The Civil Exam System

Given that our group did a report on the civil exams, I feel like we weren't able to say enough about them. I wanted to talk about that and talk about how the Gaokao is a different version of the civil exams.
The website was filled with a ton of information on the civil exams. Included on the website was the effect of the civil exams on the people. The exams were mentally breaking because it took a certain special individual to pass the exam. There might even have been people who passed by way of cheating. With the amount of time the exams took, it is obvious that many people would have to cheat to pass the exam. It must have been a struggle to pass while cheating. While the exams covered a lot of information, I feel that it was justified to give special clothing to the people who passed the test. The government job was one of the highest positions a person could have so to get into a job means the person holds a lot of prestige. To hold a position in government based on a test is not very wise. It takes a lot more than passing a test to serve the people; the test is based off of governmental deeds but a position in government is more about passing a test. But, that was the case when those tests were prevalent and I can't argue that. There is great reason for abolishing the exams and that's why they were abolished. However, I feel the abolishment was short-lived because the Gaokao seems like another relative version of the former civil exams. The Gaokao puts so much pressure on the students today that there are so many people committing suicide due to the all-or-nothing mentality that the Gaokao puts on the students. With the Gaokao, many people prepare their whole life to have the prestige of gaining access to one of China's top universities. Many people won't pass and it's not because they don't know the information. Many will fail because of the pressure; many will fail because the amount of time it takes to prepare can be mentally breaking. While people are studying a lot, it's the amount of time that produces a burn-out effect on the students. So, while the civil exams were abolished, the Gaokao needs a refining direction because the exam asks too much of the children.






http://www.sacu.org/examinations.html

2 Million Minutes

2MM was the film we watched in class last week; I have some things to say about it because it was an enjoyable documentary. The blog I wrote was sort of a review and an analysis simultaneously. The blog ended up with two questions; "how do we live?" and "how do we want to live?" were the two questions of focus. USA doesn't seem to do justice for these questions but China and India have answered these questions and it shows because the two nations are driven. China and India have shown they want to make a difference and they want to succeed more than any other nation in the world. They both put in an excess amount of hours to studying and they end up with what they want, success. Even though USA doesn't always exhibit this style, they do end up with success as well, just in a different pattern.

2 Million Minutes was a good film to watch. Regardless of anyone's occupation, it is a must see for everyone. It's definitely something that changes my views of the three nations, not necessarily in a bad way. I just wanted to point out some of the differences that can contribute to success of a nation. China has the one child rule and that allows a family to focus on one child instead of focusing on more than one which can happen in the USA. The USA might lack effective studying habits but the students catch on more quickly because of their self confidence in which they exhibit a good amount of success. India is a close knit nation and that contributes to the success because the parents are always there to remind the student of what their goals are. 2MM allows us to sit back and reflect on the issue and establish a viewpoint. Do I feel the USA needs to step up? Not necessarily. The USA does have an advantage and the advantage is our ability to have more freedom of choice. Not every student is going to dedicate their life to school because many have other aspirations of the types of life they will live. If we start seeing a drought with our success in regards to the smarter students, then the USA will need to worry more about establishing success. We are successful in many more aspects of life not limited to being an engineer and the like. We have the movie business, which is the greater than any other movie business of any other nation. I'm bias in that aspect, but it is true. We have the music business, which is full of success. We have many other aspects of life that are integrated into other nation's because of our success in certain areas that other nation's lack. In class, the instructor said the main reason why many people would like to see more people working in high demand, high paying, jobs is the fact that these people would be paid less. Just because we don't have as many engineers that China or India has, doesn't mean we aren't the best in the world. Our number one engineer might be better than over half of China's or India's engineers so that plays a factor into that aspect as well. Not only that, but China is bigger than the USA, therefore China has more of an opportunity to have more engineers than the USA does. Maybe China has too much emphasis on school and not enough emphasis on play. Too much work and not enough play can bring down success for some people and that might not be healthy for everyone. In the US, there are so many people working a part time job on top of their school studies; the students in the US might even have other extracurricular activities in addition to their already booked workload. In all, I'm happy with the way things are at this time because students in America are given more freedom and more of an opportunity for self expression compared to the other two nations. Until we lose our edge over other nations, this includes many jobs besides engineering or being a doctor, we can feel comfortable with our success and keep on doing what we've been doing. If we start losing that edge, then the USA will need to get into gear and exhibit more effective methods of establishing success.




http://www.matthewktabor.com/2007/11/06/two-million-minutes-a-global-examination/

School Voucher Debate Riles Minnesota Senate

The blog consisted mainly of the voucher school process and it detailed how Minnesota is following Arizona's system regarding voucher money. The law states it is unconstitutional to take taxpayer money to pay for private schools given that many private schools are religiously based. Now, Minnesota implemented the possibility of eliminating the large tax breaks so the poor can withhold some of their money and stay in a healthy zone in regards to income. "We need to put more emphasis on public schools instead of putting taxpayer money into private schools," a Minnesota Senator said. And this is for good reason. This process allows the poorer families more of an opportunity in education. "Taxpayer dollars are advancing religion at this time," The Minnesota senator said again. The issue is whether or not public education is taking a fall because private schools have many loopholes to replenish the money a family puts into tuition to have a child go to a private/religious school. The result, a 5-4 win to allow tax breaks for families that put money into private schools; in essence, the families end up with more money because every dollar that goes into school is given back to those families.

I couldn't find any blog in total relation to voucher schools so I found this blog on google blogs. I don't support Minnesota's decision to protect the families that put money into private schools because those schools are based on religion and not every tax payer is in support of religion. The major issue is that public dollars are going back to the families who favor religion and that is not what the system should be; Arizona was said to be the model that Minnesota wants to follow. The taxpayer dollars that advance religion is taking away from any advancement that public schools can gain. It's not a good system to take away from the public schools when they are the norm in society. Minnesota needs to model a new system of using taxpayer dollars and that system should not be for the advancement of religion but, the system should advance public schools in every way possible. The main reason I feel so strongly about my viewpoint is because not every one favors religion and the people who don't favor religion would not want their money going towards religion; some people don't even know where their money is going and they might rather have their money go towards something else, public education that has no religious affiliation.





http://minnesotaindependent.com/79883/school-voucher-debate-riles-minnesota-senate