Chinese Teacher Alleges Harmful Pressures in Regime’s School System

A veteran educator says strict routines, score targets, and hidden fees are straining students and distorting education.

An undated file photograph of senior high school students studying at night to prepare for the college entrance exams at a high school in Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, China. Getty Image

A veteran high school teacher in China has gone public with a rare, detailed critique of the country’s highly regimented exam-driven education system, describing a culture that prioritizes test scores over student well-being and pushes both students and teachers to extremes.

The 42-year-old female teacher, who said she spent 17 years working on the front lines of secondary education, posted a video on social media after leaving her post, explaining why she could no longer participate in what she called a system that “consumes ordinary families.”

Her account offers an inside look at China’s controversial approach to schooling.

A System Built Around Test Scores

At the core of her criticism is the central role of exam results in evaluating schools and officials—a dynamic that she and other China-based educators who spoke to The Epoch Times say shapes nearly every aspect of school life. They spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

“This [system] isn’t really education,” a China-based education researcher told The Epoch Times. “It’s more like extraction.”

According to the researcher, China’s local governments treat university admission rates as a key performance metric, creating pressure that cascades down through administrators, teachers, and ultimately students.

“Ten years ago, this wasn’t as extreme,” the researcher said. “Now everything revolves around rankings. Principals watch the data, teachers watch the rankings, and students become tools.”

The teacher in the video referred to China’s current education system as the “Hengshui model,” named after a high-performing high school in northern China that emphasizes strict discipline, long study hours, and repetitive test preparation. Schools that adopt it often operate on tightly controlled schedules, with students spending most of their time drilling exam questions.

Children eat their meals at a primary school in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 27, 2017. STR/AFP/Getty Images

The teacher described daily routines that begin before dawn and leave little room for rest. In winter, she said, students were required to gather at 6 a.m. for outdoor runs, even in sub-freezing temperatures.

“Some students collapsed while running,” she said. “One was diagnosed with acute myocardial ischemia. The school’s first reaction wasn’t concern for the child; it was how to prevent the parents from making a scene.”

Other teachers echoed concerns about the physical toll. A Chinese middle school teacher told The Epoch Times that similar practices were common, including forcing students to run in extreme heat and punishing those who disobeyed.

Under such conditions, she said, students’ daily schedules can exceed 16 hours of study, with limited effectiveness. She recalled one case in which a student, afraid to leave class to use the restroom, developed kidney problems after repeatedly holding urine.

“This system affects students physically and psychologically,” she said.

The system’s emphasis on results also shapes how schools treat struggling students.

The teacher in the video said that after each exam, school administrators would hold internal meetings to “allocate resources,” prioritizing high-performing students while pressuring lower-performing ones to withdraw from the national college entrance exam.

“They would tell homeroom teachers to persuade these students not to sit for the college entrance and instead pursue alternative vocational tracks,” she said.

She added that she was criticized and penalized at work for refusing to pressure her students in this way.

Hidden Fees, Eroding Teaching Standards

Beyond academic pressure, the teacher in the video alleged that schools found ways to extract additional money from families despite official bans on unauthorized school fees.

She described charges for school-produced assignments and weekly test papers, even though the actual costs were minimal.

“On the surface, they say fees aren’t allowed,” she said. “In reality, they just find other ways to charge.”

She also pointed to declining teaching quality under the system. Some teachers, she said, no longer graded homework themselves; instead, they instructed student representatives to check answers.

Despite staying up late to thoroughly grade assignments, she said, colleagues questioned the value of her efforts.

A retired Chinese professor now living in Europe told The Epoch Times that the intense competition surrounding the college entrance exam has turned many schools into what he called “score factories.”

“When you look at this in an international context, it deviates from the purpose of education,” he said.

He added that many Chinese families have begun sending their children abroad to avoid such pressures.

Shao Rong contributed to this report.