Flicker of light at the end of gaokao tunnel

Gaokao: You can't live with it, you can't live without it. This is probably the best way I can describe how people feel about the all-important National College Entrance Examination that incarnates both a major education impasse and paradoxically, the pinnacle of Chinese social justice.

For evidence, I look to my recent column on whether a university should have trumpeted the number of top scorers in gaokao, which has triggered a torrent of responses from readers.

Some have echoed my opinion, like "Terrible System", saying the national examination produces one-sided students with no critical thinking and warning that "memorizing by heart everything is not education or learning, it's killing off something far more important to learn during your childhood: independence, leadership and critical thinking. Those are skills that once you lose, you almost cannot relearn."