Advice to students who fail gaokao

markwu (Malaysia)

Don't let a good sentiment - gratitude and filial piety towards one's parents - end in a non-reversible and pointless tragedy.

Study the lives of all those who have succeeded: most never pass higher education. They just worked hard and smart until good luck and destiny arrived at their feet just when their eyes and minds were alert to the fresh opportunity.

Every life is meant to be lived in such a way as to deliver a message to the entire universe. Whether the message is good or bad depends on how one sees the world and appreciates the challenges of life. Patience and perseverance can change the tides of life.

The gaokao is just a men-made exam, not the self-made life that is so much more. After all, hurting oneself because of an exam failure is hurting one's parents from whom one has arrived into this world. It is as though they were the ones who had taken the exam and failed.

There is no shame in failing in anything. Nobody is made in this world to excel in everything. But there should be shame in not getting up to try again. If not the exam, then try something else in life. One day one will surely shine in some career or vocation however humble it may be.

A student prays before his National College Entrance Exam at a temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu province June 6, one day before gaokao. Millions of university hopefuls took China's national college entrance examination, or gaokao, this year. The fiercely competitive test is seen as a make-or-break for getting ahead. [Agencies]

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