The adult world is full of ambivalence. Parents who were less beset with exams during their formative ages share the sentiment that exams are bad designs but meanwhile require their own children to excel at as many exams as possible. This parallels many existing problems in the adult world.

China is in an odd stage of development where quality and productivity are held up as goals, but the tools to measure them are poorly developed.

Sheer numbers mean that tests are often the only way to provide an assessment, as the time to consider candidates individually simply isn't there. The prevalence of nepotism means that tests are seen as a "fairer" method that prevents personal influence from corrupting the hiring process.

This results in the ubiquity of exams. We are witnessing not only the test-oriented education but also the test-oriented country. Job-seeking success depends on qualification certificates obtained from various tests, and even the State organ hires civil servants through civil service exams.

Some quasi-tests that share the spirit of quantitatively assessing one's merits also prevail in some fields. Tenure is granted on the basis of how many papers a scholar has published, rather than the quality of the work. That's why China is No.1 in the world in terms of papers published, but not even in the top two-thirds of nations worldwide in terms of papers cited by others.

Test-oriented education has long been described as the historical inheritance of Chinese educational tradition. But this is an illusion. The test-oriented education is an outgrowth of the test-oriented adult world.

Many educationists argue that test-oriented education is damaging students' competitiveness after graduation, while parents feel their children are thrust into cut-throat competition and are deprived of the joy of childhood.

But given the realities of modern Chinese work environments, we shouldn't regard our children's preparation for an equally unfair adult world as a waste of time.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. wangdi@globaltimes.com.cn