Fierce competition for Chinese prestige elementary schools

“Difficult interview questions even for adults,” “intelligence quotient tests for parents,” “large amount of contribution.” These are some of the facts reported Monday by a Hong Kong’s daily regarding entrance exams for prestige elementary schools in China.

At an elementary school interview, children were asked why polar bears do not eat penguins. Certain schools require IQ tests for parents, explaining that children born from parents with low IQ lose their brilliance after 10 years old.

The competition rate to enter Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School was 37:1 with 4,400 applicants to 120 openings. Kids not knowing how to use iPad cannot even take the entrance test because the test is conducted on iPad. For a listen and repeat test, children have to select one language among German, French and Japanese because children are asked to listen and repeat 12 English sentences and one sentence in the chosen language. This means kids have to know at least two foreign languages. At interviews, children are asked questions such as “Explain how to make three pieces out of one piece of paper by tearing the paper only once.”

Quite a few elementary schools require large amount of donation. A prestige elementary school in Beijing is reported to ask for a 60,000 yuan (9,800 U.S. dollars) donation while another in the same city demands donations ranging from 30,000 yuan (4,900 dollars) to 60,000 yuan (9,800 dollars). Zhingsan Primary School, one of the most prestige schools, receives a whopping 250,000 yuan (41,000 dollars) as donation, while Suzha Primary School is said to collect a 130,000 yuan (21,000 dollars) donation per child. Homes near prestige schools are sold with premium.