China's Cram Schools

The article "China's Cram Schools" by Brook Larmer is about how some Chinese students are extremely stressed out because of the Gaokao high school test. This test is like the SAT or ACT in America but much harder. Students study for this test with every spare minute of their life. In China, this test has the power to change your future. If you get a good score on the test, you will be able to get into a good college. But if you fail the test, you will not get into college and end up working in a factory or construction job. Poor families can't afford for their children to fail the test. In order to move up the class ladder, you need education. Wealthy families can attend to send their children to private international schools or send them abroad or simply opt out of the test because they have money. This test is unfair to students who are poor because this one test will determine their future forever.

Studying for the test shouldn't be the only thing a teenager does during their free time. Teenagers need to have a life outside of studying. They should play sports and hang out with friends, read a book or just simply relax. These tests are completely taking over the lives of Chinese students. “The school prides itself on eliminating the ‘distractions’ of modern life. Cell phones and laptops are forbidden. The dorms, where about half of the students live, have no electrical outlets. Dating is banned. ‘There is nothing to do but study,’ Yang says.” The school imprisons the students into focusing completely on test prep. The Gaokao test has taken over student’s lives. In this Chinese school, there is no way to have fun or be a teenager. “‘I only knew that the school was very strict, to the point that some students supposedly committed suicide.’”  When I read this is was very shocked. Studying to the point of killing yourself is the worst possible outcome and the complete opposite of the goal: to go to college. This means that the Gaokao tests are way out of hand. China needs to eliminate these tests from the school system and figure out a different way of helping poor students go to college.

Furthermore, parents who aren’t wealthy cannot afford to have their child fail the test. Many poor Chinese parents work on farms or in construction, which doesn’t pay a lot so this means they can’t afford to opt out the test. They are hoping that their children will have a better life than they had. They can’t send their child to a private university that doesn’t look at the test scores. “Days after learning he failed the Gaokao, Cao left their home village to search for migrant work in China’s glittering coastal cities. He would end up on a construction site, just like his father.” To me this is so sad. One test day should not determine your future forever. What if you were sick on that day or a family member died? These tests are unfair to poor working class Chinese teenagers.

In conclusion, China needs to find another way to help teenagers get into colleges. The Gaokao test is unfair and absurd. The New York Statewide test is also unfair. It is unfair to teachers. If a student gets a perfect score on the test one year and then the next year misses one question the next year, the teacher get a bad score and could get fired. That is totally uncalled for. One test should not determine the future for Chinese students.