[ti:Scandal Threatens China's College Entrance Exam]
[ar:Jerilyn Watson]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Learning English Education Report.
[00:02.74]Millions of high school students in China
[00:06.86]took a college entrance examination recently.
[00:11.02]The highly competitive test is often praised
[00:15.23]for giving good students a chance to enter the best schools.
[00:20.76]It makes the competition for college
[00:24.21]fair for students from poor families.
[00:27.41]The examination is known as the Gaokao.
[00:31.25]Universities are supposed to require good scores
[00:34.89]on the test for admission to college.
[00:37.74]But reports suggest that some people
[00:40.93]are getting into schools without even taking the test.
[00:44.97]Education is very important
[00:47.55]to gaining a good standing in Chinese society.
[00:51.75]This year, about nine million students competed for
[00:56.33]about seven million places in colleges.
[01:00.02]Every June, Chinese media report on the hard work
[01:04.29]and worry of students preparing for the Gaokao.
[01:08.30]This year, however, newspapers are writing stories
[01:12.79]about corruption in the country's top schools.
[01:17.36]One case involves Cai Rongsheng,
[01:21.14]the former head of admissions
[01:23.77]at Beijing's highly respected Renmin University.
[01:28.22]Mr. Cai reportedly took money
[01:31.62]in exchange for approving admissions
[01:34.16]for students who did not take the Gaokao.
[01:37.80]Yang Rui studies Chinese education policy
[01:42.01]at the University of Hong Kong.
[01:44.58]He says the Gaokao offered millions of people
[01:48.92]chances for a better life.
[01:51.32]And Mr. Yang says it changed the country
[01:54.72]after the late 1970s.
[01:58.20]"But increasingly, academics and government policymakers
[02:01.20]realized Gaokao is not really fair,
[02:04.12]Many people are in much better positions than those in rural
[02:07.91]- for example - schools.
[02:09.44]Also, scores themselves only cannot tell the whole picture," Yang said.
[02:15.73]Some universities in China are permitted to chose 
[02:19.40]up to five percent of their first year students
[02:23.04]for reasons other than schoolwork.
[02:25.81]These could include sports,
[02:28.35]interest groups or community volunteer work.
[02:33.18]The policy is designed to help candidates
[02:36.88]whose abilities would not identifiable from Gaokao test scores.
[02:42.98]Schools also have had more freedom
[02:46.72]to chose candidates from rural areas.
[02:50.50]Xiong Bingqi is vice president
[02:54.28]of the 21st Century Education Research Institute,
[02:59.11]a Non-Governmental Group.
[03:01.34]He proposes other ways to get different kinds of students.
[03:05.71]He says students should be nominated by their high schools,
[03:10.05]then take examinations at the university.
[03:13.85]Finally, a person would be offered a place
[03:17.04]at the school through performance records.
[03:20.45]Mr. Xiong says instead administrators with power to decide
[03:26.04]who enters college have hijacked the system.
[03:30.55]Officials have banned trading university entry
[03:34.30]for money or better treatment.
[03:36.99]Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education
[03:40.94]demanded a more open and better supervised admission system.
[03:46.29]And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:52.32]I'm Jerilyn Watson.
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