your future. Some students waste their valuable childhood moments to study for this test, and that isn’t right.