I think that "Gaokao" is improperly overstated. It should be a simple and happy entrance examination, not an unreasonably fierce competition which is compared to the hordes of troops and horses crossing only one wooden bridge. In fact, college is only the first step to become a person of ability. A good college doesn't give her student a good job, nor make her student a utilized tool, but make her student an independent man who can create value for the society with his free will.

Unlike foreign countries, Chinese parents like to be with their children on their first day of college but do not like to attend their graduation ceremony. This has shown that our parents do not care how their children have developed their knowledge and thinking while in college. They only care about the diploma and the good job. Such utilitarian pursuit eclipses the quality and experience a student needs to glean from education to grow into a talent needed in society.

Yao Jiaxin has paid for his crime and his parents' mistake with his life. But his parents never appeared at court. Are they too ashamed to face the victim's family and too weak to stand the trial? Or was their carefully protected vanity maintained by their son ruthlessly smashed by reality? I believe that Yao's parents sent him to the exam rooms. But they were not brave enough to send him to the execution ground.

Thus, I hope all the Chinese parents can teach their children how to love and be confident when facing the exams, as well as life's confusions and setbacks, in a sensible and deliberate way, instead of helplessly standing outside the exam rooms waiting for the closing ring.

Bai Junping is a freelance writer and current affairs commentator.

(This article is written in Chinese and translated by Li Shen.)

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