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Interesting Chinese test taking fact: in the recent past, the final test in high school in China (University entrance / SAT equivalent) was taken so seriously t

Interesting Chinese test taking fact: in the recent past, the final test in high school in China (University entrance / SAT equivalent) was taken so seriously that children who traveled (from more rural areas) would be given a military escort in order to ensure they were present. The result of that test basically dictated a major part of the rest of students' lives. The test taking tradition is centuries old in China - one of the emperors (forget which one) made many of the civil servant type positions require exams in order to cut down on the cronyism that was rampant at the time. It worked and the tradition stuck for quite a long time.

w1ntermute 16y ago
> children who traveled (from more rural areas) would be given a military escort in order to ensure they were present Reminds me of an article I read about South Korea, where the police escort students to the big high school exam. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120339767 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1203397... http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GK30Dg01.html http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GK30Dg01.html
wisty 16y ago
It's actually a good way to ensure that only bright, hard working students get filtered into top positions. At least, it's better than the usual alternatives - nepotism, cronyism, plutocratic selection, and politicking. Of course, the test degraded (over centuries) to a several day exam, where students were expected to write a massive essay. So they just competed to smuggle in lots of stock essays that they could just copy an appropriate one out.