Every year, the essay prompts in the gaokao, the national college entrance examination, lead to a carnival of comments and criticism. This year, the prompts included: Does feeding wild animals cause them to lose the ability to find food themselves? Does modern technology deprive people of beauty, such as that of a dark night? Should one follow traditional social norms in Beijing? Why and how do people see different views from their window? Do people have real freedom when they have to cross a desert? Are actors allowed to change scripts?

The only thing such essay prompts have in common is they are all unpredictable. Only on the day of the exam will the students discover what kind of essays they are being asked to write. Professor Zhang Yiwu of Peking University argues that a good essay prompt should by necessity be unpredictable, defying any who attempt to look into a crystal ball. I can understand this, but let us also be cautious of the negative repercussions of such unpredictability carried to the extent of a whim.

Granted, the secrecy prevents opportunistic educators from guessing the prompts and students from cheating, but it also breaks the boundaries of a level playing field. Students do not know what game they are playing, and they do not know what the rules are. Since they do not know where they are going, they can land anywhere. If the essays prompts are intended to select a few students for college, they do what they are intended to do. The smartest of students will always be able to do something with an essay prompt no matter how outlandish.