5 Comments Add your own

• 1. Angie Q. Dip  |  January 7th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

  Boy, I sure am glad I was not put in a similar situation to what the Chinese people who took the 1977 exam had to face. If the exam was anything like the historical exams that the Chinese people had to take to become government officials (as Professor Morris had mentioned during the China history session), then these university exam takers must have had to study anything and everything to take and pass the exam. I wonder if these exam takers were given guidelines to help them decide what to study and what the level of importance for each topic was. After all, the 1977 exam was “what may have been the most competitive scholastic test in modern Chinese history.” And how can they expect 13-year-olds to compete with 37-year-olds in the exam? It was a good idea to make up for the ‘decade of missed opportunity’ by allowing people of a wider range of ages to take the exam, but it sounds a little unfair for the younger people (unless the average age for attending universities is 13).

  We should all be grateful that we were not placed in the same situation as these Chinese test takers, who only had a few weeks to study tough two-day exams that probably tests on anything and everything, and compete against people who were older and probably wiser than them. Not only did we have tools to help us prepare for the GMAT to get accepted to Cal Poly, but the test was only based on general skills and abilities that we acquired over time, and we were able to study for the GMAT as long as we wanted to/needed to and were able to take the exam when we were ready. In addition, we only had to spend about three-and-a-half hours on taking the exam. We should definitely learn to be more appreciative!

• 2. Simeon Trieu  |  January 7th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

  I agree with Angie. We are very fortunate (unfortunate?) that we did not have this kind of pressure. What an amazing bunch! I can only imagine the competitiveness involved in the billion or so examinees. These college entrance exams (or Gao Kao 高考) still exists today and remains the most competitive (and most important) exam in a young student’s life. They test a variety of topics including literature, history, science, mathematics, English and other important topics. However, these days, the gao kao has lost much of the spirit of learning, as exams (and other similar standardized examinations in China) emphasize rote memorization rather than understanding through application, a mistake that tends to stifle their innovation.

• 3. Gary Chou  |  January 25th, 2008 at 1:02 am

  7th grade I went to school from 730am-530pm and cramp school 3 hours a night 3 nights a week. 8th grade we went to school six days a week. 9th grade, the year before High School entrance exam, we went to school seven days a week for the whole year. that was, 730am-930pm Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm saturday and 8-12pm on sunday (i went to a christian school nonetheless). I seen my classmates and my teacher more than my family as I ate 3 meals at school, took 8+ tests every single day, and got beaten by a stick or slapped on the face or kicked by my teacher whenever I failed to do a homework, score above 90% on a test, or anything he disliked. once he beat me when i told my english teacher that he liked her (which was true). he slapped me twice and made my glasses flew away, in front of her, during her English class.

  i guess students at my time had a different understanding of “stress” at school than our american counterparts.

  when i moved to California at 10th grade, i studied three years of math in American high school and I didn’t learn a single thing that I didn’t learn already in junior high, except English, which i simply sucked at then.

• 4. Gary Chou  |  January 25th, 2008 at 1:17 am

  oh, we also had to clean our living quarter. every day we spent time brooming an assigned campus area, restrooms, and our own classroom. every week we had to remove all our chairs and desks and scrub the floor with our hands. if for any reason the teacher didn’t like me, he would tell me (or anyone) to stay after to scrub more so i couldn’t go home. this is not exclusive to my school, but common to all education in taiwan, china, japan, and korea. (not sure about HK since they were under British system). this continued to college and career, as employees still are responsible for cleaning the office, bathroom, kitchen’s etc in companies, and they have different assigned duties everyday.

  beside cleaning, we were also taught to DIY. every class was provided with tools such as hammer, screwdriver, sort, for students to fix things that were broken.

  did all of these education help me to become resourceful and independent? not really, because every thing was based on punishment, close supervision, fear and responsibilities. in fact, i couldn’t adopt when i moved to america because no one would “force” me to do anything.

  that’s what happened w/ a lot of asian immigrants who are too used to have elders pushing them on their back, because parenting don’t stop at age 18. parenting stop…never. maybe when one gets married, but children are pretty much “assets” of parents. my parents expect me to support them financially till their death. that’s how they are to their parents. conversely, they support me financially now too, and they consider that their duties. i don’t see anything wrong with that, but when i see my American born Chinese friend, after becoming dentist, unwilling to give his poor father any money, really bothered me. i understand it’s a difference of culture and expectation, but for me, in my culture, children have duties to do anything, to sacrifice anything, for their parents. actually, we are brought up that way, the importance of family, parents, community, leader, teacher, caretaker, society, government, etc. in the same way, when we are in those high positions, we are given with the responsibilities and calling to serve, to protect, with a duty to guide and provide.

• 5. Gary Chou  |  January 25th, 2008 at 1:20 am

  and now you probably understand why asian (easter asian) are mostly passive aggressive.

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