Liu Yanbing and Yi Zhengyong, two high school students in their senior year from East China's Jiangxi Province, missed the national college entrance examinations after one of them wrestled with a knife-wielding ruffian on the bus. Their righteous and courageous behavior has been spoken highly of by the whole of society. Many people voice their support for the two candidates to be handed free university places. Nevertheless, a myriad of views keep popping up amid increasingly heated debate. And the main point is that China should keep a fair exam system and that rewarding their bravery should not serve as an excuse to bend existing rules.

The Ministry of Education and official media outlets announced that they will organize separate examinations for the two students.

Chinese society shows sincere respect for the two students, but some people also demonstrate a true mentality by underlining the exclusive value of the college entrance exam. Apparently, we have an ethical dilemma. The more importance public opinion attaches to this incident, the more intense the criticism we face in choosing as it is difficult to make them bear the divergence of public opinion on equality and fairness.

The two candidates present to all of us the most fundamental nature in humanity. They have saved people's lives, and society should credit them. As what they long for most at this time is to be admitted by universities and their injuries directly deprive them of the right to sit exams with other students, a free university place is a legitimate reward.

However, there is another conclusion if we look at the larger picture. Courageous conduct and an equal and fair exam system are two different things, but both are divine. What they did is praiseworthy but the exam system risks being questioned if an exception is made in this instance.

Some young people hold that nothing is more important than maintaining the equality and fairness of the college exams. Children from different family backgrounds enjoy equality and fairness only once in their lifetime when sitting their college exams, one of the most precious elements of Chinese society.

China is such a large nation that anyone's behavior risks being politicized when discussed in public. If all of us comment on what should happen to these two candidates, then we are pressuring two teenagers to take on the mantle of responsibility for the moral and legal development of China.

We hope society can keep an open mind toward the two students. Prospective universities can contact them within the current institutional framework. Guaranteeing a fair exam system is a giant social project. As a large country, China must keep the seriousness of national institutions but meanwhile adopt a humane approach to deal with specific cases.