Plans to give 'morality points' on Gaokao need work

Education officials in certain areas should delay plans to give students taking the national college entrance exams extra points for showing good morals and behavior, an expert says.

In the past, students taking the all-important gaokao, or national college entrance exams, have been able to get extra points if they participated in sports or international competitions on subjects such as math or physics.

Local education officials began to change this system in September because there were complaints it was being abused and put too much pressure on students to take extra lessons for the competitions.

All of the country's 31 provinces, regions and municipalities have decided to cut back on giving the extra points or end the practice for this year's test, which be given June 7-9.

In its place, 13 areas have decided to give extra points to students who show "moral merit and righteous behavior," which is a common Chinese phrase. Beijing, the southwestern province of Sichuan, and Zhejiang, which is along the coast, have decided to give 20 extra points. The total possible points on tests vary by location, but the Beijing version has 750.

Researcher Ouyang He, of the Research Institute of Education in the central province of Hunan, said there was some merit in giving the morality points, but the evaluation process was too subjective.

"China pursues quality-oriented education, and moral education is an important part of that," he said, but he added that "the most important thing for local authorities to do for the new policy is establish a sound evaluation system. Professionals should be included to establish a system after research and practice."

Ouyang warned that if the process for adding the points was not made transparent it could be ruined by corruption. He also said the amount of points given should be set lower than what Beijing, Sichuan and Zhejiang set.

The country should develop a moral education curriculum to be taught in all schools, Ouyang said. Then high schools could evaluate students' behavior and give the appropriate amount of extra points.

Some in the public have complained that China's moral compass has wobbled amid rapid urbanization and economic growth, and that schools should do something about it.

Stories about corrupt officials appear so often that the names, offices and amounts stolen blur together. Episodes such as employees of a kindergarten in Xi'an, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, being found giving students medicine in the hopes that they attend more often and pay more tuition are common, prompting questions on social media over whether public trust is being sacrificed for the sake of making money.