China’s
system of choosing the political elite was biased. The poor were unable to even
take the exam because of their lack of education and money, while those who
were able to pay for tutors or pay off the examiners were able to take it and
pass. The result was that qualified poor people could not work for the
government. The rewards were great for bureaucrats as they gained a steady
salary and collected bribes. The system was corrupt and made the rich richer
and kept the poor in poverty.
The
system failed when more and more people were able to actually pass the exam as
education became readily available. That should have been a good thing, but Imperial
officials began to worry when there were more job-holders than jobs. The Qing
made the exam harder so that less than .016 percent were able to pass all three
of the exams. People again began to pay tutors and the examiners to pass,
pushing the poor back down once more.
Hong
Xiuquan probably would have been a normal middle-class citizen had it not been
for his four exam failures. The American missionaries set in motion something
that would push him over the brink. In his case, the exams were a catalyst to
his insanity, something many people may experience, even in the today.
Classes
that depend on test grades make many people fear going to college. High school
teachers tell students that they should go to college, yet fill their heads
with stories of classes that were nearly impossible to pass. The fact that a
certain GPA is required to keep scholarships means that some of the poorer
students who rely on the scholarships to be at the college in the first place
are at risk of not being able to stay due to the lack of funding.
Those
who are unable to attend college in the first place are basically left out of
ever having a highly ranked job. Without a college degree, many employers will
not even look at a person’s resume. College is too expensive and those who
didn’t stand out in high-school and whose parents made just a little bit too
much money were not eligible for scholarships and grants. Even if the person
makes it to college on loans, they have to worry about paying that back later.
It’s a lose-lose situation.
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