Why can't the college entrance examination papers and admission scores be unified nationwide?

For the college entrance examination, many people have this question - why can't the exam papers and admission scores be unified nationwide? Not only do admission scores vary in different regions, but even exam papers have different versions. Isn't this unfair?

I used to feel very puzzled, but later when I saw something that happened in the Ming Dynasty, I realized why the exam papers and scores could not be unified. The story takes place at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. We know that Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor who was eager for talents and attached great importance to the selection of scholars through scientific examinations.

In the thirtieth year of the Hongwu reign, which is 1397, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang specially arranged Liu Sanwu, a great scholar in the literary world, as the chief examiner in order to demonstrate his emphasis on talent. At that time, Liu Sanwu was already 85 years old and highly respected. All the students who took the exam also felt that this arrangement was the greatest respect for scholars.

On the fifth day of June 1397, which was the day of the imperial examination rankings, candidates from all over the country gathered together in anticipation. However, immediately after the rankings were released, a storm erupted! The reason is that in this year's competition, all the participants on the list were actually from the south, and none of them came from the north, hence it is called the "South List".

At that time, the boundary between the north and south was mainly based on the Huai River and Qinling Mountains. After the collective failure of northern students to pass the imperial examination, they became emotionally agitated and caused a commotion in the imperial examination hall. They not only tore up the list, but also jointly accused the imperial examination of unfairness. Some said that the chief examiner Liu Sanwu was from the south, favoring southern students for personal gain, while others said that the court engaged in regional discrimination. In short, the controversy was widespread.

After learning about it, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that there was something suspicious, so he ordered the attendant Zhang Xin and others to form a joint investigation team to thoroughly investigate the inside story of this scientific examination.

However, the results of the investigation were all normal. Liu Sanwu and other examiners judged the exam paper fairly and reasonably, without any errors, and there were no acts of favoritism or fraud. The root cause is mainly due to the wealth of the South, which places a much greater emphasis on education than the North. In today's words, education in the South is more introverted, so the scores in the South are generally higher than those in the North.

However, northern students were unable to accept this conclusion, and the public was enraged. Even northern court officials were secretly encouraging the students. In the end, the court couldn't resist the pressure and had to punish all the examiners on the grounds that there were forbidden words in the exam papers of the middle ranking. Even the chief examiner Liu Sanwu, who was in his eighties, was sent to exile, which barely dispelled public anger.

Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a re examination and personally served as the chief examiner. As a result of the examination, all 61 students were admitted from the northern regions. Therefore, this make-up examination was called the Northern Ranking. It was not until this point that the incident finally came to an end, and the scientific examination system of selecting students from the Northern and Southern Rankings was formed. This sensational event across the country is known in historical records as the "North South List Confusion Case".

The "North South Ranking Confusion Case" triggered by the thirty year imperial examination in the Ming Hongwu era has had a huge and profound impact on history. Some even say that today's provincial admission system for the college entrance examination originated from this. However, whether it is true or false, the college entrance examination papers and admission scores cannot be unified nationwide, and it is certain that they will be more or less affected by this major historical event.

At the same time, we can also imagine that if the college entrance examination is unified with unified exam papers and admission scores, top universities such as Tsinghua and Peking University are likely to be occupied by students from provinces with strong education, while children from provinces with relatively poor education are likely to be squeezed into universities such as first tier universities, second tier universities, and third tier universities, and students from remote and backward areas have even less opportunities.

If you happen to be the parent of the latter two types of students, are you willing to accept this situation? In fact, history has taught us that there is no absolute fairness. Since ancient times, the law of selecting talents through exams has been that the north cannot pass the south, and the west cannot pass the east.

So, although the current college entrance examination system cannot be said to be absolutely fair and reasonable, it is also trying to balance as much as possible and relatively balanced. Of course, we also hope that there will be better solutions in the future to meet more demands.