CHAPTER 5: Student Perceptions of the Chinese National College Entrance Examination System

It is early in the morning and Mr. Bartlett is going through his typical routine as he gets ready to walk to school. He is a young American in his first semester of teaching English to high school students in a large city in China. He tells himself how content he is to be establishing such good rapport with his students. He is considering asking them how they are progressing on an assignment he gave them the previous week. When his first period class begins, he asks the students, “So, how is everyone doing on the paper we discussed last week?” To his surprise, his question was followed by awkward silence. To Mr. Bartlett, the assignment seemed simple enough. He had asked the students to simply select a famous American landmark and write a paper about its cultural and historical significance. Finally, one of the students said in a timid voice, “We are not sure what you want us to do.” Mr. Bartlett explained again that the students could select a famous American landmark, such as the Statue of Liberty for example, and then write a 5–10-page paper that describes the history of the landmark and what it means to Americans. This appeared to be a satisfactory explanation and the class proceeded as usual. One week later Mr. Bartlett received 33 versions of essentially the same paper, every one of them focusing on the Statue of Liberty.