The Gaokao and its effects on students

In partnership with Hourzine Magazine

The Chinese education system is notorious for being extremely competitive, and in a country with over 1.3 billion people, the Gaokao is often seen as the only doorway to success. It is a high-stake 9-hour exam taken in June of every year to determine a high school student's whole future. In contrast to North America, the main determinant to getting into a Chinese university is your Gaokao score. They don't look at any of your past high-school grades or extracurriculars. As a result, children spend their whole lives preparing for the Gaokao, with some parents spending thousands of dollars on tutoring and school fees in the hopes that their kid would be admitted to a prestigious university. Low-income families frequently spend every last penny on their children's education, leaving little for food, clothing, and other necessities.

In China, there is a domino effect starting from kindergarten. If you do not get into a decent kindergarten, you will not be able to attend a good elementary school, which will severely limit your chances of attending a good junior high school, and so on. In addition, if someone doesn’t attend a decent high school, they have almost no chance of doing exceptional on the Gaokao, which affects university entrance. It is drilled into people's heads that the only way to have a promising future is to study hard. This means that parents frequently place enormous pressure on their children to compete with one another from the time they learn to walk. Because of this phenomenon, kids are brainwashed into an "all work, no play" attitude from the get-go.

The issue with China's teaching methods is that children and teenagers often develop extreme stress and mental health problems. According to a study conducted in the Henan province, 41.8% of high school students in China suffer from mental health problems, and those are just the ones that are reported. For instance, a 12-year-old child left a suicide note to her parents reading, "Dear parents, I can hardly express my gratitude to you for bringing me up in the past 12 years, but, I feel under such pressure. There is too much homework for me. I had no choice but to die. Last words from your daughter". It is a considerable concern that these middle school students are contemplating ending their life due to the workload that they endure. A survey of 4000 parents found that 92% enrol their children into afterschool courses, and that half of these families spend over 1,400 USD on these programs each year. It has even progressed to the point that weekends and school holidays are no longer regarded as breaks, but rather as opportunities to add more classes to a child's schedule.

Now, let's go back to the topic of the Gaokao. You might've heard of the infamous "Gaokao Factory" known as Hengshui Highschool. This military-style school forces its attendees to study 12 hours a day with only 15 minutes per meal. They are punished if their minds wander during class and cannot converse closely with students of the opposing gender. Getting a boyfriend or girlfriend results in immediate expulsion, and the school literally had to install railings to keep students from killing themselves. The surprise? Well, this teaching method is effective in getting students into top universities. In 2016, 139 students from Hengshui got accepted into Peking and Tsinghua, which are both highly prestigious universities in China. The military-style rigorous memorization and training prepare students to do exceptional on the Gaokao, which is accomplished. However, these pupils do not develop essential critical thinking and analytical skills, which points out the fundamental flaw in these schools: they prepare people for tests- not the real world.

Nonetheless, let's talk more about the mental health effects of the Gaokao. You study your whole life for it, and if you mess up, your life is over. In some cases, you won't be accepted into any universities, and your best job opportunity would probably be a farmer. Of course, you could retake it, but who really wants to sit through another year of high school and rigorous exam preparation? Due to this, many students attempt to commit suicide if they get a bad mark. For example, a 21-year old man from Chaoyang jumped off a building and fell to his death on the first day of the Gaokao. He was a repeat student who had returned to high school in hopes of getting a better result on the exam but sadly did not live to see himself succeed.

The Gaokao season is also an extremely stressful time for parents, who would quit their jobs to rent apartments near their children's high schools to accompany them. One student reported that her parent forced her to cut her hair and hid all her beautiful clothes to get her to concentrate on her studies. This anxiety also results in silly superstitions, such as wearing Nike clothes on exam day because the checkmark-like logo symbolizes correction.

Vigorous studying and memorization is no way to spend your youth, and it often results in citizens with low mental health, who also happen to be extremely weak in critical and analytical thinking. Looking ahead, we can only hope that one day these children and teenagers will be able to do what they are supposed to do: enjoy their youth without extreme competition and pressure.

This article was written by Layla Wu, the writing director for @a.dailydoseofeverything on Instagram. A Daily Dose of Everything is a platform meant to educate gen z on current events and social justice issues that can have an effect on the mental health of our population. Our team is passionate on the route to inform, educate and involve young people in current events of our world. We cover a wide range of topics such as activism, gender inequality, racism, mental health for highschoolers, and so on. Check out our website at https://sites.google.com/view/wwwadailydoseofeverythingcom/home where we post easily accessible resources and self-care playlists!

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