Problems of personal identity formation among Chinese high school students in the context of an examcentered education system

Introduction. China’s secondary education has long been dominated by a highly exam-oriented system ( 中国应试教育体制 ), in which student achievement is measured almost exclusively by performance on high-stakes tests (especially the 高考 college entrance exam). This system prioritizes exam preparation over broader personal or moral development. Critics argue that such a system reduces “education” to drilling for exams, shaping students’ self-concept primarily around scores and rank. In recent years, the Chinese government has implemented policies (the “Double Reduction” ( 双减 ) and new 3+3 exam reforms) to rebalance the curriculum. Nonetheless, the legacy of exam pressure persists.

Against this background, it becomes important to examine how the exam-centered organization of learning, the rhythm of school life, and the ideological content of curricula jointly influence adolescents’ self-perception and identity development.

The purpose of this article is to identify and analyze the mechanisms through which China’s exam-centered education system shapes the development of personal identity among high school students.

The paper is organized as follows. First, it examines the historical foundations and key characteristics of China’s exam-centered education system as a socio-pedagogical context shaping adolescent development. Second, it analyzes the mechanisms through which this system influences the formation of students’ personal identity, with particular attention to its cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions. Third, it explores how recent educational reforms and the ideological content of school curricula interact with exam culture to reconfigure identity-related processes. Finally, the article summarizes the main findings and discusses their implications for understanding students’ self-concept and for future educational policy.

Historical Roots and Key Characteristics of China’s Exam-Centered Education System. Exam-oriented education in China has ancient roots in the imperial civil service examination system (keju), which functioned for centuries as a primary mechanism of social selection and mobility. However, its modern form took shape mainly in the twentieth century. Even early reformers like Mao Zedong recognized problems in the traditional system. As Mao wrote in 1921, the “traditional schooling system” had “too many courses” and left students “deeply burdened by course-load, to use their minds for active independent research” [5]. In other words, students spent so much time in class that there was little room for self-directed learning. This critique echoed earlier Chinese educational ideals, which valued self-education: in imperial times, the process of learning consisted mainly of self-educational activity, and examinations functioned primarily as a means of knowledge verification, while students were strongly encouraged to study independently. The contrast between these two models highlights an important historical shift: whereas examinations were once embedded in a learner-driven process, in modern China they gradually became the central organizing principle of schooling.

After 1949, China initially adopted elements of Soviet-style pedagogy, emphasizing collective discipline and centralized curricula. By the 1960s, however, political leaders again stressed the importance of student initiative. During the Cultural Revolution, formal entrance examinations were suspended for several years, representing a radical attempt to dismantle exam-based hierarchies. Nevertheless, after the end of this period, the reinstatement of the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) marked a decisive return to standardized testing as the dominant mechanism of educational stratification. In the 1980s and 1990s, the expansion of the State Examinations for self-learners ( 国家自学考试 ) further institutionalized testing as a core instrument of mass education. Over time, the system became increasingly score-driven: secondary schools shifted their primary focus toward training students to perform successfully on examinations. In this high-stakes environment, test scores determine which universities a student may attend, if any, which, in turn, shapes students’ expectations about their future. As a res-

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ЛИЧНОСТНОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ СТАРШЕКЛАССНИКОВ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЭКЗАМЕНОЦЕНТРИРОВАННОЙ СИСТЕМЫ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ КИТАЯ ult, many adolescents come to perceive getting into college as the ultimate boundary of their educational and personal aspirations. Scholars argue that such an emphasis fosters a narrow, instrumental view of education, encouraging students to equate learning with exam success rather than with personal growth [1].

The structural characteristics of the contemporary exam-centered system further reinforce this logic. These include intense academic competition, heavy homework loads, frequent testing, and a curriculum that is often “narrowed” to match examination requirements—a phenomenon widely described as the washback effect of testing. This pressure is not episodic but embedded in students’ everyday routines. Analyses of Chinese school schedules show that, apart from a short 30-minute break, “under the academic pressure of exam-oriented education… students have almost no time for any extracurricular activities” [5].

Mechanisms of Personal Identity Formation in an Exam-Centered Educational Context. The predominance of examinations in Chinese secondary education profoundly shapes students’ self-perception, behavioral strategies, and long-term self-definitions. Empirical studies and theoretical analyses converge on several mechanisms through which exam-centered schooling influences the formation of personal identity [4, p. 1165–1167]. First, students tend to internalize a test-centered self-concept: they begin to perceive themselves primarily as “test-takers” or future exam candidates rather than as autonomous learners or developing individuals. Kirkpatrick R. and Zang Yuebing found that many Chinese high school students describe education mainly as passing examinations and warn that this approach, at its most extreme, “can stifle a student's imagination, creativity, and sense of self” [5, p. 38–41]. When academic success becomes the dominant criterion of value, adolescents may gradually lose sight of intrinsic interests and alternative self-definitions. Creativity and independent thinking are marginalized because they are not directly rewarded by standardized assessments. Over time, this dynamic may erode students’ self-esteem: those who fail to achieve high scores often come to view themselves as inadequate or unsuccessful, which negatively affects their identity and psychological well-being.

Second, exam-related pressure structures students’ everyday experiences in ways that directly influence identity development. Daily routines are overwhelmingly filled with classes, homework, and additional tutoring, leaving little space for personal exploration or the development of diverse competencies. As noted above, most after-school time is devoted to academic tasks, which severely limits participation in sports, arts, and social activities. Research shows that under intense exam pressure, extracurricular sports activities lose their value, as students are compelled to prioritize academic performance over other forms of self-expression [2]. This narrowing of life experience reinforces the idea that a student’s worth is tied almost exclusively to academic achievement [6, p. 8]. When adolescents primarily identify with exam suc- cess, their self-concept becomes increasingly rigid and unidimensional. Such conditions foster anxiety and reduce identity flexibility: individuals may feel secure only when performing well and experience confusion or loss of meaning in the face of failure or transition.

Wu Fei identifies a series of cognitive and emotional distortions produced by exam-oriented education that further shape identity-related processes [8, p. 29]. These distortions do not merely affect learning strategies but also influence how students understand themselves as thinking and acting subjects. Table 1 systematizes these mechanisms, demonstrating how the structure of schooling gradually transforms students’ relationships to knowledge, authority, and self-expression.

Through these mechanisms, learning is transformed into a purely instrumental activity, where value is attributed not to understanding or growth but to performance. This instrumentalization weakens students’ capacity for reflective self-awareness and reduces their sense of agency. Instead of constructing identity through exploration and self-directed meaning-making, students are trained to anticipate expectations, conform to standardized models, and avoid intellectual risk. Over time, this fosters what Wu Fei describes as the internalization of passive obedience, eroding autonomy and responsibility as core components of personal identity [8, p. 29].

In addition to cognitive restructuring, exam-centered schooling also generates intense emotional pressures that shape identity formation. A synthesized overview of major psychological stressors is presented in Table 2, which illustrates how academic overload, parental expectations, and competition for university admission create persistent emotional strain [7, p. 44–46].

These pressures do not merely cause temporary distress; they gradually become integrated into students’ self-understanding. Adolescents learn to interpret stress, exhaustion, and anxiety as normal features of their identity as successful students. In this sense, the exam-centered system does not only evaluate performance, it teaches students how to define themselves. Many begin to associate personal value with endurance, discipline, and sacrifice, while neglecting emotional needs, curiosity, and creative self-expression.

Educational Reforms, Ideological Discourse, and Identity-Related Processes. China’s educational system has long been used as a key instrument of ideological socialization. This function is closely intertwined with the exam-centered logic of schooling, which amplifies the formative impact of curricular content on students’ self-understanding. Recent educational reforms, including updated national standards and textbook revisions, have explicitly increased the presence of patriotic, moral, and Confucian narratives, aiming to shape students’ values, attitudes, and collective self-identification. Modern Chinese schoolbooks now “reflect the major discourses of Confucian philosophy, cultivating students’ cultural and political identity” [5].

Table 1

Mechanisms of Cognitive Distortion Under Exam-Oriented Education [8]

Mechanism	Operational Process	Long-Term Impact on Thinking
Instrumentalization of Learning	Learning serves test scores only; exploration and process value ignored	Devalues learning as a self-driven pursuit
Standardization of Responses	Emphasis on model answers and absolute correctness	Suppresses creative and divergent thought
Emotional Disengagement	Repetition and stress cause aversion and emotional exhaustion	Learning becomes associated with suffering and rejection
Cognitive Overregulation	Students learn to guess expectations, not develop own ideas	Habitual conformity, fear of intellectual risk
Suppression of Metacognition	Fast-paced, test-focused routine reduces time for reflection and abstraction	Weakens critical self-awareness and evaluative judgment
Internalization of Passive Obedience	Long-term adaptation to authority and avoidance of conflict or uncertainty	Erodes independent identity and responsibility

Table 2

Key Sources of Psychological Pressure on Chinese Students under Exam-Oriented Education [7]

Source of Pressure	Manifestations and Consequences
School-Driven Academic Load	Overload due to test-focused teaching; neglect of non-exam subjects; cognitive fatigue, insomnia, neuroses
Parental Expectations and Pressure	Emotional blackmail tied to exam results; shame, fear of failure, school dropout, suicide risk
Excessive Study Duration	Long hours, lack of rest, persistent mental strain; symptoms include neurasthenia, loss of appetite
University Entrance Competition	Anxiety due to low admission rates; association of education with social status and job prospects
Chronic Anxiety	Long-term anxiety leads to depression, insomnia, somatic symptoms, panic attacks during exams
Frustration from Repeated Failures	Frequent low scores and public shaming; fosters cheating, self-deprecation, and school aversion
Mismatch of Ideal and Real Self	High goals vs. limited ability; leads to disappointment, internal conflict, apathy, and anxiety
Lack of Leisure and Over-Scheduling	Loss of free time creates emotional fatigue; play-study conflict triggers stress and inner discord

These reforms introduce an additional layer of normative regulation. In addition to being evaluated through standardized examinations, students are now exposed to a value-laden representation of what it means to be a “proper” citizen, learner, and member of society. This process extends beyond academic knowledge and actively participates in shaping adolescents’ self-perception. Identity formation becomes a dual process, on the one hand, students learn to define themselves through performance-based criteria; on the other, they are encouraged to internalize collectively sanctioned moral and cultural ideals [3, p. 370–371].

The Intersection of Exam Assessment and Ideological Socialization. These ideological goals intersect directly with the exam-centered structure of schooling. Even when examinations formally assess academic subjects, the content of these subjects is often infused with moral and patriotic values. Following the most recent curriculum reform, students reported increased levels of patriotism, legal awareness, and cultural pride. In particular, courses such as Morality and Rule of Law, Chinese History, Language, and Literature were found to deepen students’ ideological education, increase legal literacy, and stimulate interest in national culture, thereby en-

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ЛИЧНОСТНОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ СТАРШЕКЛАССНИКОВ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЭКЗАМЕНОЦЕНТРИРОВАННОЙ СИСТЕМЫ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ КИТАЯ hancing civic engagement and collective identification. In this way, the school environment simultaneously produces academically measurable outcomes and ideologically framed self-concepts.

Importantly, this dual function of schooling intensifies the normative dimension of identity formation. Students are not only evaluated in terms of what they know, but also implicitly guided toward particular ways of understanding themselves, their society, and their future roles within it. As a result, personal identity is increasingly constructed at the intersection of academic performance and moral-political expectations.

This process also generates new tensions. Scholars warn of the risks associated with the strict subordination of education to political objectives, arguing that excessive ideological instrumentalization may undermine the autonomy of educational theory and practice [2]. When the school system becomes a direct transmitter of state ideology, identity formation may shift from a reflective and exploratory process toward a more prescriptive and externally regulated one. In such contexts, students’ personal identities are shaped less through individual meaning-making and more through compliance with collectively defined norms.

Recent examination reforms illustrate this ambivalence. The transition from the “3 + 1 + 2” model of the Gaokao to the “3 + 3” format was officially introduced not only to reduce academic pressure but also to promote more diversified learning trajectories. Policymakers argued that excessive reliance on test scores had reduced secondary education to a narrow preparatory stage for higher education. Yet, in practice, reformed examinations continue to prioritize knowledge domains that often overlap with ideologically significant content. In several provinces, moral and ideological components have been incorporated into assessment systems, reinforcing the link between academic success and normative identity formation.

Conclusion. China’s exam-centered education system has a profound impact on the processes of personal identity formation among high school students. Historically grounded in long-standing examination traditions and reinforced by contemporary educational policy, it promotes a mode of self-definition that is closely tied to academic performance and institutional evaluation. From an early age, students learn to measure their own value primarily through test scores, rankings, and measurable achievement, often at the expense of creativity, emotional development, and personal interests. This dynamic contributes to rigid study routines, elevated anxiety levels, and a narrowed understanding of the self as either successful or unsuccessful within the academic hierarchy.

At the same time, recent curriculum reforms have incorporated increasingly explicit ideological and cultural components into schooling, encouraging students to identify not only as academic performers but also as bearers of collective national values. As a result, identity formation in the Chinese educational context acquires a hybrid character, combining performance-based self-evaluation with collectively framed moral and cultural self-understanding.

The theoretical and analytical review has shown that the exam-centered system influences identity development at multiple interconnected levels: through the organization of the educational process, cognitive and emotional mechanisms, and the ideological content of school subjects. It has been demonstrated that the priority of standardized examinations fosters a testcentered perception of one’s own abilities, intensifies stress, and limits opportunities for self-exploration, while current reforms only partially mitigate these effects. Consequently, personal identity develops under systemic constraints defined by the logic of high-stakes assessment.