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Editor's note: Just before the Chinese national college entrance examination on June 7, many high school seniors tore up their textbooks and test papers to release some of that pent-up pressure. Forum readers share their opinions.
TedM (UK)
These students have spent many years in boring classrooms for very long hours, plus homework.... thereby having too little valuable time with family or in social situations. Many students say to me 'we have no life'. It is not surprising that these students explode steam as soon as the pressure cooker lid is released. So why is tearing up old text books so bad?
Students prepare at the No 2 Middle School of Hengshui in Hebei province on June 6, 2017, ahead of gaokao, the national college entrance exam.[Photo/Xinhua]
seneca (Expat in China)
Besides being a shabby and disrespectful act, it also is a huge waste of resources. While the poor often complain about the cost of uniforms and textbooks, the pupils discard them as if they were rubbish when they leave school for good. I still have some of my schoolbooks, including my geography atlas, though completely out of date.
Students rip up their textbooks after the last class for the day, before the gaokao exam, at the Maotanchang High School in Lu'an, East China's Anhui province, on June 4, 2014. [Photo/VCG]
oasisgreen (China)
My impression is that school is paradise for students before college in western countries, but it takes really a lot to get through college to get a degree, while in China it's reversed. It's like hell before gaokao and paradise after. It has been a long time since graduation from college, not sure if anything changed, but most likely it's the same.
Students practice headstands in a classroom to relieve stress in Suining, Sichuan province, on June 4, 2007. [Photo/VCG]
BlondeAmber (Ireland)
The books can be expensive and there is always the opportunity to re-sell, or the same books used for neighbors/siblings. One poetry book I used at school is still being used, and as mine was in good condition, I sold it. My parents even have some of their old school books, and also from my grandparents time. They are a record of the memories made at the time.
Students at the No 2 Middle School of Hengshui in Hebei province, undertaking the college entrance examination, were offered two new banknotes of five yuan ($0.73) on June 3, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
ceciliazhang (China)
I've experienced gaokao and could understand the stress they are under. Instead of putting them into garbage, I keep my textbooks till now since they remind me of the precious period in my life.
Students, stressed about undertaking gaokao, sat in a special chair to relax their muscles at the No 1 Middle School of Xuanhua in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, on May 25, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
(CHINA DAILY)
