New rules for this year's national college entrance examination, or gaokao in Mandarin, which takes place from June 7 to 9 every year, sparked heated debate among the public in China. Before gaokao in 2014, some provincial education authorities released a new policy stipulating that gaokao applicants may receive 10 to 20 extra points if they have "excellent morality" or have records of helping others for a just cause.

China saw 9.39 million gaokao takers in 2014, about 3 percent more than last year. For years, the nation has adhered to a policy of awarding extra points to students who are winners of major sports events or math or science competitions, and children of returned overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities, among other groups. While emphasizing bonus points for morality, the new rule narrows incentive measures in the above-mentioned realms.

The public are divided on whether there should be such a bonus-point policy. Supporters believe that such a policy will promote the virtue of being valiant in the face of emergencies and foster students' morality. However, others argue that the policy encouraging students to help others in dangerous situations might put younger students in danger. In addition, the policy may lead to utilitarianism and be abused by some people through gaining extra points by cheating.

Pro

Yang Guodong

Jinan Daily

Enrolling university students shouldn't solely depend on scores, and a student's morality should also be taken into consideration. Otherwise, encouraging an all-round development in our education will just render meaningless. Those students who valiantly stand up in emergencies must be excellent in morality and deserve extra points in the national college entrance examination. Permitting applicants with records of helping others for a just cause to garner extra 10 to 20 points won't induce them to cheat or to fake such a record in a bid for bonus points. It is not easy for someone to meet such an occasion, let alone to acquire recognition from authorities.

Encouraging acts of bravery doesn't contradict with protecting the students' life safety as it encourages help within their capability and not recklessly risk the life in face of emergencies. Compared with awarding extra points to winners of sports events, and math or science competitions, giving bonus points to those who are excellent in morality and bravely help others in emergences will be more persuasive. This will also help carry forward uprightness, create a sound social environment and promote citizens' social ethics.

Con

Wang Jie

Media commentator

The virtue of bravely helping others in emergencies is rare and estimable. I agree to encourage the move by generous reward rather than offering bonus points in gaokao. 

First, we shouldn't call for citizens under 18 years old to provide help in dangerous situations as they are not capable of properly assessing dangers. Encouraging such young people to help may risk their life. If some students recklessly pushed themselves to be brave and lost their life because of the stimulation of a bonus-point policy, who should be responsible? The government, the school, or the whole of society?

Second, as there are more and more voices promoting equality in education, the bonus-point policy, including that awarding extra scores to those who have records of providing help in dangerous situations, should be scrapped. Even if some students are willing to go the extra mile, they may not be physically capable of doing so. Such students will lose the chance of gaining bonus points. It is unfair to them.

Moreover, helping others for a just cause is of social matters and should be done by adults. Awards on such a virtue include honors, necessary material incentives and humanistic cares. Heroes who got hurt or even incapacitated because of their brave acts need such awards, both to secure their own life and to stimulate more heroic deeds.

It is praiseworthy for students to act bravely in the face of emergencies. However, such moves shouldn't be promoted among students nor connected with gaokao. We couldn't sacrifice equality in education to promote such a virtue.

Pro

Yang Junxian

Netizen

The purpose of this policy is to promote moral education and foster students' sound values and world outlook. The policy should be specified when being implemented. For example, the assessment process should be transparent and be released to the public for supervision. The assessment criteria shouldn't be meaningless, but have to be persuasive and reflect the real moral quality of applicants.

Besides, there should be related education in school about how to help in the face of emergencies to secure young students properly excel within capacity. CA

Con

Chen Xiaoer

Media commentator

To help in emergencies is a matter of chance rather than choice. In face of the temptation of getting an extra 20 points in gaokao, some parents may inevitably mobilize their creativity and come up with crooked ideas, for instance, to direct a scene of heroically saving victims for their children. To be even worse, some powerful and well-connected parents may also bribe the authority to fake such records of helping others for a just cause in order to get extra bonus points. If so, equality will be compromised in such a policy. And it only turns to be another policy loophole that could be exploited by powerful and privileged people.

Con

Han Yaxian

Teacher

The virtue of being valiant in the face of emergencies should be awarded, but not through a bonus-point policy in gaokao. In our society, there are established systems to award those valiant heroes and encourage similar virtue. People will garner honors or considerable cash rewards for their bravery. And for real virtuous people, they won't hesitate to help others in emergences even if there is no reward.

Implementing such a bonus-point policy in gaokao will lead young students to have utilitarian expectations from noble morality. In one word, impropriate award will not promote virtuous behavior, but only spoil the pure land for the growth of young people's morality.

Pro

Song Maoyu

Community service worker

Adding "excellence in morality" and records of providing help in dangerous situations in gaokao's bonus-point policy reflects that our education pays more attention on promoting students' moral development. I think it is progress as it highlights the philosophy that moral education should start from children.

Previously in the score-oriented education system, students with sports talents and winners of Mathematical Olympiads could get extra points, while those virtuous ones were excluded from the system. School moral education became just a slogan. In this regard, I think encouraging brave acts through a bonus-point policy could prompt schools pay more attention to morality education, which should be a good trend in the future.

Some people object to students providing help in urgent situations on the grounds that students are still minors and should be protected. Actually, there is no need to always risk their life to deal with an urgent situation. The incentive aims at fostering good morality among students.