December 1961, China

The past decade has seen the average education level of the Chinese citizen, whether it be peasant or urban dweller, male or female rise dramatically. Schools have been built across the country, competent teachers have been hired and reactionary elements have been purged from tainting the education system with their revisionist views. The old form of education, focused on studying Confucius and other ancient Chinese works of literature have been eliminated, replaced with a modern education, focusing more not only on STEM and other related fields, but teaching civics and the true history of China, untainted by reactionary bias instituted under the Ming and the Nanjing Government. In doing so, we have given China a Great Education Leap Forward, and while Mao has endorsed the program, it has been the moderates who have won the day, balancing China's cultural past with the necessities of Maoism and class struggle.

However, while these advances have allowed for roughly half of China's population to gain a secondary education (of varying quality), there is one glass barrier that needs to be broken, the outdated examination system. A legacy of China's past, the examination system officially abolished in 1905 under the Qing dynasty, was brought back by the PRC in 1952 as a barrier from secondary education to college. This was done to prioritize limited resources and ensure that only those with a high level of merit could enter the limited spots available in tertiary education.

Reform of the Gaokao

The gaokao, as it has come to be known, has created a cult like presence in society as students increasingly focus on passing the gaokao in their final years, rather than focusing on their studies. The gaokao as it currently stands is a nationwide standardized test that does not differentiate if someone is studying to become a carpenter, an officer, an engineer or even a diplomat. While some form of standardization, it makes no sense to treat a prospective diplomat and carpenter the same in terms of the college examinations, even more so when there exist trade schools across the country to teach a carpenter separately from an engineer.

As such, there will exist three series of tests, aiming to not only test applicants on individual skills, but skills believed to be useful in not only in society, but tertiary education as well. The first exam taken by everyone across the country will be a test that will determine the applicants knowledge in not only the Chinese language, but mathematics, science, history and civics. This will provide a baseline for universities and trade schools to admit students, but these results will be weighted alongside one of the following tests.

The first possible test for tertiary students will be for those going on the university track in which they will be tested in a field they indicate they wish to be tested on. This specialized form of test will allow for those will particular or exceptional tests to shine and distinguish themselves from their colleagues while also allowing for those exact same colleagues to show their skills in non-specialized fields.

The second possible test for those wanting to go into tertiary education will be for those wanting to continue learning a trade at a government endorsed trade 'university' as it become to be known by. These students will take a version of the college examination test based upon the trade they wish to train into. As with the secondary university track, these exceptional tests are meant for those with talent to shine in case the full standardized test would indicate them as 'average'.