Chinese students live (and sometimes die) for their test scores.
Here is a portrayal of the “insanely stressful” examination system that rules the lives of all Chinese students.
This is the system that American policymakers like Arne Duncan hope to import to the United States.
This is the dream of “tiger moms” like Amy Chua and Michelle Rhee, to subject children to higher and higher stakes until they think of nothing other than their test scores.
Sorry, guys, but your dream is not the American dream. The American dream is one where everyone has a fair chance to realize their ambitions, whatever they may be–not just test scores, but in sports, music, or some other endeavor. The American dream celebrates those who tinker, who create, who improvise, who invent new ideas while “messing around” with stuff that interests them. This is the dream that made this country great, not a one-size-fits=all examination hell that ranks kids according to the whims of the testing industry.
This is what happens when your life depends on one test on one day:
Nearly 9.8 million Chinese high school students took the National College Entrance Exam, called gaokao, on June 7 and 8.
The emphasis on a two-day test has sparked criticism from some educators because of the incredible amount of pressure it places on students leading up to just one test. Gaokao has also been linked to China’s rising suicide rate because of mounted pressure and poor test results.
Hengshui High School, the highest achieving secondary school in gaokao over the last 14 years, has these as its two mottos: “Life is not a rehearsal, because you won’t have the chance to live it all over again,” and “If you haven’t died from hard work, just work harder.” At Hengshui, students study from 5:30 a.m. to 9:50 p.m., cannot have cell phones and are allowed just one day of vacation every month. Cameras are placed in each classroom to monitor students for laziness. These types of tactics are increasingly common at what many are calling gaokao-sweatshops — schools that exclusively prepare students for gaokao.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Congratulations to the NYC district school student who produced this video challenging NYC’s policies regarding regarding the district’s use of a single standardized test to determine admission to several selective high school.
Congratulations also to the UFT for establishing a committee and producing a report recommending that the district end this practice.
Are others who post here, who live in NYC joining the UFT and this student?
Speaking of labor unions, we were talking the other day about the problems I see with at-will employees in the new publicly-funded private sector.
These are at-will employees, and this is the reality of that:
“But she and a teacher who is quitting Rocketship this month both said the hours are unsustainable. Rocketship in recent years has churned through green teachers, many from the nonprofit service group Teach for America, at a furious pace. After 2013, 29 percent of its teachers left.
Teachers — who are at-will employees who can be fired at any time — also criticized Rocketship’s intolerance for dissent, saying it contributed to the disastrous redesign that placed 100 students in a classroom.
“Teachers raised concerns,” said one ex-teacher, “and no discussion was allowed on the subject.”
Those who privately expressed doubt feel vindicated, although sad, by the resulting test decline.
Rocketship was seeking in part to save money with the large classrooms, overseen by two teachers and an aide. Smith said the model also allowed for more specialized teaching, efficiency and computers in class. He acknowledges that the redesign, which in part precipitated a fall in test scores at all schools, didn’t work out.”
No empowerment, Joe. No like farmers who own a piece in a co-op.
Like any other front-line employee in the private sector, except this sector is publicly-funded.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_26055310/rocketship-education-sputters-expansion-classroom
Chiara: re your Rocketship metaphor. Not like farmers in a coop. More like sharecroppers who can be thrown off the land at any time.
Like district schools, charters vary widely. Some district & some charter public schools show great respect for faculty. As comments posted here have shown, some clearly do not.
Just met with a group of district & charter teachers yesterday, some 20 year vets, some with 3-5 years of experience. All very interested in the idea that they as educators could be a member of a board running a public school – with the majority of the board being teachers who worked in the school. A new national poll shows about 2/3 of public school teachers are interested in this.
This is amazing work. It’s inspiring to see such a thoughtful, carefully prepared report on an important topic.
Agreed, English Teacher. You probably noticed the school’s English teachers raising big questions about what was on the test, and how the test questions did not reflect what schools often are seeking.
The principal of my specialized high school thinks every student should be given the test, if desired, at his/her own school. I think that’s a good idea–many talented and smart kids throughout the city probably don’t consider taking it at all!
Shelley UFT committee that studied the issue recommended that there be a much broader array of measures beyond this test, regardless of where it is given. I’d go beyond that and suggest that tests not be used at all to determine which students are admitted to various elementary and secondary schools.
Many people who post criticize charters which in some cases they say have few students with disabilities or are limited English speaking. This system of using such test sets up institutional barriers for students with various forms of disabilities, and those who do not read English well.
Amy, Michelle, and Arne should take the exam and show their top scores, just to demonstrate how much “grit” and “persistence” they have.
What would be so funny, if it wasn’t so mean-spirited, is that these three are all failures by their own definition of academic success, since they never went to these sorts of schools or took these types of tests.
For me the most bizarre and disturbing image is the last–the students sucking oxygen while studying chem.
I would be interested in learning more about the structure of the exams, and seeing a range of the English/math questions.
TCII — tinker, create, improvise, invent This is a great combination of words to describe much of what the world once admired in American education. Add the idiosyncratic interest, off the wall, out of the box, or arcane. Steve jobs credits his fascination with calligraphy for the success of Apple. Although this a high profile case wit “economic impact,” there are countless benefits from having affirmations in school that your interests can be the driver of sustained inquiry beyond texts and tests.
Joe Nathan
June 29, 2014 at 8:39 am
Like district schools, charters vary widely. Some district & some charter public schools show great respect for faculty. As comments posted here have shown, some clearly do not.
Right. That’s why we don’t have at-will employees with public funding and a vulnerable population.
The publicly-funded private sector company will make decisions based on their bottom line and the teachers will be unable to object because they are at-will employees.
Rocketship is promoted relentlessly on the Broad Foundation Twitter feed. Were the people at Broad unaware that they were shoving a hundred kids in a class to save on staffing costs?
Why is this online model of K-12 education only plunked down in low income areas? It’s the same model Broad put in the EAA in Detroit. The most vulnerable kids.
I’m in a working class district. I don’t want my kid in front of a screen being taught by a contract employee who makes 15 dollars an hour with 30% turnover.
Actually, there are students in virtual and blended schools in rural and suburban communities, as well as urban areas. I understand that’s not what you want.
Really, Joe? Arne Duncan’s kids are taught by contract employees who make 15 dollars an hour?
Are they using the BUZZ system they put in in Detroit? Ed reformers raved about it. The EAA schools are now worse than the Detroit Public Schools.
We have giant for-profit online charters in this state. We’ve had them for 15 years. They’re sold to low income kids in rural areas. Everyone knows their parents aren’t supervising this, because their parents are at work. The kids themselves say it’s a joke.
Yet the national promotion continues, with everyone from Jeb Bush to Arne Duncan pushing this.
You saw what they’re doing to get the scores up at Rocketship, right? They’re giving kids an hour a day of test prep with an aide who makes 15 dollars an hour. You know what the kids here do to get their online test prep in if they don’t have a computer? They skip recess to sit in front of a screen. The poorest kids skip recess. Every kid in the school knows it.
Good job! I’m so glad public schools are adopting these “innovations” from the private sector.
When my local high school could not provide the courses that my middle son and some of his friends wished to take, they ended up cobbling together some independent study, some courses at the local university, and some on line classes. It seemed to work out fairly well.
Glad to hear that these educators did this, TE. Always good to hear about educators who focus on what will help students.
$15 an hour? I would love $15 an hour. I teach online and I’m making a little over $10.
Isn’t it fascinating? The “leadership” of our country wants to follow the example of a totalitarian system, even when there are examples of countries with successful public school systems that are not totalitarian. Ironic that it will be brought to us by private enterprise. Publicly funded, of course.
China should be propped up as an example that test scores do not matter. Teaching to and preparing for a test causes kids to think conservatively, not take chances and stifles creativity and higher-order thinking skills. Despite their high test scores, I find their education system to be a huge failure. Despite their strength in numbers (1.3 billion people), they have yet to produce anything innovative during the PISA era.
In evaluating the Chinese system of education one needs to keep in mind that the Han Chinese are not Westerners. One works best for Westerners is not necessarily what works best for Han Chinese.
China is where the whole idea of written exams originated. They go back to at least 140 BC and were probably used even earlier. One advantage of them to the imperial government is that they provided the government with loyal supporters who were not beholden to other sources of power such as the landed aristocracy.
In the late 18th century Westerners became aware of the Chinese examination system and began to adopt it. As with the Chinese the fundamental motive to do so may well be to further centralized control.
In Ohio, they used the failure of ed reform to promote the third grade reading guarantee. We’ve had the Bush-Obama ed reform agenda in this state for the last two decades. If the scores don’t go up, we put in more Bush-Obama reforms!
That’s what’s so beautiful about this scam. They cannot fail! Each failure means more market-based ed reform. Not working? That means it isn’t market-based ENOUGH.
Ed reform itself can’t fail. It can only BE failed.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/11/08/idle-reading-math-scores-spark-worry.html
You know what will be really great? When they use the CC tests to retain 3rd graders.
Ohio will be the first to adopt this, unless it’s Florida or possibly New Orleans.
ALEC is probably drafting the bill as we speak.
Chiara, You know they are. They all make me sick. An Ohio teacher is a sad teacher at this time in history.
From the article: “Cameras are placed in each classroom to monitor students for laziness.” Gee, sounds like Belleville, NJ. The Belleville school system spent more than two million dollars to install cameras with audio capability in every classroom and in the teachers’ lounges. But wait, there’s more, the staff and students have to wear RFID tags so they can be tracked throughout the day. “The Belleville School District is deploying active tags and readers to track the locations of all personnel and students within its schools and on its buses, as well as at “blue light” telephones on the campuses. – See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10971#sthash.sCqgZKUj.dpuf” There was a lone bidder for the security system and it appears there may have been nepotism involved in the bidding process otherwise known as nonfeasance and probable malfeasance. Check out Jersey Jazzman for the whole story. From JJ via Diane: “But that’s not all: all Belleville faculty, high school students, and middle school students must have special ID cards with them at all times. These ID’s include “RF-tags,” which are radio frequency devices similar to what you’d find in an EZ-Pass.” https://dianeravitch.net/2014/06/24/belleville-n-j-why-teachers-need-tenure/ The ostensible reason for all these security measures was all the horrible school shootings.
It is clear in my school that Chinese American students are still victims of this mentality. Most attend test-prep classes on the weekends at the expense of developing social and pub lic speaking skills. Many do not raise their hands for fear of “wrong answers” and fail to analyze texts deeply, anaytically or critically.
“analytically”
Han Chinese are not the same as Westerners and you should not expect them to be so. What is natural to you is not necessarily what is natural to them.
Well said. US citizens of all ages should take that into consideration when they are spouting opinions about every other country and culture on the planet—-opinions that are almost always based on bias that favors their culture and country.
About a half century ago when in college our professor told us of a conversation he had had with a prof from Europe. The European prof posed a question. The American prof was startled. Both were, the American by the question, the European by the answer.
The question: after exams how many suicides do you have? The American college prof, startled said – well none to which the European prof was shocked. The always had many. The stress for success was so great that if they failed, well, the results speak for themselves.
When people not on the front llines of education are so ignorant or just do not care – money more important than people. these are the results one can expect.
What you say about China’s do or die testing culture is true but misleading. This testing culture goes back more than two thousand years. It could be argued that because of this testing culture, the bloodiest revolution in history took place when a failed Confucian scholar, who failed the exam multiple times, converted to Christianity and led the Taiping Rebellion that may have caused the deaths of more than one hundred million people.
I also think it might be unfair to compare Amy Chua to Michelle Rhee.
Does Amy Chua support TFA and corporate run, for profit charter schools or was she just the product of Chinese-American culture that values education to the point of saying no to their children watching too much TV or going out to party too often?
Amy Chua’s parents were immigrants from Asia with strong roots to Chinese culture that values education and if testing is part of that culture, then the test is a target to overcome through strict parenting.
Chua grew up in the Bay Area and her father taught at UC Berkeley and she was raised the way she raised her children. As a teen, Chua was also passive aggressive and rebelled against her strict parents in her own way—not as openly as her younger daughter did.
How can anyone fairly condemn Chua—unless she has done the same things that Rhee has done through TFA and the horrors Rhee visited on the Washington D.C. public schools—for who she is when her cultural values may be traced back to the Han dynasty when the first form of public education was establish where even the common man could use education as a path to improve the quality of his family’slife. Success with the vigorous merit and memory based Civil Exam developed during the Han Dynasty before even the birth of Christ.
That civil service exam system was used until the Qing Dynasty when the European, Prussian system of public education was introduced to China through Sir Robert Hart, which also had its own merit based, memory driven testing regime.
Chinese tiger mothers like Amy Chua (and fathers) go back more than two thousand years.
What would happen if all of us agree tomorrow to give the China test to all of our students? I know it is in Chinese, but we already give Non-English speaking students our test in English, so what is the difference? I believe the sooner we do this the sooner parents and students will finally stand up in large enough numbers to stop this testing madness! Just something to think about. Oh by the way, about the comment that we are trying to implement a system from a totalitarian government; are we not China’s greatest economic partner and they do NOT allow religious freedom so why are all the conservative Christian groups supporting politicians who believe this practice does not matter? Strange bed fellows if you ask me.
Actually, China allows limited religious freedom similar to how Singapore does it by limiting the number of approved religions and banning those six or seven from being political in any way—just worship your god/God and keep your political opinions to yourself.
China’s leaders know how dangerous a politically active religion or cult can be, because China has suffered severely at the hands of religious fanatics for centuries. For instance, the Taiping rebellion by itself, a 19th century Christian movement in China born out of the opium trade and the opium wars that were started by Christian nations to force the opium trade on China, was led by a Chinese Christian convert—-raged longer than a decade in the mid-19th century and may have cost more than one hundred million lives.
And before the Taiping rebellion there were Islamic rebellions in China’s northwest that cost millions more lives.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty that drove out the Yuan Dynasty started as a religious cult with a guru for a leader. The Boxer rebellion was also a cult driven peasant rebellion.
Ideologies including religions are to a considedrable extent epi-phenomena not the real causes behind things like the Taipeng rebellion.
I was appalled with the graphic description of exam hell. It’s just like an over-crowded prison. Even in Japan, those who sit out for the national center exam in late January are less than 500,000.