Tall Test

Your future decided in four hours.

This is what happens every June during the gaokao (tall test) for high school seniors across the Orient. This is the mother test. Your score decides your destiny - which university accepts you, which determines your profession, which determines your salary, which determines your worth and happiness (some sadly believe).

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/137148734/foreign-policy-silence-for-chinas-big-test?ft=1&f=1001

After reading this article on NPR.com it finally made sense why my 13-year-old students are so competitive. Why one of my students named Soup (my theory as to his unfortunate name is either 1) a self-deprecating sense of humor, 2) an intense love affair with chicken noodle, or 3) a wicked primary school teacher) was crying in the corner. I went over and gently asked,


"Soup-Man, what's up brother?"
"Mr. Micah, my mom is going to beat me tonight."
"Why!?!"
"Because I got the lowest score on the math exam."


In China you don't have to be first, but never be last.

Now I understood why one of my brightest students, Lexi, was bent over reading an SAT study book before class. The millions of black-haired students competing and elbowing for position into the already crowded colleges in China had evaporated her childhood. She is a 13-year-old studying for the SAT. Admirable but unhealthy.

There are no sports teams in Chinese schools. No basketball teams, no homecoming football games, no pep rallies, no Prom ... that's because the classroom is the court. Chinese education is one giant training program for a four hour contest where the lead you scribble is the blueprint of your future.

- m -