School trial lets students ‘borrow’ scores for exams

Students at a secondary school in Nanjing can now “borrow” scores to help them pass exams in a move aimed at reducing academic pressure.

Nanjing No 1 Middle School in Jiangsu province launched the nation’s first “grade bank” in November and has so far made loans to 13 struggling students, allowing them to reach passing marks in tests they had failed.

Like most loans, however, students must repay them with interest — in this case, gaining extra points in later tests or carrying out presentations or experiments in class.

Gui Xingyao, 16, borrowed seven points to pass her last physics test and now needs to score at least 67 out of 100 in her final exam to repay the loan and avoid a failing grade.

“It took me a while to get used to our new English-language physics textbook this semester,” she said. “I applied for the loan immediately after hearing about the bank, and I can repay the marks through studying harder.”

To be eligible for a loan, students cannot violate school regulations, such as being late to class or using bad language.

Each application is evaluated by a teacher, who determines whether a student is able to repay the debt. Applicants are also required to provide a guarantor, who will pay the extra marks in the event the student defaults.

The bank is the brainchild of Huang Kan, director of the school’s international department, who said she consulted banking experts to drawup the rules on lending the scores.

“It helps to reduce the pressure of examinations,” she said. “We should value the learning process and attitude more than the result.

“Some students will study hard but may still get poor grades in exams. It’s unfair to judge them by a single test.”

Yu Hongmei, a physics teacher at the school, said her students are able to repay a loan by giving correct answers in class.

“Getting poor grades, though they may not reflect the students’ real academic ability, can still influence some students deeply. It provides them with a chance to escape from the pressure and make a change.”

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, welcomes the move and said that the belief of many Chinese schools — only marks matter — needs to be modified.

That said, teachers need to be careful. “The bank may encourage students to put less effort into current examinations and have too much hope for future ones,” Xiong said.