Math-test error + refusal to admit it = face-saving culture ( 2003-11-14 08:02) (China Daily HK Edition)
Mathematics is the field where it is easiest to
tell right from wrong.
This remark was uttered by Hua Luogeng (1910-1985), the most distinguished
mathematician China has ever produced.
Yet in June the truthfulness of this argument was called into question when,
in Jiangsu Province, an item in the all-important entrance exam for college
applicants begot a dubious solution.
It was a multiple-choice question with four answers. The test paper claimed
that only one of the answers was correct. However, math-savvy students felt none
of them were precise.
The question itself was worth only five points, out of 150 points, but as it
was the first question and was supposed to take 2-3 minutes to solve, it stumped
some of the best students who sensed something unusual. As a result, they spent
much longer time trying to decipher it. And some straight-A math students
suffered a precipitous drop in this test.
Unfortunately this test may determine what colleges they can get into and
even what course they will take in life. It is by no means an exaggeration that
this slip has dealt a heavy blow to some of the students.
To add injury to insult, the early detection did not prevent scorers from
discounting at least this element. Zhu Ruzeng, a researcher at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, the nation's top science institute, made a call to the
minister of education and asked him to rectify it. The minister arranged a panel
of scientists for a second opinion.
The result: This question is not adequate or phrased lucidly enough for
testing high-school students, but technically it is not an error.
Zhu was puzzled. Earlier Jiangsu authorities had done an evaluation and
yielded a similar conclusion. But the panellists included people who designed
the test. By coincidence, he found out that the higher-level reassessment panel
was made up of mostly colleagues of those who prepared the test.
"It is not about math any more. It is about politics," said Professor Zhu.
"Do we want our students to keep a straight face even when they have done
something wrong?"
But there is another perspective. "Whenever human judgment is required, the
one calling the shots has the final say. Even if it's wrong, it is final, just
like in soccer," said the deputy director of the test centre.
While it may be a good analogy to attribute it to the spillover effect of
soccer culture, it covers the real culprit, which is traditional Chinese
culture.
When authorities slip up, the best remedy they will take is usually to sweep
the problem under the rug. Admission and retraction amount to a loss of face
rather than a display of integrity.
"Basically it is a choice of face saving for the test preparers or fair
treatment of 300,000 test-takers. Sadly the face seems to weigh more heavily,"
sighed Zhu.
To dispel any doubt about ambiguities in the solution, Zhu gave this
high-school math question to 12 of the country's yuanshi, or academicians, the
very topmost echelon in science. Every single one of them responded
unequivocally that it was "a clear mistake".
