Gaokao and Harmful Competition

Tao Wu
WRDS150B 563
2021/08/19
Gaokao and Harmful Competition
China’s National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), also known as the Gaokao, is the most critical determinant of examinees' future and the driving force behind the whole nation's education system and curriculum. However, a critique of this system is that it has created toxic stress levels among both students and families, being more challenging than anything its candidates do in college (Zhao et al., 2015). Erikson & Erikson (2019) argue a ‘cannibal’ competition that created a system of unfair practices, which Liu & Helwing (2020) argue in line with social classes and is detrimental to those deprived.
The Gaokao has become a focal point in China's budding competition primarily due to the employment sector's demand for top-notch college graduates. This research project will investigate the toxic competitive mindset among students taking the Gaokao and how this affects their future careers, using data presented by Xiao (2002). It will also seek to uncover ways the education department can mitigate the unhealthy competition while retaining the benefits it gives to less-privileged families, as argued by Weiming (2012).
Is the Gaokao Promoting Toxic Competition?
Gaokao is considered the determinant of one's future economic viability; thus, both students and parents take all measures to ensure exam success. Kirkpatrick & Zang, (2011) articulate massive cheating in the system, which has become the new normal. The system imposes a memorization practice rather than the acquisition of skills and knowledge among students. Is Gaokao a relentless struggle for wealth and power due to its high stake-character? Is the Gaokao prejudicial to the interests of the disadvantaged students? If my hypothesis is true, then what contributes to this competition in the Gaokao? What is so salient to this testing that everyone is fighting to fit in? Can the system withstand this toxicity and maintain its benevolence to t...