From the perspective of national policies, for a long time, the admission rate of college entrance examination and key universities in western provinces is generally lower than that in eastern developed provinces, and the "college entrance examination gap" between the east and the west is obvious. Whether it is to promote education equity or the development of the central and western regions, this phenomenon needs to be changed urgently. This is why the "cooperation plan" of the Ministry of Education requires the provinces with abundant higher education resources to come up with some enrollment indicators to "support" the western provinces. The country is a whole and needs balanced and coordinated development. It is natural for developed areas to "pull" backward areas from the national level, consider the overall situation and focus on the long-term.
However, from the perspective of those supporting provinces, "fairness in college entrance examination" has different connotations. For example, some parents believe that the higher admission rate of college entrance examination in eastern provinces is due to the better quality of students, the result of local governments attaching importance to education and parents cultivating their children at all costs, and the result of teachers' careful teaching and students' serious study. The fairness of the college entrance examination should be "survival of the fittest" rather than "filling the gap". For another example, some parents believe that the rich higher education resources in eastern provinces depend on the long-term investment of local governments, which embodies the efforts and sweat of local taxpayers and their children should benefit from it. For example, some parents asked why Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, which are far ahead of the college entrance examination, did not adjust their enrollment indicators. Many parents don't agree with the statement that the external adjustment index will not affect the local admission rate, because if the external adjustment index is not used, the proportion of local candidates attending universities and excellent universities will be higher.
Yes, once the region is involved, "fair college entrance examination" becomes an unclear thing.
It should be said that there is nothing wrong with national policies and parents' demands are reasonable. As for who is more reasonable, it's really hard to judge. But one thing needs to be emphasized: to promote the fairness of college entrance examination, we should not only adjust the enrollment index, but also focus on basic education. In fact, what is more obvious than the "gap in college entrance examination" between the east and the west is the gap in basic education between the east and the west. The weak basic education in the western region and the unsatisfactory quality of education lead to the fact that the overall quality of students is not as good as that in the eastern provinces, which is also an important reason why many national key universities have limited enrollment indicators in the western provinces. Adjusting the enrollment index by administrative order can certainly improve the admission rate of the college entrance examination in the western region, but it will obviously affect the fairness and efficiency of the college entrance examination, which is not conducive to the cultivation of national talents.
Therefore, the central government should increase transfer payments, and local governments should really pay attention to education, invest more money in basic education, and improve the education level and the quality of students. This is the fundamental solution to improve the admission rate of college entrance examination in the western region. Only by bridging the gap in basic education can we bridge the gap in college entrance examination. When there is not much difference in the basic education level between the east and the west, it may be much easier to realize the fairness of the college entrance examination: the national unified examination papers and unified admission, and the admission of candidates in colleges and universities only depends on their grades, regardless of which province the candidates come from.