Ava Mascuch 711
Upfront Magazine Argument Essay 4/12/15
Is it fair that so much is riding on a single test for millions of Chinese students?
At the time of the gaokao test in China there are a lot of stressed out teenagers. That is because the test is the only thing that matters in the process to get into a Chinese university. Therefore, if a student does not do well and get a good score he or she will not get in and will most likely end up joining China’s 260 million migrant workers. Is it fair that so much is riding on this one test? For teens in China a few points one way or the other could determine the promise of a life of migration work. Everyone should have a chance to go to college. It is unfair that this whole process depends on the gaokao test because teens are forced to devote so much of their time to studying for this test and too much is sacrificed for the students to practice for the test.
Even though students spend huge amounts of time much time on this one test, many of them miss the cut off score by just a few points. For example the article, “China’s Cram Schools”, about the gaokao test states “20,000 students train around the clock for China’s national college-entrance examination.” This quote shows that many Chinese students stay up late and wake up early in the morning to study and then go to school and study some more for the test. The same article also describes the life of one of these students, “Xu filled every spare moment with studying, testing himself between classes, on the toilet, in the cafeteria. After the lights went out at 11:30, he sometimes used a battery-powered lamp to keep going.” There are probably many students like Xu who devote enormous amounts of time to prepare for the test. It is not fair to let all of that hard work go to waste because of one test score.
Chinese students’ lives should not ride solely on this test because there are already many sacrifices made by students and their families just for them to study for the test at a good school. For instance, the article “China’s Cram Schools” states “the rent on their tiny room was high...and it represented only part of the sacrifice Yang’s parents made to help him become the first in his family to attend college.” This quote shows that his parents are living in a small apartment so that they can send their son to school to study for the gaokao. A second example from the article describes how one family struggles and sacrifices. “My mother constantly reminds me that I have to study hard because my father is out working construction far from home to pay my school fees...said Cao.” It is not only the students who work hard to do well, but parents do too and they make sacrifices to pay for the schools. Why must all of this hard work and sacrifice be judged by and wasted by what can be one bad test grade?
Although it is not good that one test determines Chinese students’ future, there can be good aspects of this test because if they manage to do well on it. Students who do well on the test are promised a better life. For example, the article states, “A few weeks after he took the gaokao last June, he learned his score and was ecstatic...it would win him a spot at one of Anhuis best second tier universities.” This is good for one student, but not all of them are promised a college education. “Not all the news was happy. Tang’s childhood friend tanked on the exam...he would end up on a construction site, just like his father.” Cao and many other Chinese students like him who did not do well ended up working as migrant workers. Everyone should be offered a chance to apply to a college and not just the people who do well on the test.
Overall, the parents of the students sacrifice so much and the teens devote so much time to practicing for the test and it seems unfair for it to determine their futures. The gaokao causes too much pressure and stress for the Chinese students and their families. Their whole life should not be judged by one test score.
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