Wuxi Children's Hospital has been busy in the past few days, administering IQ tests to children who are performing poorly in school, according to a local newspaper.

A report in the Yangtse Evening Post stated that several primary school teachers asked poorly-performing students to go to hospital to take IQ tests. Parents believe that the IQ tests were ordered because students with poor grades drag down the average score of the whole class, thereby damaging the class teacher's career prospects.

In response, Wuxi's education authorities and City Hall issued a notice on October 28 banning such humiliating tests on primary and high school students. The authorities have vowed to conduct a special investigation into the affair and promised to punish the teachers and schools involved in the event of any wrongdoing.

However, not all parents are against the measure. In fact, some parents would prefer that doctors give their kids lower IQ test scores, saying that if their children are found to have low IQs, their poor exam results will not affect the teacher's evaluation and subsequent career prospects. According to local newspapers, nearly 500 students visited the children's hospital asking for IQ tests. More are expected, and waiting lists are likely to be full until the end of November.

Doctors at the hospital stated that the children's teachers instructed them to come and that only a few children recorded relatively low scores on the test. Doctors added that low-scoring students can improve with the help and guidance of their parents.

Insiders in Wuxi's education system claimed that they were aware of the situation, but felt unable to help or intervene. One source claimed that primary school teachers' salaries are closely linked to their classes' average scores. As a result, less able pupils will adversely affect the status of their classmates.

The IQ tests will help to deflect the pressure and blame from teachers. Teachers will report a pupil's low IQ score to school officials so that the results of these 'bad' kids are not calculated into the average score of the class. But the insider argued that the deliberately low IQ results given by doctors, required by some parents, will lower children's confidence.

The latest notice from Wuxi authorities underlined that the measure was a huge mistake and that children develop at different rates. The notice asked all authorities, schools and teachers to reject the IQ-testing of poorly-performing students, as such a move violates children's rights, privacy and development prosepects. The notice underscored the authorities' determination to punish those found guilty of any misdeed.

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