The Paper Special Commentator Tutu Velvet
Recently, Lin Xiaoying, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Education, sparked widespread controversy in a talk show, and related videos were swiped in the circle of friends.
In this episode of the program, when a student asked "Is domestic education really too rolly", Lin Xiaoying replied without hesitation: "Yes." She also raised a series of questions about current education. For example: "The current education system seems to be only about preparing students for higher education. "When people are well fed and clothed, the important ability is actually to play." "If everything you do in your life is just to make a living, you're going to be a drudger for the rest of your life."
In fact, these views are not chicken soup on a whim, as an education researcher, Lin Xiaoying has a long-term and in-depth thinking about education. Last year's book "Children in the County: The Ecology of Education in China's Counties", which reflected on the management system of basic education, concentrated on her thoughts on education and made her popular.
"Children in the County", by Lin Xiaoying
However, what is surprising is that the attitude towards her in the field of public opinion is extremely torn. Many parents expressed deep resonance after watching the show, "I was in tears when I watched it......" and "thought-provoking!" "I hope more education administrators will see this kind of reflection." But some netizens expressed strong opposition and even anger: "Standing and talking doesn't hurt your back", "When you get into the car, you tell the people below to stop squeezing!" "Do successful test-oriented educators want to cut off this upward path?"
Why can one point of view give rise to two attitudes that are so diametrically opposed? When you think about it, it's probably not surprising. The suffering of primary and secondary school students can be said to be obvious to all. Just like in this episode, a student analyzed himself: "After 12 years of hard study, my thought turned out to be that the 'prison career' was finally coming to an end. "This is not an isolated case, as can be seen from a set of data, the overall nighttime sleep time of mainland students is less than 8 hours, and the overall myopia rate of children and adolescents is 52.7%...... At the basic education level, students are thrown into too much competition, which leads to a series of problems. They even feel that "only the best people deserve a better life." "If you don't have a high education, you have no future, and this life is over."
Students study hard, and parents feel distressed. Therefore, opposing the involution of education and advocating the reduction of the burden of education is the most simple emotion derived from human nature and an expression of dissatisfaction with the reality of education. Such an appeal deserves attention, and it does reflect the important issue of education today.
But why are so many people still opposed to "anti-involution"? In the eyes of these people, the college entrance examination is still the fairest selection method in today's society, and the best way for a child, especially those at the bottom, to get ahead is still to be admitted to a good university by studying hard. As Zhang Guimei said in an interview: "People say that doing questions is not good for children, but we can't help it, this is the only way." It's about facing reality and choosing to adapt to it.
You can't simply judge who is right and who is wrong, whether to actively participate in the involution, or to speak out against the involution? Both attitudes are broadly represented. In the same episode, when Xu Zhiyuan suggested that an English teacher let students watch more American dramas and movies, the teacher immediately agreed and said: "It's true, people should be like this." But after a brief pause, he said euphemistically: "But resources are limited, and time is limited." It can be seen that not only parents are entangled, but also teachers are entangled, and the whole society is in a huge contradiction.
Of course, it should also be noted that Lin Xiaoying is not simply anti-involution, in fact, she believes that the current single evaluation system of education obscures the diverse values and individual needs of children, which is a distortion of the essence of education. Education should respect the characteristics of each person and provide children with multiple outlets, "everyone is a unique individual, and they can bloom a flower".
The more critical issue is that the current social economic environment and upward path are also undergoing subtle changes, especially the current college entrance examination is becoming more and more difficult to fully reproduce the "utilitarian" promise of "knowledge changes destiny" 30 years ago. Although going to college and going to a good school still implies the promise of personal success, in fact, the current employment environment and career development path are not the same thing as 30 years ago. So, do you want to repeat the "paper" of the college entrance examination? What is the meaning of "volume"?
Just as the conclusion drawn from Lin Xiaoying's research, the current college entrance examination education has shifted from the personal struggle of candidates to the "competition for economic resources" between schools: schools use college entrance examination results and acceptance rates to obtain excellent rankings and get more government economic investment. And in this closed loop of "education", there are no students, let alone "people". In addition, when the Chinese population dividend gradually disappears, is it possible for future children to have a more relaxed employment and development environment, instead of continuing the "wolf-full" competition?
Many parents who criticize Lin Xiaoying may insist that the college entrance examination is "the most formally fair", but if the entire macro environment changes, the significance of the college entrance examination and the examination will also be reevaluated. Lin Xiaoying undoubtedly threw out a very shocking question (although it is not the answer): involution is not education itself, if the benefit of involution is decreasing, then is there any other way to look at education?
This issue is edited by Xing Tan