Carrying on Tradition.


Remind you guys of anything?

"One of the weakest links in the exam system was the authentication of examinee identity. Without photography, fingerprinting, or other means of authentication that are available to us today, examiners relied on verbal descriptions of candidates for identification. Consequently, hiring substitutes to take exams, particularly at the low-level prefectural exams, was quite commonplace. During the late Qing dynasty, as many as 30%–40% of prefectural examinees were illegal hired substitutes.

Other common cheating methods included bringing and using concealed cheat sheets and notes, communicating with outside confederates, and bribing exam officers. Cheat notes were found in pockets, inside linings of clothes, hollowed soles of shoes, baked bread and cakes, handles of pens, hollowed bases of ink slabs, and hollowed bases of carrying cases; were written on undergarments; and were even written on undergarments with invisible ink (made from herbal medicine). The ink became visible when rubbed with dirt. Communicating with outside confederates was done by tying sheets to rocks and secretly throwing them over walls of the guarded exam compound. Candidates would also use carrier pigeons to send notes back and forth, and signals were also sent using lanterns on long poles or even fireworks displays."
- Chronic Consequences of High-Stakes Testing? Lessons from the Chinese Civil Service Exam via University of Chicago


And we thought we were doing something new and crazy.

But at least we were carrying on tradition. Heads up high, gentlemen.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

those were some good times.
fking borowitz..

Justin said...

borowitz always looked like a creepy pedo.