Hi,

I'm a high school teacher in China for a little over a year but with
many years experience in post-secondary education in the West.

I have a student who didn't do well on the recent national exams. Her
aunt has a friend who is a "top school leader". This friend has offered
to help my student get accepted into a college she would normally not
qualify for. It is said to be a famous school.

I think this might be a very bad idea. Even if it is all above board my
student would find herself in with a lot of other students who had
higher test scores and she might find it hard to keep up.

In fact this student already experienced this at our school because she
had low scores going in and had to pay more to attend.

She agrees with me but her parents are salivating at the idea of her
going to a famous school. It is hard for me to talk to them directly.
They speak only the local dialect (and I don't even know putonghua).
They assume I know little about China and the way things work here.

I would hope that there are wise Chinese leaders who decry this kind of
thing but I don't know how to find information written in Chinese to
provide to her parents.

Can you comment? Refer me to something written in English or better yet
in Chinese?

thanks

Richard Outerbridge, BSc, CCP, MSc

please reply to hanramo@hotmail.com