Worrisome worship of exam

Despite the efforts of the education authorities to prevent exam performance ranking, the top performers in the gaokao, the national college entrance examination, as well as their families and schools were still in the spotlight. The culture of worshipping gaokao champions is not healthy and should be curbed, says an article on Youth.cn. Excerpts:

Even before the official results were released, an online rumor claimed an examinee in Sichuan province was the top scorer in the gaokao. But the moment of glory for the student, his family and school ended four hours later when people found out he actually scored less than the online rumor suggested.

It is unclear whether these claims about the student's exam results entailed any malicious intent, but it has already disturbed the peaceful life of the student and his family. The culture of worshipping gaokao champions should have been eradicated a long time ago. However, the reality is many schools still prioritize the best examinees and the media spare no efforts to cover the top students.

All these simply aggravate the phenomenon of champion worship. Some elite schools even search across the country to find students that might be potential gaokao champions, and woo these students by offering favorable conditions. For students that are designated as claimants to the accolade, their situation is worrisome, as their circumstances remain unknown if they fail to win the "championship".

Such a culture simply worsens the already unfair distribution of educational resources and strays away from the fundamental purposes of education and the gaokao.

(China Daily 06/29/2012 page11)