IN THE past few days nearly 10m young Chinese have received their results from the world’s largest and most important academic exam, commonly known as the gaokao. In some places the news has been sent to them by text message—an innovation that has done nothing to compensate for the horrors of what they have endured: years of cramming at the expense of any other activity in the hope of a gaokao score that will qualify them for admission to a leading university. In China even more than elsewhere, achievement in education is judged not by how well you perform at university, but by which one you attend. Everything, therefore, depends on the gaokao.

The exam is both cherished and despised. It is praised by many as being a relatively corruption-free method of ensuring advancement for those who study hard. The nation rejoiced when the gaokao was restored in 1977 after the death of Mao, who had scrapped it and…Continue reading
Leaders