Publicity stunt after students' success sends wrong message

Top gaokao scorers dressed in ancient finery, just like the best students used to do in the past, ride through a park in Hubei province. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Supported by local businesses, two high school graduates who secured first and second place in the National College Entrance Exams in Central China's Hubei province paraded through a local tourist site on horseback in the traditional costume for imperial exam winners, a practice for the top performers in the ancient imperial examinations. Comments:

It is not a publicity campaign for the students but rather for a chain of interests, including the tourist site that staged the parade and the high schools where the students studied. The PR stunt has nothing to do with education. It is a commercial activity in the name of education.

xinhuanet.com, July 10

If the publicity surrounding the top scorers in the entrance exams continues, it will send society a distorted message that success in these exams will ensure success throughout life. This is undoubtedly misleading, as it overemphasizes exam-oriented education, overshadowing the importance of a well-rounded education in the long run.

sohu.com, July 10

A survey has found that the top winners in the exams do not necessarily do well later in life. That has much to do with the wrong idea China's current education system imposes upon high school students, namely to get into a good university is the only task they have to succeed in. As a result, many students work incredibly hard in high school but give up studying after they enter college, thinking that they have crossed the finish line. If China does not reverse this trend, its education will decline.

Shi Minzhi, an associate professor of social sciences at the National University of Singapore, via Sina microblog, July 10