During the Cultural Revolution, many of the attacks directed against the university system which prevailed till the spring of 1966 were aimed at the methods by which students were recruited. According to evidence gathered by western scholars and expounded by Chinese educational authorities, China's educational system was contributing to social stratification and was essentially elitist. The system by which students were recruited allegedly rested on scholastic excellency and therefore discriminated against students of rural background or of simple origin. Ultimately, according to Chinese claims, it was the children of the educated who had access to education, while university recruitment tended to favour more and more the offspring of cadres and of former members of the “exploiting classes.”