<description>&lt;p&gt;China&amp;rsquo;s college exam, the &lt;em&gt;gaokao&lt;/em&gt;, is fetishized as the ultimate test, yet a lesser-known story is how it entrenches regional education discrimination. Its role at social engineering is also clear, with AI suddenly becoming the sixth most popular major in China, on command from above. This month, the&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Little Red Podcast&lt;/em&gt; sets the first ever podcast &lt;em&gt;gaokao&lt;/em&gt;. The intrepid test-takers are Edward Vickers from Kyushu University, co-author of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Education and Society in Post-Mao China&lt;/em&gt; and host of the &lt;em&gt;Asian Education Podcast&lt;/em&gt;, Karron Huang, who is studying for a Masters in early childhood education at the University of Melbourne and sat the &lt;em&gt;gaokao&lt;/em&gt; in 2015, and Ruixue Xia from the University of California San Diego who coauthored &lt;em&gt;The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Image: c/- Karron Huang. Morning gaokao study session, Foshan No. 1 High School, Guangdong, 2015.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Transcripts are available at https://ciw.anu.edu.au/podcasts/little-red-podcast&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Little Red Podcast

Graeme Smith and Louisa Lim

Education Nation: China’s Exam Fetish

DEC 8, 202547 MIN
The Little Red Podcast

Education Nation: China’s Exam Fetish

DEC 8, 202547 MIN

Description

China’s college exam, the gaokao, is fetishized as the ultimate test, yet a lesser-known story is how it entrenches regional education discrimination. Its role at social engineering is also clear, with AI suddenly becoming the sixth most popular major in China, on command from above. This month, the Little Red Podcast sets the first ever podcast gaokao. The intrepid test-takers are Edward Vickers from Kyushu University, co-author of Education and Society in Post-Mao China and host of the Asian Education Podcast, Karron Huang, who is studying for a Masters in early childhood education at the University of Melbourne and sat the gaokao in 2015, and Ruixue Xia from the University of California San Diego who coauthored The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China.

Image: c/- Karron Huang. Morning gaokao study session, Foshan No. 1 High School, Guangdong, 2015.

Transcripts are available at https://ciw.anu.edu.au/podcasts/little-red-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.