多校自主招生取消文科，文科又被边缘化了？| Unis cancel independent liberal arts tests
The hashtag "Many universities canceled independent recruitment tests for the liberal arts" was viewed more than 340 million times on Sina Weibo, with over 22,000 netizens posting comments as of Monday.
Many of China's top universities, including Tsinghua University and Peking University, will start annual independent recruitment tests in the next two months.
The tests, initiated in 2003, are part of China's educational reforms, giving conditional offers to students who exhibit talent or achievement in specific fields so they may enter the university with lower admission scores.
For those who are going to take the gaokao, national college entrance exams in June, this will give them more opportunities to study at a university in a subject of their choice.
Last week, brochures handed out by many top universities triggered a backlash online — people noticed a few top universities canceled tests for the liberal arts this year.
Tsinghua University, for example, will recruit students who want to apply to engineering, information technology, economics and other science-related subjects. Humanities and social sciences, and the law — which were tested in 2018 — are no longer included.
Meanwhile, Shandong University, Jilin University, and Zhongnan University have canceled tests for the liberal arts while math, information technology and engineering remain.
Even though liberal arts subjects are not included, their students are still qualified to apply for the tests. As the Tsinghua recruitment brochure states, subjects such as economics, finance and architecture are open to both liberal arts and science students.
However, this doesn't necessarily apply to universities focusing on social sciences and the humanities.
Peking University, for example, is still holding tests for science subjects such as astronomy, computer science, and biology, as well as liberal arts subjects such as history, Chinese literature, international relations and archaeology.
Last December the Ministry of Education issued an official notice on university independent recruitment tests for 2019. According to the Ministry of Education, universities should set strict application requirements and universities should hold independent recruitment tests only for certain subjects, of which basic subjects and characteristic subjects should be the mainstay.
It is forbidden to simply use papers, patents, and competitions organized by agencies as criteria during independent recruitment tests. Universities should focus on certificates from academic competitions with a high level of authority and credibility.
Unlike technology and science, there are very few authoritative academic competitions for the liberal arts. This has challenged universities holding recruitment tests for liberal arts subjects. It is difficult to measure applicants' abilities, such as literary accomplishments and academic interests.
Netizens are saying such actions constitute discrimination against liberal arts students. Many argue those who have achievement and talent in literature and the social sciences will no longer be allowed to take part in independent tests.
Many have expressed pessimism over the future of liberal arts students, claiming China's education system no longer values the arts.
However, this is a misunderstanding of the new rule. Places cut from the annual independent recruitment tests will be relocated to the gaokao in June. Liberal arts students will have access to these top universities through the gaokao, which is regarded as one of the fairest academic systems in the world by many.
CGTN contributed to this article.
Editor: Zhang Xi
Intern: Zhong Wenxing
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