Dans un article cinglant, paru dans The Diplomat, Jiang Xueqin, directeur adjoint du lycée rattaché à la prestigieuse université de Pékin, fait la critique du Gaokao (équivalent du bac) de façon pas très “politiquement correcte”. Sa critique n’est pas un cas isolé, mais il n’y a que les courageux qui osent. Le Gaokao se veut l’équivalent du bac français et se déroule en ce moment même à travers la Chine.

Quelques paragraphes tirés de l’article :

“Everyone’s in agreement : the national college entrance examination (gaokao) robs Chinese students of their curiosity, creativity, and childhood.”

“Because everyone in the room has Chinese cultural values and lives in the not too pleasant realities of modern China, there’ll be certain constraints that this new education system must consider.”

“Yes, the images of children memorising and regurgitating away for 18 years may be disheartening. The poor eyesight, bad posture, and crushing of imagination, independence, and initiative will haunt them for the rest of their lives. But we must remember that many of these children and their families find themselves fortunate just to be able to dream of a better life.”

“China is a guanxi-based society with little respect for institutions, processes, and laws; whatever new system that everyone agrees to must be able to resist the pull and power of the well-connected and wealthy.”