The interdependence of educational alienation and equality: rethinking China’s examination-oriented education system

Examination-oriented education (EOE) is widely recognized by academics as an educational system that upholds equality while stifling student creativity (alienation). However, studies have yet to identify the specific pathways through which EOE maintains equality. Furthermore, analyses of educational alienation have been limited to discursive conceptual analyses rather than empirical investigations, failing to recognize the complexity of the phenomenon. This study links the concepts of educational alienation and EOE and attempts to analyze the intrinsic connection between the two based on interview, textual, and documentary analyses. This article argues that through the design of closed-campus settings and programmed evaluation criteria, EOE constructs an independent system separate from quality education, thereby, to some extent, weakening the influence of unequal quality education and maintaining educational equality.