According to the Guardian, scanners, mobile phones, wireless earpieces and bribery of teachers and university students were used to transmit answers to students taking the "gaokao", the two-day exam that annually determines whether 10 million teenagers will enter university and, if so, which institution they can attend.
Because success on the exam plays a critical role in the future of the students, papers regarding the exam are considered top secret and are kept under armed guard. Parents and teachers involved in this cheating scandal were sentenced to between six months and three years for illegally obtaining state secrets.
While the cheating incident is a sad story, I've also long felt that the pressure on teenagers in many countries with these kinds of exams is also sad.
ReplyDeleteI've had many friends who didn't "turn themselves around" to focus on academics until they got to college, and in many of these countries, there are too few colleges for kids who don't do well on these exams to even have the chance to attend.
Matt
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