After all, it was a lecture by a famous expert who was in the limelight, so teachers in the first and second year of high school still organized students to attend in groups. Senior students were generally not encouraged to participate in such activities due to study pressure. However, the enthusiasm of the students of No. 10 Middle School in such lecture activities should not be underestimated, so the audience filled the tiered classroom, and even the aisles on both sides of the huge lecture hall were crowded with people.
There were reporters on both sides of the front line, one was new in the industry, and the other was a little older. The latter told the former that this kind of celebrity interview and writing would bring real sales growth. Sales meant advertising revenue and performance bonuses, which were actually the main sources of income on top of the fixed salary. The newcomer kept nodding his head, listening to him talk about the details that needed to be paid attention to.
Outside the Yifu Building, Sun Xiao's car was parked not far away, accompanied by an assistant, and next to him was the vice principal of No. 10 Middle School, Zhang Shu, who was called "Zhang the Warden" by the students. What he hated most was that he often brought security guards to catch students who were dating, played football in the company of the next building, and smoked in the corridor and toilet. So when he was not wandering around the school, it was the freest time in the school.
At this time, hearing the noise from the Yifu Building in the distance, Zhang Shu said to Sun Xiao, "It seems that Director Sun is very popular with our students today." Sun Xiao came to the school to give a lecture, and as a school leader, he should step forward to contact him. After all, the person in front of him officially holds the title of director of the Journal of Children's Studies.
Sun Xiao was actually used to this kind of scene. He said calmly, "No. 10 Middle School is the best middle school in Chengdu and even in the province. I believe that the students here are more proactive in finding and solving their own shortcomings and defects, and making progress and growth. I have been to so many schools, and No. 10 Middle School is still good."
Zhang Shu's expression was a little stiff. He wondered what that meant. Although those little bastards were indeed troublesome, our students didn't have so many flaws. However, due to Sun Xiao's fame and the fact that he was an education expert known for his sharp comments on Chinese education, his annoyance was gone in an instant. He waved his five fingers forward, and the smile he had on his face was gone. He said in a businesslike manner, "Then please go in, Director Sun."
Cheng Ran was in the crowd, with a bright incandescent light bulb above his head, covered with spider webs. Next to the door at the bottom, there was a broom tied to a wooden stick for sweeping away the spider webs. In fact, the tiered classroom at that time could not be compared with the bright, clean and modern facilities of many tall and comprehensive schools in later generations. No. 10 Middle School could be regarded as a national model middle school, and its facilities were among the best in the province, but the tiered classroom at that time still looked old.
Class Five was the class that was forced by the head teacher to attend the lecture. Cheng Ran was sandwiched between the surrounding students. Countless heads were raised around him, and fireflies were flying in the air.
Cheng Ran saw Jiang Hongshao sitting in the front rows, surrounded by friends like Wei Shu. Cheng Ran looked over and she glanced back. Their eyes met and they smiled at the same time amid the bustling crowd.
Zhang Shu walked in, facing the huge lecture hall, and briefly spoke the opening words of expert Sun Xiao's lecture. Amid the applause led by him, Sun Xiao walked in. Zhang Shu shook hands with him. There were cameras recording the video and staff members taking photos. Then Zhang Shu walked to the front row and went to the seats reserved for some school leaders.
Sun Xiao sat down in his suit and tie, and the noise in the auditorium became quieter. Pairs of students stared at him, pursing their lips. His article had caused a sensation at the time, and many newspapers competed to reprint it. He then published a book, and with the momentum of his fame, his works were at the top of the bestseller lists in major bookstores.
Many students in the tenth grade of middle school have heard of and read his works. Some read them directly in newspapers, and some learned about him from their elders and parents. They all have complicated feelings at this time.
Sun Xiao looked at the whole audience, and then spoke, "After twenty years of reform and opening up, our material life has gradually become sufficient, but our spiritual world is extremely lacking. In particular, our entire society today should reflect on a question: why are our children not as good as those in developed countries? Are their countries poorer than us? No, they are much richer than us! But why are their teenagers more hardworking and competitive than us? This is what I want to talk to you about today, critical thinking! We don't have it!"
After Sun Xiao's preemptive remarks, the whole audience fell silent. Many students felt a tightness in their chests at first, feeling unconvinced and unwilling to accept the result, yet they also wanted to hear what he said next.
Sun Xiao didn't have a tense expression at this time. Instead, he suddenly smiled and looked at the whole audience, "Everyone is not convinced... The students must be uncomfortable, but why do I say this?"
Sun Xiao's smile faded, and he said sharply, "We all know the European fairy tale "Snow White". We have all heard it since childhood. Do you have any unique ideas about this story? A friend of mine, in the United States, asked her children and several friends, and got a variety of answers. Some said, 'Snow White was abused by her stepmother, she should resist and call the police instead of running away.' Others said, 'The queen tricked Snow White into eating the poisoned apple, she should be arrested by the police and punished by the law.' As for us, children in China think that the story of Snow White is very beautiful, and the prince and princess will definitely be together happily. But American children can see the essence of the facts from this simple fairy tale, dare to expose and criticize, and boldly speak out their own ideas!"
"There is also our Chinese story 'Kong Rong giving away his pears', which has been thoroughly refuted in American classrooms. American children say 'this story encourages subjective arbitrariness and deprives democracy, which is a wrong approach'!
"They said, 'distorting your desires to win praise is an unhealthy psychological behavior! You see, while we are still advocating humility and hiding our desires, American children have realized that this move is undemocratic and not worthy of admiration."
"American teachers attach great importance to cultivating children's critical thinking. When teaching, they never stick to the text content in the book and say that what is in the book must be correct. Even if it is what the teacher says in class, he will allow students to have different opinions and encourage them to challenge authority and boldly express their own views. It is probably this tolerance that makes American children dare to think from an early age. They are not afraid of making mistakes, nor are they afraid of raising questions!"
Below the stage, some teachers and school leaders of No. 10 Middle School looked solemn and fell into self-blame and reflection. They began to realize that their own education and even the education of China as a whole seemed to have entered a misunderstanding.
Cheng Ran couldn't help but admire the strong appeal of "education experts" like Sun Xiao. Their arguments were all specious, but he was able to derive his own point of view from every angle and attack the "target" of the opposing side.
Although this is what Sun Xiao said, to a certain extent, many things in this world are like this.
It is like Kong Rong giving away his pears, which can be an expression of a gentle and civilised virtue of humility, but can also be attacked as "hiding one's own desires". The implication is that the person who gave away the pears is hiding a murderous jungle law in his heart, and it is not truly an expression of virtue.
What kills most is not the sword, but the words. What arouses most is not the love talk, but the suspicion.
Listen carefully, look carefully, in this world, in newspapers, in the media, in the high-sounding rhetoric between countries, in the banners of political struggles, those seemingly brilliant propositions, doctrines, dogmas, and speeches, actually hide countless motives and purposes.
It is not that the people who hold the truth are few, but the truth will become a fallacy when it changes its position and flag. There are so many fallacies and heresies in this world, and there are countless people who are entangled in various paranoid and narrow-minded ideas. People are more inclined to listen to things that are beneficial to themselves, so how can they be awakened!
This is why people like Sun Xiao are so popular.
So the world doesn't need the Tower of Babel, and the gods don't need to be afraid of it. The real Tower of Babel is the human nature where thinking is determined by the butt.
…
As Cheng Ran recalls, it was precisely because of Sun Xiao's remarks that the media denounced the post-80s and 90s as the "lost generation", and even derived various sarcastic remarks, such as "little emperors and little princesses", "everything is provided for them". The key point is that when people were accused of this, many felt only shame, self-blame for not being able to raise their heads, and a feeling that they were not as patriotic as foreign children.
On the stage, Sun Xiao spoke eloquently.
"In the Sino-Japanese summer camp competition, the children from both countries were carrying 20 kilograms of weight and hurried forward. Their ages ranged from 11 to 16 years old. According to the headquarters' requirements, they had to walk at least 50 kilometers, while according to the Japanese plan, they should walk 100 kilometers!"
"When the Chinese children were complaining, they were all lazy. A beautiful Chinese girl fell ill and trembled when she saw the doctor. Finally, she was sent back to the base camp, lying on the Simmons mattress, tasting the fragrance of Inner Mongolian milk tea. The Japanese child was also sick. But he would not put down his bag, and he refused to take the car. He said: 'I can hold on, I must go to the end!'"
"Mr. Satoshi Sato, a member of the Miyazaki City Council of Japan, drove to visit the children of both countries. His grandson had been running a high fever for more than a day, and many people thought he would take the child away. Unexpectedly, he encouraged his grandson and left without hesitation. When the cadres of the Chinese Youth Work Committee found that the road was washed away, they immediately called their children into the car and rushed out of the difficult area at lightning speed."
"Japanese children light bonfires and cook in various ways. Chinese children think someone will bring food to their mouths, but in the end, no one will. They can only cry and complain!"
"Japanese people are willing to spend money to send their children to foreign countries to experience adventures and suffer. Chinese children have a very poor sense of survival!"
"During the picnic, all the fat, white kids with their hands folded doing nothing are Chinese children!"
"The Japanese have openly said that your generation of children is no match for us!"
"I'm reminded of the famous Australian 'candy experiment'. Among the 5-year-old children, nearly 66.6% of the Australian children were able to wait 15 minutes before eating, so they ate more candy, while 70% of the Chinese children could not resist the temptation and chose to eat the candy in advance, and finally ate only a small amount of candy. Studies have shown that children who can resist temptation and restrain themselves will have better development in the future than those who cannot, because they have more self-control and endurance."
"The world is competing, and education is the key. If Chinese children are not competitive in the world, how can China not fall behind?"
From the beginning to the end, Sun Xiao's famous China-Japan summer camp competition was all about Chinese education and Chinese parents, but in fact, every sentence and the actual effect were aimed at the young people born in the 1980s and 1990s of this era.
The general idea is that the post-80s generation has ruined our cause and lost our country. The reason why they are so rubbish, looked down upon by the Japanese, uncompetitive, and will collapse in the future is because their parents were not cruel enough to them.
The same old trick was repeated, as if history was repeating itself. Seeing the guilt, shame and gloom in the eyes of the ten middle school students around him, Cheng Ran was ready to stand up. He no longer planned to listen.
As a result, a hand was suddenly raised in the crowded classroom, and then a voice suddenly sounded during Sun Xiao's pause.
"Mr. Sun Xiao, you just said that you hope we have critical thinking, so I hope you can understand my doubts at this time. I don't know the situation of the Chinese and Japanese children's summer camp, but there is one thing I don't understand, based on your previous description. In ancient times, cavalry could only run a hundred miles a day. The Red Army captured Luding Bridge, and it was only 80 kilometers in total day and night. My grandfather told me that the mechanized troops of the US military in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea advanced a hundred kilometers a day, which was called a miracle. But the summer camp children you mentioned, each carrying 20 kilograms, according to the military's weight standard, walked 50 kilometers a day? And the original plan made by the Japanese children was actually 100 kilometers?"
Countless people tilted their heads to look, and even Cheng Ran was stunned.
Because he saw the graceful figure standing up in the light and shadow, it was the very familiar Jiang Hongshao.
The whole room was in complete silence and no one dared to disturb their breathing.
Jiang Hongshao looked at Sun Xiao and said, "Isn't it too one-sided to conclude that all Chinese children can't stand temptation and have no self-control and endurance based on a small-scale, low-probability conclusion from a candy experiment?"
In the lecture hall, Jiang Hongshao stood in the glow of fireflies, challenging the authority and facing Sun Xiao, who had bombarded an entire generation. What she was actually facing was the humiliation of modern times, the overall national self-confidence had sunk to the dust, and the inferiority and distortion of the society.
There were journalists involved, senior school leaders, and also the initiator of the remarks who represented the mainstream media to condemn the remarks.
The consequences and impact are extremely unpredictable.
But there was no fear in her eyes.
Please! Ticket! La!