TY - BOOK ID - 121567604 TI - Meritocracy and its discontents PY - 2021 SN - 1501754467 1501754459 1501754432 1501754440 9781501754449 9781501754456 9781501754432 9781501754463 PB - Ithaca, New York DB - UniCat KW - Gaokao (Educational test) KW - Universities and colleges KW - Social aspects. KW - Entrance examinations KW - Chinese national college entrance exam. KW - Gaokao. KW - education inequality Gaokaov, rural-to-urban migration, college admission corruption Gaokao. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:121567604 AB - This volume investigates the wider social, political, religious, and economic dimensions of the Gaokao, China's national college entrance exam, as well as the complications that arise from its existence. Each year, some nine million high school seniors in China take the Gaokao, which determines college admission and provides a direct but difficult route to an urban lifestyle for China's hundreds of millions of rural residents. But with college graduates struggling to find good jobs, some are questioning the exam's legitimacy - and, by extension, the fairness of Chinese society. Chronicling the experiences of underprivileged youth, Zachary M. Howlett's research illuminates how people remain captivated by the exam because they regard it as fateful - an event both consequential and undetermined. ER -