Kaohsiung high-school students have launched a petition to stop high schools from making college entrance exam results public and praising those who perform the best.
Ou Meng-je (歐孟哲), one of the initiators of the petition, said that the goal is to stop the media from focusing on top students or invading their privacy to get a story.
He said that making exam results public and celebrating those who attain top scores creates a stereotype of the kind of students who deserve to be noticed and fosters academic elitism.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
“In such a culture, students are not encouraged to explore or develop their own interests and potential,” the petition said. “Even if they have their own ambitions, they are often not allowed to make choices independently.”
The petition was triggered by the experience of a former student at Kaohsiung Girls’ High School surnamed Feng (馮), who was accepted into National Taiwan University.
After Feng was praised by her school as having the highest exam scores among its students, the media delved into her private life.
She did well enough on the college entrance exam to get into the university, with the help of her boyfriend, a top student at Kaohsiung Municipal Senior High School, local media reported.
However, he did not get accepted and was dumped by the girl, the reports said.
Lin Hsiang-yin (林香吟), the principal of Kaohsiung Girls’ High School, which released the information on Feng, said she would sign the petition and that most students have also voiced their support for it.
Lin said the school would no longer hold news conferences to announce exam results, although it would still issue a statement.
The petition also garnered the support of government agencies.
K-12 Education Administration Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) said he would promote the petition at national meetings.
The petition has received backing from other schools, such as Taipei First Girls’ High School and Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School in Taipei, but some schools said they would still provide exam-related information as a reference if there were media inquiries.
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