The articles "China's Cram Schools" in Upfront Magazine is about how muchpressure is put on the gaokoa a college acceptance test in China, and whether this is the right way to accept kids into colleges. Overall this is not a fair system for many reasons.
Putting this much pressure isn't fair to the kids. Daily over 20,000 kids are crammed into one school for more than twelve hours, spent to study for one test. There are many reasons why this isn't an effective way to learn. This puts way too much pressure onto teenagers, who are still kids. A child's brain is not advanced enough to handle this much stress, especially because many adults couldn't even handle this. This system also puts way to much pressure on tests rather than the journey of learning itself.
This system of cramming is also incredibly dangerous. In the article, the main character's parents were sacrificing their lives for him. His mother quit her job for his "cram year" and his father worked at a low paying job that wasn't stable enough to support their family. Many students at these cram schools commit suicide because of the extreme stress. Lives shouldn't be at risk because of a test. Another boy in the article failed the gaokoa, which ruined his life leading him to working a year round twelve hour daily job.
Overall, this test is a terrible way to measure intelligence. Whether you do well on this test is also about how much money you have and how much your parents push you, nwither wof which are really about you. This is why the gaokoa is not an effective way to determine your life after you take the test.
