On January 5, 2017, the public lecture on independent admissions, jointly organized by Open Class magazine and Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), was held at Chongqing Nankai Secondary School (NKS). Prof. Chen Yuehong of the Humanities Center, SUSTech, gave a lecture entitled Quality and Ability Test in Independent Admission, having a discussion with NKS’ front line Chinese teachers about the trend of high school Chinese education, as well as writing and interview skills in universities’ independent admission in the context of college entrance examination reform.

“Universities differ in independent admissions.” In his lecture, Chen introduced SUSTech’s “631” policy for undergraduate admissions based on comprehensive evaluation (the college entrance examination score of a student accounts for 60 percent of the total admission score, the result of the aptitude test organized by SUSTech accounts for 30 percent, and the student’s high school GPA accounts for 10 percent). “Unlike college entrance examination admission, universities’ independent admissions values students’ innovation ability and individuality more, and SUSTech requires that all undergraduate students must pass its aptitude test and interview, posing high requirements for students’ comprehensive quality.”

“While preparing for an independent admission test, an examinee should avoid the thought process of the college entrance examination, and learn to think differently. Citing a question (Why was a world-class observatory built in the Vatican where Pope lives?) set by Peking University for the independent admission, Chen said, “To answer this question, we must figure out the purpose of the question maker? To test the conflict between religion and science? No. This question requires students to demonstrate the relations between religion and science from the perspective of disciplinary history. Simple positive-negative-synthetic demonstration leads to a passing grade, and only those who dare to subvert the conventional logic strictly and critically against positive-negative-synthetic theory are really excellent. I think critical logical analysis is the basis of selecting first-class students.”

In the lecture lasting nearly one hour, through rich cases, Chen offered the students and their parents present an accurate understanding of universities’ independent admission, and introduced a lot of practical answering methods. In the discussion with tens of front line Chinese teachers, he answered nearly 10 puzzles encountered by high school Chinese teachers after the reform of the college entrance examination. “The college entrance examination solves the problem of educational equity and independent admission solves the problem of educational individuality,” said Chen, expecting more high schools including NKS to value independent admission and train students’ speech ability and other abilities in a targeted manner.