Break Essay

 Is it fair that the lives students are revolving on a single test for millions of Chinese students? No.  The article “Chinas Cram Schools” by Brook Larmer, informs the reader that students are based on a test score. Students study in every second of the day that they can, for this awful test called the gaokao, designed to promise a future of fields and factories, if you fail.

The test gaokao is an extremely high stakes test on the Chinese language, English language, mathematics, and either social studies and literature or science. Students spend their full 10^th and 11^th grades learning these subjects, and the whole 12^th grade studying every second they can get. In the text it states, “Xu filled every moment with study, testing himself between classes, on the toilet, in the cafeteria. After lights went out at 11:30, he sometimes used a battery powered lamp to keep going.” This shows that no matter where you are or what you are doing, it doesn’t matter. You are studying. No time for iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, videogames. This is what life looks like.

Gaokao puts the most amounts of stress and pressure on the students as possible. In the text it shows, “Its critics say it stifles creativity and puts excessive pressure on students. Teenage suicide rates tend to rise as the gaokao nears.” This shows that with the pressure the test and teachers have attended, it is worth it to some students to loose their lives. The teachers put so much pressure on the students not just because they care about them (I actually doubt they do), but also because the students scores is what keeps their own job alive. Half of your class fails, you’ll end up in the field with them.

Many schools are poor and don’t have well trained teachers. Wealthy families usually opted out and went to a fancy expensive private school, or they got a personal tutor. But one school called Maotanchang “fixed” that. The way this high school works, is that it completely eliminates distractions of modern life. In the text it explains, “Cellphones and laptops are forbidden. The dorms, where about half the students live, have no electrical outlets. Dating is banned. In town, where the rest of the students live, mostly with their mothers in tiny partitioned rooms, the local government has shut down all forms of entertainment…. ‘there is nothing to do but study.’ Yang says.” This shows how serious schools like Maotanchang is with the gaokao.

To conclude, students in China are test scores, which is completely upsetting and unfair. Lives are ruined, and even ended for some, because of these tests. This article teaches the reader that China’s way of life right now is out of control, and we are lucky to have what we have today.