Reading this, I have to offer an anecdotal (counter?)point. All of the following is true, but is by no means the norm.
My father was born in rural China. He grew up eating roasted grasshoppers. His parents were both teachers; they were proletariats and there was no way to rise up the social ladder (not that there was much of one within thirty miles).
Around fourteen, he realized he was in serious trouble. There was no way out, he was trapped in that village. He decided to start paying attention in school and worked on mathematics problems in his free time. Mathematics problems were all he needed (solutions to them were nice, but not necessary after a few examples). He also worked on a few other subjects, but those were all closely related to mathematics (physics is one, for example).
He did well on the NCEE, and went to TsingHua. After that, he immigrated to the United States.
He maintains that there is no such thing as being "genetically smart". All there is to it is work. He has a brother and a sister; none of them achieved the level of success he did, simply because they didn't practice math problems when they were young.
So yes, you're right when you say "For most Chinese students, the only way to a brighter future is to ace every subject in school". However, contrary to what you make it seem, it isn't impossible or even extremely difficult though; all it requires is determination and work.
Of course, this is anecdotal evidence. It is by no means a key to success in China today.
Though other factors come into play, environment, education, etc., we are not all gifted with the same faculties, and it is ignorant to claim otherwise.
Also, there may be structural reasons why it can't work for everyone. I imagine that if everyone studied harder, the score needed to go to college would go up.
My father was born in rural China. He grew up eating roasted grasshoppers. His parents were both teachers; they were proletariats and there was no way to rise up the social ladder (not that there was much of one within thirty miles).
Around fourteen, he realized he was in serious trouble. There was no way out, he was trapped in that village. He decided to start paying attention in school and worked on mathematics problems in his free time. Mathematics problems were all he needed (solutions to them were nice, but not necessary after a few examples). He also worked on a few other subjects, but those were all closely related to mathematics (physics is one, for example).
He did well on the NCEE, and went to TsingHua. After that, he immigrated to the United States.
He maintains that there is no such thing as being "genetically smart". All there is to it is work. He has a brother and a sister; none of them achieved the level of success he did, simply because they didn't practice math problems when they were young.
So yes, you're right when you say "For most Chinese students, the only way to a brighter future is to ace every subject in school". However, contrary to what you make it seem, it isn't impossible or even extremely difficult though; all it requires is determination and work.
Of course, this is anecdotal evidence. It is by no means a key to success in China today.