Zhang Xiao was recently given a school assignment that asked him to write an essay about his ideal job. The 10-year-old Beijing pupil responded by writing that he wanted to be the head of a large business.
十岁的张晓（音译）在北京读小学。不久前，学校布置了一篇以理想的工作为主题的作文。张晓写到自己想成为一个大老板。

"You want to be a boss, that's OK. But you shouldn't end your article like this. You should write 'I want to do charitable work with the money I earn'," his teacher commented.
老师对这篇作文给出的评语是：“你想当老板，可以。但作文不应该这样收尾。你应该写‘我要把我赚的钱用于慈善事业。’”

Zhang's mother, Chen Chen, said she could see the point of the teacher's advice but suggested a different approach. " He's only 10. We've always instructed him to help those in need. But charity? I don't think he really understands the word at the moment.
张晓的母亲陈晨（音译）说，她理解老师的用意，但建议老师换一种方式给出建议。“张晓才10岁。作为父母我们一直都教育他要乐于助人。但要做慈善？我觉得他当时根本连这个词什么意思都不懂。”

Chen referred to her own bitter experience as a fourth-grader. She described "the weather, the attendee, who was chosen to raise the flag" and so on in a writing assignment on the topic of "Raising the flag". However, despite her honesty, Chen's essay was deemed "a very bad example".
陈晨还提到了自己一段不开心的经历，四年级时她写了一篇以“升旗仪式”为主题的作文。她描述了诸如“天气以及升旗手”等方面，尽管句句属实，但最后却被评为“反面教材”。

The young girl quickly identified the difference: The other children had written sentences such as "The red flag was dyed by the blood of the martyrs," or "The flag reminds us of the sacrifice the heroes made". That kind of sentences was missing from Chen’s.
当时还是小女孩的陈晨很快就发现了不同之处：其他小朋友都在作文中都出现类似“鲜艳的五星红旗是用革命先辈的鲜血染红的，”或“五星红旗要我们铭记先辈们所作出的牺牲”这样的句子，而她却一句都没写。

This is the unwritten rule for Chinese students: You can write what you think, but make sure it reflects your "positive thinking".
对于中国学生而言，这是条不成文规定：你可以想到什么就写什么，但作文要反映出积极思想。

The problems are really highlighted by the gaokao, China's grueling and life-changing college entrance examination.
在高考这一能改变一生命运、竞争激烈的考试中，这一问题更加突出。

"The articles have always been highly stereotyped, but more so in recent years," said Qi Yongxiang, who has been an examiner for the writing exam since 1993. "There is not much diversity or originality, instead it's full of cliches. They write some beautiful sentences, but without making a point."
自1993年起便一直参与高考作文阅卷工作的齐永祥（音译）说道：“高考作文大多千篇一律，缺乏创新，尽是些陈词滥调。考生们罗列一些优美语句，却无法阐明观点。”

Nowadays, the common practice is to prepare stories about famous people, adorned with beautiful sentences, and then find a way to shoehorn them into the essay, irrespective of the actual topic.
现在最常见的做法就是考前准备一些名人轶事，配上优美语句，不管实际命题是什么，想方设法把这些句子塞进文章中就好。

Zhang Yikun, one of nine million students who sat this year's gaokao, really know how it works。
作为今年参加高考的900万考生之一，张一坤（音译）对此一清二楚。

"The teacher at the cram school gave us a list of 50 public intellectuals," said Zhang. “The examiners must have been tired of the popular examples, so we had to give them something fresh."
张一坤说：“补习班的老师给我们发了一份列有50位知识名人的名单。阅卷老师肯定对那些常用的事例感到厌烦了，我们得挑新鲜的用。”

The whole system really kicks in when the children start their schooling.
孩子们从一入学，便开始受制于整个教育体制。

Zhang's mother, Song Wenli, a Chinese teacher at primary schools, said she always encourages students to express their true feelings, but students have to point out in what way you are educated and inspired. That's always the rule in China, otherwise it's hard for students to get a high score.
张一坤的妈妈宋文丽（音译）是一名小学语文老师。她表示，尽管自己一直鼓励学生们表达真实情感，但学生们必须阐明自己是怎样得到教育和启发的。在中国这是不变的定律，不然就不能拿高分。

However, there have been changes over the years. The past 35 years have witnessed a rise in diversity of topics and a decrease in the political implications of the essays in the gaokao.
然而，这一现象近年来已有所改观。在过去的35年间，高考作文题目的多样性有所增加，其中的政治内涵也有所淡化。

But, it's still hard for students to express themselves freely under the current education system, especially when faced with the high pressure exerted by the entrance exam, said Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a non-governmental research group.
21世纪教育研究院副院长熊丙奇表示，尽管如此，在现有的教育体制下，学生们还是很难自由表达情感，尤其是当面临升学考试带来的巨大压力时更是如此。

"The writing test was originally designed to display a student's independent thinking and writing skills. But now, they just try their best to cater to the examiner," said Xiong.
熊丙奇说：“设置作文考试的初衷是为了展示学生的独立思考能力以及写作技能。可现在，学生们只是尽最大可能地去迎合阅卷人的喜好。”

According to Bi Yantao, director of Center for Communication Studies, Hainan University, his son once showed him a news report about his school's sports activity, which was not really part of the school's daily routine and merely arranged for the article. The teachers taught the children how to falsify facts for the reporters.
海南大学传播学研究中心主任毕研韬说，他的儿子曾经给他看过一则有关他学校体育活动的新闻报道，而这些并没有纳入校园日常活动，而是为了这篇文章刻意安排的。老师们甚至还教孩子们怎么去捏造事实，应付记者。

"How can we expect the children to be sincere while the adults are liars?" asked Bi.
毕研韬说：“大人都在撒谎，我们怎么指望孩子们诚实呢？”

That question has also perplexed Chen Chen. She has always taught her son to write freely, but that means his scores have not been good.
这个问题也困扰着陈晨。她一直教儿子写作时要自由发挥，但这就意味着儿子的作文成绩一直不好。

She is now considering a compromise to ensure that he can win a place at a top-ranked middle school.
为了确保儿子能够升入重点中学，她现在正在考虑是否做出妥协。

"I don't want him to be a liar. But I don't want him to be treated unfairly, either," she said.
她说：“我不想儿子撒谎。可我也不想他遭遇不公平的待遇。”