Admissions Assault

His son won’t enter primary school until next year， but Beijing’s Chaoyang District resident Zhang Yongnian is already frantically searching for a home in a good school district. To his disappointment， the astronomical prices of houses near every reputed school are far out of his price range. “I hadn’t planned to buy a ‘school district home，’ but a new policy makes it unfeasible to enroll my kid in a good primary school by paying the schoolchoosing fee，” he explains with a sigh.

The “policy” Zhang mentioned is a notice recently issued by China’s Ministry of Education requiring all primary schools in 19 major cities including Beijing， Shang- hai， and Guangzhou to enroll students only based on registered permanent residence by 2015， and the policy also applies to 90 percent of middle schools in these cities. Moreover， every included city is required to map out timetables and roadmaps to implement the policy.

School Choice

The Ministry of Education’s intention is to crack down on increasingly popular“school placement” in some cities.

Due to China’s decades-old family planning policy， the only child has received more focus from the family. Perhaps no other parents invest as much energy and resources in their children’s education as modern Chinese parents do. To ensure their children do not fall behind at the starting line， many Chinese parents do everything they can to send their child to the best possible primary school， which has created a school choice issue since the early 1990s. Over the past two decades， although the Compulsory Education Law of China encourages students to enter publicly provided schools near their family’s residence， many parents want to send their kids to a better school at any cost.

The reason behind the school-choosing issue is an imbalanced distribution of educational resources. “Currently， primary and middle schools have no standardized admission examinations，” explains Zhang Yongnian， “yet enormous gaps separate

various schools in terms of student quality， teaching quality， and educational facilities. If your kid attends a good middle school， he or she can more easily get into a good high school， and then a good college. Even if they are both municipal-level key high schools， a school in Haidian District may have more than 100 graduates admitted to China’s two best universities – Peking University and Tsinghua University – and the other in Chaoyang District may only have a handful to get into them. The difference is huge.”

Because quantity of good primary and middle schools is limited， they have become the pot of gold for which parents vie. During admissions season， parents do everything they can to get their kids into a better school： some use social relationships， some pay huge school-choosing fees， and others enroll their kids in cram classes in hopes that they will be admitted due to special skills.

Actually， before the Ministry of Education notice was issued， most primary schools were already beginning to enroll students based on residence， and middle schools admissions were adopting a method of random computer selection. However， many students were still lucky enough to choose.

To seize limited opportunities to attend a better middle school， primary school students and their parents are fighting a “protracted war.” In order to sharpen their competitive edge in school placement tests， students are forced to attend a wide array of cram classes. Parents busy themselves searching for back doors into better schools. The arrival of middle school admissions has become a major crisis for urban students and parents alike.

A survey conducted by a Chengdu primary school of 716 students and their parents indicated that 80 percent felt “pres- sure” due to middle school admissions， and 8 percent of parents admitted they were already preparing for middle school placement tests by the time their kids were in first or second grade， and 21 percent by third or fourth grade. A majority 60 percent of parents asked the school for as much information as possible about middle school placement tests.

Educational Equality

Fierce competition in primary and middle school admissions has not only exhausted both children and parents， but also created a hotbed for educational corruption and social injustice. Rich and influential parents can easily send their children to prestigious schools with better resources， while kids from ordinary families have to attend whatever school they’re assigned.

As more and more resources flow into good schools， others find it more difficult to improve their educational quality， thus increasing educational imbalance. The trend has formed a vicious circle.

Now， the Ministry of Education requires primary and middle schools to enroll students based on residence， effectively eliminating school choice. Some believe that if properly implemented， the policy will rescue students and parents from fierce school placement tests and promote educational equality， but others worry it will only move the fight to the realm of real estate as parents compete for “school district homes” near famous schools. In fact， soon after the policy was promulgated， the price of school district housing in Hangzhou shot up.

It remains unclear whether the policy will solve the issue effectively and ensure equality in compulsory education. In the opinion of renowned education expert Xiong Bingqi， the biggest problem in China’s compulsory education is the huge gap between schools in terms of teaching quality and educational facilities. “A rational compulsory education system should include both public schools that enroll students based on location and private schools that provide some choices，” he opines. “The government needs to balance allocation of educational resources， increase investment in public education， and improve overall teaching quality to eliminate admissions competition while allowing students and schools the freedom to choose.”