The rigorous admission methods at Chinese private schools

Two private schools in Shanghai drew the criticism of many parents after a series of very extensive admission tests. Parents reported on Weibo, a Chinese social network, that the schools demanded the credentials of the father and mother as well as those of the grandparents of the kids. Additionally the parents were asked to complete IQ tests and to submit the results.

As a result the Shanghai education board punished these schools by restricting their maximum pupil intake for the upcoming year.

But instead of correcting the problem, these measures support the existence of the difference within the structures of social classes, Wang Rong, director of the China Institute for Educational Finance Research said.

Not only do private schools accept just the wealthy and gifted kids. They offer the pupils with the highest school entrance exam results rewards up to 30.000$ for attending their school to boost positions in the national ranking.
Another way of attracting the most capable students is to open branches of highly prestigious Universities at high schools. This way even public schools can profit financially since these branches are rated as private.

Editorial staff (sz)

Sources

Photo credit: Xinjiang School Kids by Peter Morgan / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Information source: ft.com