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Blood For Extra Credit Points Offer Raises Eyebrows In Test-Mad China
An anonymous reader writes Parents in China's Zhejiang province can give their own blood to earn some extra points on their child's high school entrance exam. Four liters of donated blood will get your child one extra point; 6 liters adds two points; and 8 liters, three. From the article: "The policy burst into the national limelight this week, when a Weibo user posted a photo of a bandaged arm, saying, 'For my future child, I say one thing: Relax when you take the high school entrance exam. Your dad's already helped you gain points.' The post was widely shared. Though the user declined to be interviewed by China Real Time, he also clarified his original post, saying that he had in fact been giving blood since age 18."
Yeah, most people don't even have that much blood.
Does it have to be your own blood?
> Four liters of donated blood will get your child one extra point; 6 liters adds two points; and 8 liters, three.
That's significant if the scores go to 36, like the ACT test. If the max score is 2400, like the SAT, an extra point or three hardly matters.
It's a slippery slope (because of all the blood).
If it is used to "predict future results" then the conversation may become "We need your parents to give X units of blood for you to get an A on the upcoming test."
BlameBillCosby.com
Finally! A form of bribery that almost anyone can afford.
Keep in mind these are asians we're talking about, and according to their action movies and cartoons, they have about 10 gallons of blood stored under high pressure :-P
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Unless you're gay or bisexual in which case they don't really need the blood that much.
I used to love donating, but I got tired of being treated badly by the staff. Being required to ask questions that had no public health benefit in order to donate blood. I could literally have unprotected anal sex with an HIV infect prostitute in exchange for drugs and I'd eventually be allowed to donate again, assuming I didn't contract anything. But have sex one time with a guy's husband who doesn't have any communicable disease and you're struck from the list for life.
China is obviously a different culture and a different set of challenges, but if the blood banks in the US need blood that badly, perhaps joining the 21st century and stop turning down qualified blood donors would help.