China's Cram Schools Essay

                   Imagine taking a test that determines your future and the rest of your life. A bad grade, and all your hopes and dreams are gone. For students in China, they don’t have to imagine, it’s their reality. In the article “China’s Cram Schools” by Brook Larmer, the gaokao test is explained as an important college admission test that Chinese high schools students take to ensure a successful future. Getting a good score allows admission into a university, which later leads to a good job and life. But getting a bad score means a disappointed family and a hard life full of manual labor. It isn’t fair for the rest of a teenager’s life to rest solely on their score on one test.

            The fact that the gaokao determines a student’s future causes the pressure to do well to become almost unbearable. In the article it says, “Teenage suicide rates tend to rise as the gaokao nears.” As the stress levels rise because of the test, many teens break under the pressure. The students know how high the stakes are and after a while it becomes too much. But some students have no choice if they want a future. “Manual labor would be their fate too, if they failed to do well on the gaokao.” Many students from rural areas are hoping for a life better than that of their parents, and the gaokao is the only thing that will make sure their lives are successful.

            Wealthier students have more opportunity to prep for the test, which is unfair. Poor villages have poor schools with poorly trained teachers, meanwhile more wealthy families can “hire private tutors, pay for test prep courses, or bribe their way into the best city schools.” With these advantages, the students with more money have better chances of doing well on the test. Because of this, “rural students are allocated far fewer college-admissions spots than students from cities.” This means that sometimes the students can’t control how well they do because they are limited to good education and resources.

            Despite the immense pressure on the students to do well on their test, some still see the good in the gaokao. Recently, China had a big growth in their economy, but many parts of the country still remain in poverty. The test is said to allow people who would normally have no hope of getting out of poverty to get a share of the booming economy. “The question is whether those people will be able to grab a piece of China’s new wealth.” While a good score can ensure a new future for a student who grew up poor, this still only puts the stakes higher and adds more work and pressure to teens.

            As shown in the article, China's gaokao test causes a lot of pressure for Chinese high school students because the rest of their lives depend on a good score. While good scores allow bright futures, bad scores mean hard lives of work. Although some may say that the test is a good way to allow a spot in China's economy, some students have advantages because they already have money. And a spot in the growing economy in no way makes up for the tremendous amount of pressure and lost lives the test is responsible for.