Run Sub 2:34 & Get Extra Credit on SAT / Chinese Cheating Scandal

actually it was this place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudan_University

[edit] Ranking

In 2008, Fudan University ranked 3rd overall among universities in the mainland of China in "The Times Higher Education Supplement 2008 - The World's Top 200 Universities" [2][3]. It was placed in the world's top 200 list, ranked 113, after Peking University (50) and Tsinghua University (56) in the mainland of China. Arts and humanities at Fudan are among the world's top 50, ranked 46[4].

This is insane. This is how competitive....

World University/College Rankings

http://www.paked.net/higher_education/rankings/times_rankings.htm

1 1 Harvard University US summary

2 2= Yale University US summary

3 2= University of Cambridge UK summary

4 2= University of Oxford UK summary

5 7= California Institute of Technology US summary

6 5 Imperial College London UK summary

7 9 University College London UK summary

8 7= University of Chicago US summary

9 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology US summary

10 11 Columbia University US summary

11 14 University of Pennsylvania US summary

12 6 Princeton University US summary

13= 13 Duke University US summary

13= 15 Johns Hopkins University US summary

15 20= Cornell University US summary

16 16 Australian National University Australia summary

17 19 Stanford University US summary

18 38= University of Michigan US

19 17 University of Tokyo Japan summary

20 21 McGill University Canada summary

21 20= Carnegie Mellon University US summary

22 24 King's College London UK summary

23 23 University of Edinburgh UK summary

24 42 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland

25 25 Kyoto University Japan

26 18 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong summary

27 32 Brown University US summary

28 26 École Normale Supérieure, PARIS France

29 30 University of Manchester UK

30= 41 University of California, Los Angeles US

30= 33= National University of Singapore Singapore summary

32 37 University of Bristol UK summary

33 29 Northwestern University US

34= 33= University of British Columbia Canada

34= 28 Ecole Polytechnique France

36 22 University of California, Berkeley US summary

37 31 University of Sydney Australia

38 27 University of Melbourne Australia

39 53 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong

40 49 New York University US

41 45 University of Toronto Canada

42 38 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong

43 33= University of Queensland Australia

44 46 Osaka University Japan

45 44 University of New South Wales Australia

46 47 Boston University US summary

47 43 Monash University Australia

48 93= University of Copenhagen Denmark

49 53= Trinity College Dublin Ireland

50= 117= Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Switzerland

50= 36 Peking University China

50= 51 Seoul National University South Korea

Note the lack of comments

Hold the front page!

What is the point of asking children to run a marathon in near world class time?

How many people in China can/have run 2:34 every year? 300? 400? Maybe...its not like conditions there - endless construction, air pollution, no parks etc - are conducive to exercise.

This is just an out-of-reach incentive, and they had no intention of doling out the reward. If it were designed to accomplish a realistic goal - get children to exercise - then it would be 3:10. If a young man can run this fast, he is reasonably fit.

The only people who benefited from this were the dozens of "coaches" promising parents they can get their sons over the line in 2:34.

DiarheaExplosionInMyShorts wrote:

"The exams are so crucial to the future of Chinese children that both students and their families will go to extraordinary lengths to guarantee success. Last year, eight parents and teachers were jailed on state secret charges after using communication devices - including scanners and wireless earpieces - to help pupils cheat."

Yeah that crap is nuts. So glad I don't live there. They view things in black and white. There are so many people there that you have to work your friggin butt off to stand out and live a good life - and if you dont, well, your parents will give you a spanking.

They also view intelligence in linear fashion...

G-d help you if you have are a talented artist or have a learning disability in China. They view things in very concrete fashion. They like pure intellect and the creativity sucks there.

Not that I'm condoning the cheating, but I don't see how being awarded non-academic points (running sub 2:34) on an academic achievement (getting into college) is that much different, from say, having a balanced resume to get into Harvard. I know plenty of people who have lied on college resumes (i.e. saying they were captain of the soccer team when they were actually captain of the D-team) and used it to get into top colleges around the world.

Ok, it is true that the Chinese have chosen two extremes here - great marathon time versus studying for a superhard entrance exam. However, for those who are saying that the concept is so weird, well...it's really not

running man wrote:

Not that I'm condoning the cheating, but I don't see how being awarded non-academic points (running sub 2:34) on an academic achievement (getting into college) is that much different, from say, having a balanced resume to get into Harvard. I know plenty of people who have lied on college resumes (i.e. saying they were captain of the soccer team when they were actually captain of the D-team) and used it to get into top colleges around the world.

Ok, it is true that the Chinese have chosen two extremes here - great marathon time versus studying for a superhard entrance exam. However, for those who are saying that the concept is so weird, well...it's really not

Yeah, well the way i see it, giving extra credit is pretty similar to the US system as in the USA, college coaches might give extra "points" to the admissions office because you're a 9min high school 2 miler applying to an Ivy.

I would keep athletic pursuits separate from entrance exams. Athletic accomplishments should give you extra "points" in the admissions office, as would many things like artistic talents, being famous, coming from a super-rich family, etc. but keep this separate and don't interweave this with whole a standardized test score. Leave the decision on what's important up to that school's admissions office. But I guess when you have a sh*tload of people as you do in China, you need a single numeric statistic representative of a prospective college student's cumulative net worth (i.e. all special talents/considerations woven into one numeric number on the GaoKao...or whatever the frig it's called....).

While You can't get aid based on athletic ability for applying to an Ivy, you do get extra "points" behind closed doors in the admissions office. I'd bet this would mean that most talented high school athletes enrolling at Ivy league come from relatively middle to upper-middle class families...if you're a great athlete from the lower class, even if you're accepted at an Ivy, you might opt for the D1 aid instead considering you dont want to accumulate 45K+/year in debt.

running man wrote:

I know plenty of people who have lied on college resumes (i.e. saying they were captain of the soccer team when they were actually captain of the D-team) and used it to get into top colleges around the world.

What's a D-Team? Do you mean team-D like 4th in line as opposed to varsity sports?

my best guess...

Team A - varsity (legit)

Team B - junior varsity (still pretty legit)

Team C - Freshman (still pretty legit...if they have a separate league for frosh)

Team D - (not allowed to put down if this is what I think it is as you're not a real athlete) assuming this is just playing soccer in gym class????

It really makes you realize just how lazy we Americans when you look at Asian students. My school has a large Korean/Chinese student population, and they consistently set the curve on tests. While the American students are going out two or three nights a week and getting drunk, the Asian students are at home studying.

They might cheat for all I know; I'm sure some do. But all the cheating I hear about is coming from Americans. I'm surprised people don't realize just how rampant cheating is among privileged white kids.

I travel, work, communicate, etc daily with China. Fortunately, I only live there for short periods of time but I've been doing it for many years now. Say what you want but 'Off the Grid' is 100% correct.

Cheating is the norm in Asia (and most of the world, actually).

If you don't cheat, you are considered stupid and naive.