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China Daily Commentary: Several Paths Lead to Top Education
3.8 million Chinese students are contending for a berth in the country's higher learning institutions. We wish them luck.
After surviving a decade of painstaking study punctured by numerous exams, they face the final hurdle: the national college entrance examination. Many have pinned so high a hope on this exam as a turning point in their lives that they may think it's something they cannot afford to fail.
China's college entrance examinations are held every year from July 7-9, dubbed by students as "Black July" for the high pressure they feel during this time.
Since early June, all construction sites in Beijing have been banned from working from 10 pm to 6 am to reduce noise that might disturb high school graduates preparing for the examination, under a Beijing municipal government stipulation.
Other government departments have offered similar assistance.
These considerations alone signal the importance of the exam.
This year 200,000 more students will be accepted to colleges and universities thanks to the government's continuing expansion of college enrollment. Altogether 1.8 million, or 49 per cent of the people taking the examination will enter institutions of higher learning.
The generous enlargement of enrollment in recent years has satisfied more young people's desire for higher education. The move is a response to the growing market demand as well as part of the efforts of invigorating the country through science and education.
Despite consistent discouragement from the government and the education sector, the percentage of students passing the college entrance exam remains the ultimate yardstick of students' achievement, teachers' competence and schools' prestige.
As a result, tapping students' talent and cultivating their personality, and psychological strength in particular, have taken the back seat.
With this misplaced priority, preparation for the exam reaches down not only to middle school but to primary school students. No wonder our children are weighed down by school bags too heavy for them to carry.
Several experimental moves the education authorities have taken to overhaul the college examination system are favourable endeavours.
Colleges and universities have been given more freedom and flexibility in choosing students. Students have an extra shot at continuing their education since China announced a spring national college entrance examination this year. Though the number of students turning to the spring examination remains insignificant, it is a good start in the sense that the less prestigious colleges can dodge the fierce competition in the summer exam, while those who failed their first time can get another chance.
While keeping our fingers crossed for the exam takers, we have to remind them and their parents that passing the college entrance examination is not the only road to a better future.
High school graduates have a much wider spectrum of choices in academically developing themselves through different means such as vocational education, correspondence education, on-the-job education and self-taught education.
A dearth of skilled workers in the country calls for training our students, both in high schools and colleges, with real ability and learning.
So while wishing the examination takers all the best, we suggest the students, their parents and teachers take the exams for what they are and not put too much pressure on a single path.
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