In the education system of China, the EXAM is everything.  From entering kindergarten through achieving advanced degrees, the EXAM dictates a student’s progress. Students worry all the time about their marks on various exams, as well they might, because the marks on those exams will determine their next steps.  The common idea is that China has so many people, they have to have a way to sift them.  The exam is seen as the way to rule out people from the competitive race for places at school.

Students have told me that they must focus on the marks on the exam, not on the content.  They learn what they need for that exam, then lay that content aside to study for the next one. Perhaps the top tier students, the ones who go to Beijing University or Shanghai, do not have this attitude.  I have taught teachers in Shanghai and Beijing who know the reality of the system.  As teachers, they must focus on having their students do well on the exams.  They are not so interested in the ability to use English and enjoy it, as they are in having their students pass the exams.

At our school now, the exam in a given course counts 90% of the grade, everything else–participation, attendance, regular work—counts only 10%.  If the teacher wants to give a mid term exam, that can count for 30%, leaving 60% for the final exam.  In this climate, many students believe that they do not have to attend class, participate, or do any regular work.  Learning the content is not necessary.  The main thing is to show up for the exam and get a passing mark.  How to do this, if you haven’t learned anything new?  Easy.  Copy something from the internet, always available on a smart phone.  What is the topic?  Doesn’t matter, the internet covers everything.

Will the teacher read every word you have written on a writing exam?  Probably not.  The teacher knows what’s important, and reading student papers is not on the list.  Perhaps it’s different in Beijing, I do not know.  But this is what my colleagues in 2008-09 told me.

This term, I taught eight oral classes, and one writing class.  The orals were English majors, but the writing class was not.  Most of my writing students could barely understand me.  We made some progress toward writing a standard format five paragraph essay.  But on the exam, two students copied from the internet.  They copied the exact same essay.  One copied it whole, while the other had only a few sentences.  I gave both papers zero.

I showed the papers to the administrator, who asked if I could meet with the students and let them know how serious this is. He said his assistant could arrange it.  In my conversation with her, she tried to justify the students as wanting to make  good marks on the exam!  She loves these students, and wants them to do well.  She did not set up the meeting, everyone is too busy at this time.

One student emailed me and said that the two did not copy each other, but both copied from the internet, as if this made it a lesser offense.  He apologized profusely, as if this would win my heart.  He pleaded that he would be unhappy in the New Year celebration if he got a failing mark, as if his happiness were the main issue. He recognized the cultural difference between us, as if I should recognize that this form of copying is acceptable here. He has enough command of English to do all this in e-mail.  As I see it, the fact is that it is not only a common practice, but an acceptable one, here in China.  After all, the main thing is the mark on the EXAM.