China Needs To Change Its College Admissions

It's amazing how much college admissions essentially dictates the lives of high school and even middle school students both in China and the U.S. American universities have the right idea in many respects by emphasizing things like leadership, initiative, well-roundedness, activeness, etc. Chinese universities, however, emphasize mainly one thing: the National College Entrance Exam, known to miserable high school students across country as the gao kao. This is little more than a test of rote memorization, which Chinese students prepare for by studying books for hours on end. Like the old Chinese scholar examination system, this modern version fails to incentivize students to develop many of the skills crucial to success in a rapidly growing, modern, entrepreneurial society. China can't afford to repeat this mistake and risk falling behind again.