调查：四成高考状元毕业后出国

About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey.

About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey.

Most of them have stayed overseas after finishing their intended courses, showed a survey that tracked 130 top performers in college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.

The survey, released on the China Alumni Association website, found it worrying that many of the top students would not stay in China for higher studies despite the country's rapid development in the past few decades.

The government should find better ways to hold back talented students, said Cai Yanhou, a professor with Central South University in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province.

UNESCO figures show Chinese students comprise 14 percent of international students, the highest in the world. Their favorite destinations for higher studies are the US, Britain and Japan. Some experts said handsome scholarships, better job prospects and more opportunities to pursue further studies are the main attractions of foreign universities.

But Cai, who also led the survey team, said "top in exams" does not necessarily mean "top in career" because the study found none of the top students at college entrance exams had become a top Chinese expert or academic.

The entrance exam is just one of the numerous exams a person will go through in his life and that can't foretell his future achievements, said Wang Xuming, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education. He criticized the media hype over the so-called zhuangyuan.

Some of them are just more adaptable to exam-oriented education than their peers, experts said.

The media fill pages and time slots with their "success" stories to gain wider readership and viewership. High schools promote their former students proudly to attract new ones, and universities want to show their superior status by recruiting them, they said.

Wang hoped future reforms would do away with the score-oriented method so that students can be judged from all aspects.

一项调查显示，约40%的高考状元大学毕业后选择出国留学。

该调查对1977年至1998年间的130名高考状元进行了追踪调查，结果发现，其中大多数人在本科毕业后选择了出国。

该项在中国校友会网上公布的调查发现，尽管中国在过去几十年中发展迅速，但很多高考状元还是不愿留在国内继续深造，这一状况令人担忧。

位于湖南省长沙市的中南大学的蔡言厚教授说，政府应该想办法把这些高才生留下来。

据联合国教科文组织的统计数据显示，中国留学生占全球留学生总数的14%，居世界首位。其中最受青睐的留学地点为美国、英国和日本。据一些专家分析，国外大学的主要吸引力在于其奖学金丰厚、就业前景好、继续深造的机会更多。

而据调查小组组长蔡言厚教授介绍，“考场状元”并不一定能成为“职场状元”，调查发现，这些当年的高考状元中没有一个人成为国内顶尖的专家或学术人物。

教育部发言人王旭明说，高考只是一个人一生中很多考试中的其中一个，它并不能代表一个人未来的成就。他对媒体对于“高考状元”的大肆宣传进行了批评。

专家们称，有些高考状元只是比同龄人更加适应这种应试教育。

媒体为了吸引更多的读者和观众，用大量的版面和时间段来宣传“高考状元”们的“成功故事”；中学用这些状元们来吸引新生，而大学则通过招收他们来显示学校的地位。

王旭明希望，未来的教育改革能废除这种以分数为标准的人才选拔方法，这样就能从各个方面来判断一个学生。