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What Chairman Mao and Dolores Umbridge Have in Common In Harry Potter, Dolores Umbridge is a more realistic villain than Voldemort: she gains power through titles, loyalty, conformity, and paperwork, not competence. She weakens Defense Against the Dark Arts by replacing practical preparation with Ministry-approved theory—her real talent is playing the institutional game. This echoes Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil,” where ordinary people advance by obeying and enforcing a system. When loyalty matters more than ability, institutions start selecting for mediocrity. The parallel with Maoist China is stark. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Tiesheng was celebrated for submitting a blank exam and attacking “bookworms.” Despite poor results, political loyalty earned him a seat in the National People’s Congress. Mao’s promotion rule was effectively “red and expert”: political reliability outweighed competence. The consequences were catastrophic. Honest reporting was punished, so officials produced what Mao wanted to hear. False harvest data drove unrealistic targets and helped fuel the Great Leap Forward famine, which killed tens of millions. Education was politicized too: the Gaokao was abolished in 1966, and when admissions resumed, scores were replaced by class background, manual labor experience, and Party recommendations; the national exam returned only in 1977. Totalitarian systems don’t just remove capable people—they select for those politically reliable and morally compliant. Mediocrity shields leaders from rivals; reduced conscience makes coercion easier. Psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski called this pathocracy: rule by the pathological disordered, where normal institutions lose their ability to distinguish honest from manipulative. The system keeps its name and stated purpose while serving something else. The lesson: tyranny doesn’t require everyone to become evil. It requires enough people to stop recognizing the pathological. Once that moral filter disappears, institutions become vulnerable to exploitation—how psychopaths take over a society.

Ο Gaokao, οι εξετάσεις εισαγωγής στα πανεπιστήμια της Κίνας, ξεκίνησαν στις 7 Ιουνίου 2026 με τη συμμετοχή περίπου 12,9 εκατομμυρίων μαθητών, ενώ εκτός από την ιστορία τους ως πνευματικοί απόγονοι του αυτοκρατορικού συστήματος εξετάσεων, φέτος το υπουργείο Παιδείας ανακοίνωσε νέα προπτυχιακά προγράμματα που ανταγωνίζονται τις αναδυόμενες βιομηχανικές ανάγκες της χώρας. #Gaokao #Κίνα #πανεπιστήμια

8. junija 2026 je skoraj 13 milijonov kitajskih maturantov istočasno vstopilo v 348.000 učilnic za opravljanje sprejemnih izpitov (gaokao), ob tem pa so se uvedli strogi varnostni ukrepi, vključno s preverjanjem pametnih očal, da bi preprečili goljufanje. #gaokao #UmetnaInteligenca #izobraževanje

Článek porovnává způsoby, jakými se maturita a závěrečné zkoušky konají v různých zemích, zdůrazňuje extrémní tlak a stres spojený s čínským Gaokao a korejským Suneung, zatímco v Itálii má maturita spíše formální charakter a ve Švédsku je oslavou bez zkoušek. #Maturità #SistemiScolastici #Gaokao

Circa 12,9 milioni di studenti in Cina hanno iniziato oggi il 'gaokao', l'esame di ammissione all'università che dura più giorni e rappresenta per la maggior parte di loro l'unica possibilità di accesso a un ateneo, con punteggi attesi alla fine del mese. #gaokao #istruzione #studenti

El gaokao, el examen nacional de acceso a la universidad en China que comenzó este domingo, concentra la atención de 12,9 millones de estudiantes en una intensa competencia por ingresar a las mejores instituciones del país, en un contexto de creciente incertidumbre sobre el retorno de la inversión educativa y el ascenso social, mientras las autoridades implementan medidas para proteger la integridad de la prueba ante nuevas tecnologías. #gaokao #educación #China