高考是许多人改变命运最公正的途径，我一直这样认为。尽管有人会说他的种种不是。

高考是每年夏天举行的全国性考试，我本人是高考的受益者。

1977年，我国恢复了高考制度。昱年，十一届三中全会召开，从此，中国走上了改革开放的道路。

改革开放政策改变了整个国家的命运，由以往的计划经济转为市场经济体制。

恢复高考前，多数大学也招收学生。然而，当时的学生都是从工人，农民，人民解放军中推荐出来的。那时候也有考试，只不过考试并不影响到学生是否被录取。

毫不夸张地说，恢复高考在我国现代历史上的一个里程碑。这是在几十年里，人们首次可以公平地争取接受高等教育的机会。

1966年前，所有的高中毕业生都可以参加高考。然而，在当时，家庭背景比考试成绩更重要。我表兄高中毕业时是他们学校最优秀的学生之一，高考中也取得了高分，然而因为他父亲被划作“右派分子”，他被剥夺了上大学的机会。文化大革命期间，高考一度中止，推荐上大学的制度让一些大权在手之辈让其亲戚或是与其走得近的人步入高等学府。有些人根本就不可能通得过高考，父母的影响力却能助之踏进高校大门。

当年我在乡下当知青的时候，曾有一次上技校的机会，500多个年轻人，只有两上名额。当时并无考试，一切都是暗箱操作。

我的一个好友得到了其中的一个机会，他爸是高官。他的嘴很紧，直到他爸来接他时他才说。我当时伤心极了，甚至感到绝望，想象不出还有任何学习的机会，连技校都上不了，更别提大学了。

1977年，当我得知即将恢复高考时，我在一个火车站当扳道工。这突如其来的希望之光让我欣喜若狂，我盼望着离开那个破旧的信号室，我每天都要在那里呆上12个小时，一接到电话就得去换铁轨。那时，我多数时候就傻傻地望着天花板，或是观望铁道沿路的灌木一直到附近工厂的起重机。看书会分心，所以绝对禁止。于是，我一有空，甚至是换铁轨的间隙，都看书复习。我把需要记忆的知识写在一张张小纸条上，藏在衣袋里，这样便于任何时候复习，甚至在上班时也会掏出来看，上司也很难发现。他们随时都可能来，突然推开门，把头伸进来查看我在做什么。他们怎么也想不到我在咕哝些什么，他们也不敢把我怎么样，因为没有哪条规定说不可以自言自语。

我离开那个工作了两年零八个月的车站前往大学时，我简直不相信这一切都是真的。这就如同一场梦。如同我已在那里工作了三十余年。

如果没有恢复高考，我还没有离开那个火车站。许多人还没有离开穷困山区，还在地里干活。高考给了每个人一个保障，一个享有公平接受高等教育机会的保障。

有的人指责高考让学生从小学起就载重负，学生不得不很努力学习，得高分，进入最好中学，最终在大学校园里占得一桌一椅。有人甚至责其为应试教育的祸根，只是让学生死记硬背。

这些问题固然存在，却不是废除高考的理由。高考一直是，将来也会是一把衡量考生是否合格的唯一量尺。

即便大学能容纳所有的高中毕业生就读，也不应废除高考，我们仍然需要他来衡定哪些学生上哪些大学。

高考给所有人公平的保障，这一点我最珍视。如果名落孙山，你可以再考。如果你上的大学不是你所期望的，只要你足够刻苦，你还有机会考取一所更好的学校攻读硕士。

这是我对今年参加高考的侄子之言。对所有的人来说，事实也是如此。

今年，一位79岁高龄的老人第七次参加了高考。2001年，国家取消了高考年龄限制，高考向全民开放，他已不仅仅是人才选拔的考试，还可以帮助人们获取更多知识。

影响考试公平公正的不是考试本身，而是作弊行为。甚至有的教师帮助考生作弊，学生考好了，上线率高了，学校声望提升了，教师的奖金就高了。

要一个考试机制没有漏洞不现实；要每个人都正直做人也过于理想。总有一些人不择手段想达到目的。

各地教育资源不平衡，这是一个不争的事实。发达地区的教学质量比欠发达地区高，其大学录取率也相应高于欠发达地区。

这，应该归咎于高考本身吗？

Exams means equal rights to education

I have always believed that the national college entrance examination

represents the fairest way for many to change their fate although some

would point their finger at the demerits of the system.

The exam is held every summer nationwide.

Among other things, I was the system’s beneficiary.

The restoration of the national college entrance examination was

implemented a year earlier than the third plenary session of the 11^th

committee of the Communist Party of China, which was held in

December 1978, and initiated the policy of reform and opening up.

To be precise, the reform changed the fate of the nation and its

development from a planned economy and ideology-dominated society

to a market economy and a pluralistic one that has made the country

what it is today.

Before the restoration of the exam most of the universities were still

running, but students were recommended from among workers, farmers

and service people from the People’s Liberation Army. There were

exams, but they did not make a difference when it came to the question

of whether a student should be enrolled or not.

It is no exaggeration to say that when the national entrance examination

 resumed in 1977, it was a milestone in the modern history of this

country because it was the first time in several decades that everybody

 had an equal right to higher education.

Every graduate from a senior high school had the right to sit such an

exam before 1966 but family background rather than exam scores would

sometimes make the difference. My cousin was one of the best graduates

from his senior high school and got very high scores in the college

entrance examination, but he was denied the chance of entering a

university simply because of his father’s political label of being a rightist.

The national college entrance exam was suspended during the Cultural

Revolution (1966-1976), the recommendation mechanisms made it

possible for some in power to get their relatives or those who had close

relations with them into institutions of higher learning. As far as I know,

some would never have had any chance of passing the entrance exam,

but went to a university because of the influence of their parents.

I was hurt when one of my best friends on a farm, where we were

supposed to receive re-education, got a chance to study in a technical

school. Two were supposed to be chosen from among 500 youths on

the farm, but there was no exam or voting except for manipulations in the

 dark.

My friend’s father was a high-ranking official, and he was tight-lipped

about what was going on behind the scenes until the day his father came

to fetch him. I felt so upset because I could not see any hope of getting

such a chance to study, even in a technical school, to say nothing of

gong to a university.

When the news came in 1977 that the national college entrance

examination would be restored and open to anyone, I was working as a

points man at a railway station. I was so delighted at such an unexpected

 ray of hope, getting away from the shabby and lonely cabin, where I

would stay for 12 hours changing tracks whenever I received a phone

call from the track control center. I would sit gazing up at the ceiling in

 meditation or observing every detail of my surroundings from the

bushes along the railway lines to the cranes at a nearby factory. Reading

 books was banned as a distraction from work. I started to spend my

spare time, and even the intervals between changing tracks, to read

books for the exam. I kept notes of whatever I needed to remember on

 slips of paper and hid them in my pocket, which made it very

convenient for me to review them any time even at work, but very

difficult for supervisors to discover what I was doing. They would come

at any time, and push open the door of my cabin unexpectedly and thrust

 their heads in to see what I was doing.

They just could not figure out what I was muttering, but there was no

rule to stop us from talking to ourselves during work.

The day I left the station where I had worked for two years and eight

months for my university, I could not believe it was true. It was like a

 dream. It is almost three decades since I worked there. But it still seems

like a dream.

I would still be working at the station if it were not for the national

 college entrance exam. Many would still be working on farmlands in

poverty-stricken areas. The exam has guaranteed equal rights for

 everyone to receive education in institutions of higher learning.

Some accuse the exam of exerting too heavy a burden on students from

 primary school age. They do have to work hard to get good marks so

that they can gain a place in a top high school, senior high and finally a

university. Some even accuse this examination-dominated education

system of rote learning.

These problems do exist, but they are not good reasons to abolish

the national college entrance exam. The exam is and will always be

the only way to gauge whether a student is qualified to enter

university.

Even if we have enough universities to cater to all senior high school

graduates, we will still need an exam to decide who is going to which

university as all universities are not of the same level of quality.

What I treasure most is the equality that an exam guarantees everyone. If

you fail the first time, you can always try again. If you enter a university

not up to your expectations, you still have the opportunity to enter a

better university for your postgraduate degree as long as you work hard.

This is what I told my nephew who sat the exam this year. And it is

 exactly the case for everyone.

A 79-year-old man took the exam for the eighth time this year. The age

restriction was scrapped in 2001. even for people without any particular

job ambition, but simply to gain more knowledge, the national exam is

open.

However, what affects the fairness and equality of the exam is not the

way in which it is held, but cheating discovered every year. In some

cases, teachers have been found to have helped their students cheat as a

higher rate of graduates being enrolled by universities means higher

bonuses for teachers and a better reputation for the school.