In an incense-filled temple, Jaleese Liao bowed deeply to beseech last-minute help from Taoist gods before taking the rigorous high school entrance exams that will do much to determine her future.
The 16-year-old with carefully coiffed hair brought her school uniform and identification cards to be blessed at a special ceremony, which she hoped would give her an advantage as she headed into two days of testing last month.
Liao was one of 300,000 Taiwanese junior high school students whose ability to answer 12 hours of questions on subjects from chemistry to Chinese history would decide whether they would go to an elite high school — and probably onto an elite university — or whether they would be consigned to second best.
Education is serious business in Taiwan. The competition starts as early as first grade, and parents spend thousands of NT dollars a year on tutoring to give their children a leg-up.
For centuries, many Asian societies have placed a heavy emphasis on learning, a stance that can be traced back 2,500 years to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who taught that education, respect and close family bonds were keys to creating a strong, well-functioning society.
Taiwan’s educational tradition was shaped most directly by China’s Qing dynasty, which was overthrown in 1911, and more recently by the Japanese occupation, said Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), a sociology professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei.
However, he added, that was only a preamble for today’s test-obsessed system.
“After World War II the island underwent educational expansion, and education very quickly became competitive,” he said.
Liao is certainly very much aware of that. For more than a year she devoted 10 to 15 hours a day to her studies.
“I used to be outgoing and play sports like badminton,” she said. “Now I spend all my time studying for the entrance exam.”
She first took the exam three months ago, but decided to retake it because she was unhappy with her score of 96 percent.
“I failed the first time, I made seven mistakes,” she said. “I hope this time I will miss no more than two questions.”
Liao’s drive to succeed reflects the intense competition at her junior high school, where grades are posted in a central courtyard every month.
“My three best friends and I are at the top of the class,” she said. “But when we take tests we’re like enemies.”
The teenager worried that failure to get into a top high school would doom her chances of acceptance at medical school, among the most selective educational institutions in Taiwan.
Liao spent much of her summer vacation in a basement classroom of a cram school, prepping for the high school entrance tests.
Together with 18 other students, she filled out practice exams for 10 hours at a time. The students shared narrow desks that barely accommodated the test booklets. Liao’s only relief was a floral patterned pillow she brought to cushion her metal chair.
Some critics of Taiwan’s educational system say that the preoccupation with testing produces automaton-like graduates unable to think quickly on their feet.
“A big problem is that it does not encourage students to be pragmatic,” said Hou Han-chun (侯漢君), professor of public policy at National Taipei University.
However, Tommy Wang, a teacher at a cram school, said the tests are necessary to instill discipline.
“If there are no tests, the students won’t study,” he said.
Liao’s goal was to score well enough to be accepted by Taipei’s prestigious First Girl’s High School.
Earlier this week, she learned she had fallen short, apparently tripped up by several questions in classical Chinese. She will attend Taipei’s Songshan High School instead, certainly respectable, but not quite first rank.
“I’m feeling very bad,” she said. “Everybody told me that I was such a good student and that getting into First Girl’s would be easy for me. Now that I haven’t, I don’t now how to face them.”
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