The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China - Hardcover

$29.95

The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China - Hardcover

Name: The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China - Hardcover
Brand: BooksCloud
SKU: 9780674295391
Price: 29.95 USD
Availability: InStock

by Ruixue Jia , Hongbin Li , Claire Cousineau

$29.95

Book Overview

An Economist Best Book of the Year

Combining personal narratives with decades of research, a vivid account of how the gaokao--China's high-stakes college admissions test--shapes that society and influences education debates in the United States.

Each year, more than ten million students across China pin their hopes on the gaokao, the nationwide college entrance exam. Unlike in the United States, where standardized tests are just one factor, in China college admission is determined entirely by gaokao performance. It is no wonder the test has become a national obsession.

Drawing on extensive surveys, historical research, and economic analysis, and informed by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li's own experiences of the gaokao gauntlet, The Highest Exam reveals how China's education system functions as a centralized tournament. It explains why preparation for the gaokao begins even before first grade--and why, given its importance for upward mobility, Chinese families are behaving rationally when they devote immense quantities of money and effort to acing the test. It shows how the exam system serves the needs of the Chinese Communist Party and drives much of the country's economic growth. And it examines the gaokao's far-reaching effects on China's society, as the exam's promise of meritocracy encourages citizens to focus on individual ability at the expense of considering socioeconomic inequalities.

What's more, as the book makes clear, the gaokao is now also shaping debates around education in the United States. As Chinese-American families bring the expectations of the highest exam with them, their calls for objective, transparent metrics in the education system increasingly clash with the more holistic measures of achievement used by American schools and universities.

ISBN	9780674295391
Author	Ruixue Jia , Hongbin Li , Claire Cousineau
Publisher	Belknap Press
Genre	History, Business, and Education
Format	Hardcover
Published	September 2025
Language	ENG- English
Pages	256
Weight	1.0 lb
Target Audience	Adults
Print Size	Standard Print