Upfront Essay

The gaokao is China's college entrance exam, and 9 million teenagers take itannually. If you pass the gaokao, you get into college, but if you don't, it's manual labor in a factory or construction site for you. The gaokao is the only thing that lets you get into college, no other factors are even looked at for even a few seconds. This pressures the students beyond belief, and it is very unfair and a very bad idea to have so much riding on a single test for so many students.
  First, the gaokao is too pressurizing. In China, more people commit suicide when the time for the gaokao draws nearer. This shows how people show a drastic increase in anxiety around the time of the exam. The article says, "...shocking photograph online: a classroom full of students hooked up to intravenous drips to give them the strength to keep studying." That's unbelievable. The gaokao puts so much anxiety on kids that they decide to be fed through tubes. A test that induces that much stress is almost unthinkable. It certainly brings the effect of the gaokao into light. So, the point is that the gaokao puts too much stress on the students, and there is not a doubt why, when the gaokao drives people to commiting suicide
   Second of all, the gaokao is treated so importantly, even for a college entrance exam. In Maotanchang, there are many strict laws in place so that teens can do nothing except study. There is no dating, no computers, and no electricity at all. One student regards, "There's nothing to do but study." Maotanchang has very long school days, and very harsh rules. People in China are arguing against the test. It is taking away modern life in place for an anxiety-inducing test, which is not ethical.
Third, the gaokao is too important to pass, for teachers and students. If the students don't pass the exam, then teachers in China will lose their job security. That's not fair at all, because the teachers should not have everything riding on a test score. Because of this, the teachers have to dole out severe punishments for bad grades just to keep their rep up. This kind of procedure for training kids to get high test scores is not good, because it would only teach them to be intimidated and get punished. That is not what gives kids high grades, and the teachers should not have to force the kids to get good grades.
IN conclusion, the gaokao is an unfair way to judge if kids get into college. If there is so much riding on one exam, it will cause too much stress on the kids.