There are many competitions in China, such as NOI[1], CMO[2], and so on. These are the Olympiad competitions in China, which represented the highest level of competition in specific realms, for example, mathematics, computer, and English. Besides, there is another competition, instead of getting a reputation for yourself as the purpose, it can literally, to a large extent, determine your destiny.
Gaokao[3], which represents the examination that has the largest scale and amount of students who intend to attend in China. In 2011, approximately, there were 9.3 million students attended. By 2021, over the decade, the amount has increased by 0.7 million, there are above 10 million students who attended the examination. On average, the amount increases by seventy thousand per year. If you want to get into a university in China legally, Gaokao is vital to you.
Gaokao is held by the Chinese government, exactly, it is held by the Ministry of Education of China. The purpose of Gaokao is to realize the impartiality of education, allowing the people who are stuck in poverty can also have the chance to be highly educated. As the result, Gaokao has made large progress on the way of its purpose, many poor students have successfully entered the university and they changed their own’s life, even their family’s future. Gaokao broke the “rule” that only rich people can go to university.
Nevertheless, Gaokao also has its disadvantages. On one hand, China is really overpopulated, so there are too many students attending Gaokao each year. This causes tremendous stress in students. It’s so tensive that many students can’t handle it. On the other hand, Gaokao is vital to students in a sense. Many students broke down when they failed, the case that a student who failed in Gaokao wanted to suicide is not news at all.
In my opinion, Gaokao is necessary to China, but it is way too absolute. Whatever how much time you spend on preparing Gaokao, or how many efforts you’ve made, if you failed, so does all the above, everything you’ve done for Gaokao during the past year means nothing to you. Thus, Gaokao is like a sort of bet game.
Let’s see the reality: What if you failed Gaokao and you didn’t want to repeat attending it? First, you will not have any permission of getting into any good Chinese university, unless you are rich enough that you can study abroad directly. Second, when you graduated, you will hardly find an occupation with a high salary. This means you can only live on your own reluctantly, and it is almost impossible to find a wife and have children. Hence, if you don’t repeat attending Gaokao, the quality of your life will decrease fiercely. Surely, failing in Gaokao won’t stop you from being alive, but it will increase the difficulty of your life.
Dear reader, what do you think about Gaokao in China?
