The university entrance exam is called gaokao in China. The stakes are so high that many students lock themselves up in study cities to prepare seven days a week, 16 hours a day (and I thought my 10 hour day before the study sessions before graduation was discouraging).
When a student performs well, he goes to a solid university and has a better chance of getting a good job. If you don’t do well, your career potential decreases.
With a limited number of places available in each college, most students are disappointed with their results each year.
Many students cheat because they are afraid of being disappointed, mixed with the existing social pressures and expectations to achieve. The present young unemployment and underemployment issue has increased people’s desire to climb ahead of their peers.
The deception has become so pervasive and sophisticated that the government has been forced to improve its enforcement methods.
While in the past, a student could be scolded, suspended from school and stripped of a test grade, now they could be jailed for seven years if caught cheating.
Cheating threatens to derail the fundamental objective of a performance-based exam. The harshness of the judgement implies that the system has begun to sting, leading to discouragement and cynicism among many students.
Politics, in the end, could serve as a powerful deterrent and restore credibility.
