The journey of a small town test-taker across social classes

Albert Einstein wrote in My World As We See It: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school.”

There is only one true happiness in the world, and that is romanticism.

This article is based on the current situation faced by small town test-takers in first-tier cities and various aspects of life, and combined with the author's life experience, analyzes the confusion they encounter related to their original family and peer pressure, and gives suggestions.

The article is very long and contains a lot of useful information. It is recommended to set aside time to read it in a quiet environment.

Reading Guide

[1] Current situation of small town test takers/Overview

[2] The author’s experience/opinion

[3] The conflict between small town test-takers and their original families

[4] Conclusion

[5] The meaning of life

[6] Media Comments

[7] Appendix: Sharing of experience in the 2020 Autumn Study Abroad Recruitment Program (excerpt)

Part 1 The current situation of small town test takers/Overview

The general definition of "small town test-taker" is a young student who comes from a small town, studies hard, is good at taking exams, but lacks a certain vision and resources.

(Baidu Encyclopedia, 2022)

The term "small town test-takers" comes from Douban's "985 Waste Import Plan" group. Most of the members of the group are students or graduates from 985, 211 and other prestigious schools. These "prodigies" and "other people's children" who once attracted much attention after the college entrance examination did not have a smooth journey in entering university and society.

Examinations, further studies, employment... Life is full of pressures that are heavier than preparing for the college entrance examination, and full of unexpected severe tests. So, they gather here to share experiences, seek advice, and comfort each other in order to find ways to "save themselves".

(Note, Zhihu)

In the first Douban group, many people claimed that they were from third-tier or lower cities, had excellent college entrance examination scores, but were not satisfied with their jobs (usually in low-end majors), and had no other hobbies/achievements. They were generally born in stable and well-off families in the local area, and most of them were teachers, doctors, and public servants.

The biggest common complaint is that the college entrance examination scores they obtained with all their efforts during their student days did not translate into economic value. Instead, it seemed that they had accomplished nothing in the past few decades, so they chose to call themselves waste and muddle through.

(Time Lb, Zhihu)

"Failed students" are vividly called "small town test-takers", referring to students from poor families who come from villages and towns. They relied on the tactics of solving a sea of ​​questions in middle school to leave the small town and enter top-notch universities. But after entering university, some lamented that they missed the dividends of the times, while others abandoned their studies and lamented that their future was uncertain. The inability to break free from the shackles of the small town and enter the walls of the city has become the main reason for their unbalanced mentality.

After some media reports, this topic continued to ferment among young people. Academic pressure, workplace anxiety, economic difficulties, social confusion and other topics are more common among some young people. In these discussions, the most common topics are the inferiority complex when entering university and the confusion after entering society. The "academic aura" of young students from small towns and rural areas quickly disintegrated after entering university or entering the workplace. "Vision, social skills, etc. are all shortcomings." They feel that they can't catch up with their peers from big cities no matter how hard they try, and they worry that they will always be mediocre.

But at the same time, many "small town test takers" did not stop at the stage of lamenting their unfortunate fate. They also actively sorted out and analyzed their past history and looked for a way out. For example, some people saw that "small town test takers" should not only blame themselves, but also see the inequality that may exist in the larger social structure. In an article, the author recalled her experience from high school to work. She was admitted to a coastal university as the top student in a small town from a remote province. She fell into self-doubt in the difficult coursework and cultural shock. She advised people in the same situation not to blame themselves too much when they are unlucky. More importantly, they can stop blaming others for being in trouble "because they are not working hard enough" in the future, because past experiences have made her realize that personal struggle is important, but there are more reasons that can determine a person's development.

(Baidu Encyclopedia, 2022)

As the name suggests, small town test-takers are born in small towns and have certain outstanding performance in test-taking, which is the link of exam-oriented education selection, thereby gaining admission tickets to high-quality higher education resources. They have successfully escaped from the economically backward rural environment and entered the developed industrial civilization life circle. After graduation, most of them can get stable jobs in big cities.

In fact, the small town test takers did well and answered the questions written on the test papers in the examination room, and got good scores and good rewards - they were allocated high-quality resources in the exam-oriented education system; but the big question of "production and life practice of human society" was issued by the Earth Online server after the college entrance examination or after the graduation ceremony. There was no limit on the time and method of answering questions, and even allowed to look at reference books and look at other people's test papers to answer. Such a flexible examination method made the test takers at a loss - they were only good at questions with certain rules and scopes, and were not good at the big question of "practice". Many answers from personal experience showed that the test takers found it difficult to complete even the link of "examining the questions".

For example, everyone is talking about housing prices. Who can analyze how housing prices have risen? Who can afford to buy a house? Everyone is talking about the difficulty of urban life. How can we understand the properties and operating rules of the urban space itself?

(Wu Tianwei, Zhihu)

In fact, the reason is very simple. Many people with outstanding learning ability, especially those from underdeveloped information areas, are easily indoctrinated with low-value goals and strive for them in an environment of information asymmetry. However, because of their own high intelligence level, they will always wake up from the "sweet dream" step by step and fall into pain and confusion. It is not difficult to brainwash smart people, because they love to analyze and think, and they are more likely to be misled if used properly. When those in power package low-value things to make them extremely difficult to obtain, people will unconsciously equate difficulty with value. The second is to create a competitive environment so that everyone around them is working in the same direction, and heretics will constantly doubt themselves. Finally, make good use of the authoritative identity, use the social status and age gap to teach and play the emotional card. After these three moves, most young people who are not well-versed in the world cannot escape.

The reasons why the top students in the county and the best among ordinary people like us live a more miserable life:

You will agree that you are a capable person, but because of objective and human factors, you are always led astray. When you figure it out, you are often already in it. Smart people are even more pitiful, because most of the time their fate is not in their own hands, and this feeling of powerlessness is extremely torturous.

(Fine adjustment, Zhihu)

Part 2 The author’s experience/opinion

Disasters and unexpected emergencies often bring subversive changes to our lives, disrupting the long-standing rhythm of life, breaking the stable and comfortable comfort zone, and bringing fear, unknown, confusion, and helplessness.

But don’t be discouraged, there are often unexpected rewards/opportunities along the way.

As a child from Sichuan, after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, my county was severely affected and the primary school was closed. By chance, I transferred from the 18th-tier small city where I grew up to a well-known "key primary school" in the provincial capital Chengdu. I studied for a while and then transferred to another fourth-tier city. I unexpectedly got more opportunities than my peers to understand the psychological activities and real life conditions of primary school students from different families, backgrounds, cultures, classes, and perspectives in cities of different sizes, and obtained a vast and real user portrait. At that time, I did not summarize and analyze the benefits of different educational environments for me, and I also felt a little uneasy in the disaster, but later these memories often affected my cognition, thoughts and judgments at all stages of my life when I was growing up, and will continue to affect my life.

I have met many talented classmates. They have strong creative abilities and rich artistic talents. Although they are young, their talents are overflowing. The one who impressed me the most was a boy in the Chengdu class who was particularly keen on solving math problems. Even though I never spoke to him at the time and never met this classmate after leaving Chengdu, I can still remember his name clearly. He loves math from the bottom of his heart. During a wonderful moment when the whole class was eating ice cream, he was eating ice cream while doing math problems that gave me a headache. At that time, I asked my deskmate:

"If the boy can only choose between ice cream and math Olympiad questions, what will he choose?"

My deskmate said to me:

"That should be a math Olympiad question."

As a fifth grader who still deeply loved fried chicken legs, ice cream and chocolate, I found this both incomprehensible and novel.

I also saw a lot of comparisons and competition among classmates, some dark psychology, discussions and gossip about each other's family conditions, vanity and forming cliques in clothing and electronic products.

I have seen students from poor families showing off their latest mobile phones, branded clothes and shoes, just to look good in the eyes of their classmates. In middle school, I realized that the essence of doing so was just to cover up inferiority and gain recognition. I have seen the second-generation rich who are flamboyant, have poor grades, wear trendy brands, almost walk sideways, and are proud of their good background, but that is only limited to their background. In the eyes of others, including teachers, his domineering behavior is justified.

I have seen teachers who despise the poor and love the rich, and who show different attitudes according to the family background of their classmates. I have also seen low-key classmates who come from wealthy families but have no intention of showcasing material things.

I was the student who was forced to be pushed to the stage by the teacher and told everyone that "this is a member of a wealthy family". I was also the student who was ignored and treated coldly. In middle school, I challenged the teacher in public, had disputes with the school, the academic affairs and the dormitory management, apologized under the pressure of my parents, overturned other people's desks during class, wrote letters to report the morally corrupt teachers to the media and the Education Bureau, and wrote letters to the boys I liked and everyone knew about it... I did too many spectacular things in those years and played many different roles. Sometimes I was a bystander, sometimes I was the protagonist, but I never just studied. I experienced a miniature complex society since I was a child.

Of course, negative emotions are not only generated around economic levels, but also include all-round comparisons between peers: as the only two children in the class who are good at English, she scored higher than me in this exam; why is she the main dancer/singer of this event instead of me; she is too beautiful (but I don’t want to admit it in my heart), she has many powerful suitors and friends, but I don’t have any...

All of the above cases come from my real experience. As I type these words in a series, they reproduce the real scenes and pictures of the past in my eyes. From elementary school to middle school, different people in so many years, reappearing those who have not seen for a long time. In a collective class with frequent and close encounters, a small-scale society is formed, and jealousy, hatred and many complex and contradictory emotions grow in the communication environment. The relationship between classmates changes subtly. Today they are still friends who can talk about everything, but tomorrow they may become mortal enemies because of something that happens suddenly. I have been a marginal figure among them, and I have also been a leader in the eyes of my classmates. Sometimes I am a "countryside kid" in the eyes of others, and sometimes I am a "rich second generation who came back from the big city."

I attended three primary schools in three cities and two junior high schools in two cities. In my childhood and adolescence, I never stopped thinking about the gap between cities and the social atmosphere. I disdain to associate with people who despise the poor and love the rich, and are two-faced. I am often alone, and it is a daily routine for people to talk about, evaluate, and belittle me behind my back. I ignore those who hate me, as if they don't exist. But I also unintentionally attracted many precious friends who were seen and appreciated by each other, accompanied me through that shining youth, and let me see the mutual appreciation, sincerity, and kindness in human nature.

I grew up in a small city, and I didn't leave the county for three years of high school. The term "small town test-taker" seems to be beyond my reach, because generally speaking, my homework and academic performance are neither good nor bad most of the time. I belong to the type of person who can't roll up since I was a child, and I haven't experienced the extremely strong motivation of "changing my destiny" to be motivated by my family. But I think one thing I have always been passionate about is planning my life, setting goals, and obtaining information. When they were studying hard in high school, I would spend more time researching college schools and majors. In small counties, most rural parents don't understand this, and children don't realize its importance, while in big cities, parents will take care of it for their children, and they don't need to worry about it.

In this county town without the atmosphere of studying abroad, I studied the possibility of studying abroad. I secretly yearned for Melbourne in my first year of high school, planning and understanding what preparations I needed to make step by step based on the actual situation of me and my family. I wrote on the draft paper in my third year of high school: "I must go to the University of Melbourne." I wrote "Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University" in my school goals before the college entrance examination. I was very lucky, and they all came true one by one, just like what I expected when I was in high school life with nervous anxiety and uncertain future. These goals are not grand, and they can be easily achieved for real small town test-takers.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I traveled to Thailand for 14 days to return to Australia to complete my studies. In the penultimate semester, I received many remote interview opportunities from domestic companies. This cannot be said to have nothing to do with the events of the times, because in the past, if international students wanted to get offers from domestic companies in spring and autumn, they could only buy tickets to return to China to participate in offline interviews. As I wanted to stay in the local area at that time, I might not have paid such a high price to get a job opportunity in China. In the process of preparing for the interview, I innovated my own way of thinking, gained a lot, and became more and more interested in the profession of product manager, and wanted to explore it further. Therefore, for the first time, I made a decision beyond my life plan for many years: to take the opportunity of a large domestic company and return to China to experience it 🚩.

When I returned to China, I went through Singapore and underwent 14 days of hotel quarantine. All of this deeply reflected the characteristics of the era of the epidemic. From the perspective of historical development, some special events will occur in each period, and perhaps its impact will last for several years, but as individuals, it is impossible for us to do nothing during these years.

My life today is based on the decision I made back then. I have become a Product Manager at Tencent in Shenzhen, China. If it weren’t for the pandemic, I might have found a job in Australia and joined a medium-sized company or a startup. I can’t say that this choice is worse than now, but at least from the perspective of the mobility and leaps I have experienced, the possibilities would be much smaller. Returning to China to work is a surprise buff that I have never regretted.

I have many friends around me who have been hit hard by the pandemic, with the negative effects far outweighing the positive ones. For example, they originally planned to study abroad, but the outbreak delayed their study plans, and they were unwilling to give up the wonderful life experience abroad by taking online classes, so they suddenly became idle or took a boring job arranged by their parents. Life experiences are like dominoes, one after another, and under the attack of a series of unfortunate events, depression took control of their lives.

Growing up in a small county town, I loved to go to the bookstore to read when I was a child. I would stay there for a whole sunny afternoon. My spirit explored the novel and wonderful world depicted by the authors. Reading deeply cultivated my romanticism. The natural scenery of the small county town with mountains and water also brought me rich writing inspiration. Now that I think about it, I feel very lucky compared to the children in big cities who are in various cram schools at a tight pace. Of course, not every child in a small county town likes to read in a bookstore, and not every child in a big city is pushed to attend various interest classes. Some people really discovered their strengths through these interest classes, which became important skills later. But what is certain is that if we are not obsessed with stereotyped competition, we also have a lot of things we can do to make ourselves understand our hearts and the world better. In addition to the guidance of our parents, as primates born with advanced consciousness, everything we get does not come entirely from society and family, but can also be from ourselves, or self-education, even if it will be more difficult.

Later, I also learned about the current living conditions of some of my classmates in junior high and high school, and discovered that those people who I once thought were very good and absolutely unsurpassed in academics, later had mediocre resumes; those classmates who once had very poor grades and were not favored by teachers, but had the support of their families to study abroad and obtain better resources and educational opportunities, are now experiencing a higher-level life.

For me, material desires that require hard work to achieve, there are always a group of people who can get them easily without paying anything, and even get more, which is difficult for me to reach and hope for. They have poor concentration and poor test-taking ability, but they are always ahead of the hard-working small town test-takers in the process of buying a house, falling in love, and pursuing wealth and status.

Of course, there are some people who work a hundred times harder than me but will never be able to achieve what I have achieved.

Life is really very realistic. We tried our best to get scores, but we only got scores. In these cases, if you compare with others, you will get endless negative emotions towards your family and society. But even from the perspective of comparison, life is also a long-distance race. It is not the one who gets a big house early that wins. Take the element of the body as an example. Diseases are pervasive. At a certain stage, you will find that health is much more important. Another question I want to raise is, is the meaning of life really a group of people competing with each other and endlessly pursuing wealth? Maybe as people born in small towns, we should think about whether there is another meaning in life, and whether we can stop comparing with others.

In my experience, my parents did not provide me with a particularly top-level vision and material conditions, nor did they consciously provide me with the best resources in terms of education and attitude. They provided me with everything they could with their education, which was very limited. They never told me what was the most valuable in these experiences because they themselves did not understand. But you can see that today I can gain some key insights on my own.

I wanted to share some of the books I’ve read and the famous real and book characters I’ve learned about.

The biography of Hillary Clinton says that the moment she entered Wellesley College, Hillary felt out of place. She, her father Hugh Rodham, and her mother Dorothy's attire and behavior seemed out of place in her surroundings. In fact, everyone around her was busy with their own affairs and no one noticed her.

As a country girl from the Midwest and a conservative influenced by her father, Hillary felt ashamed of herself. Among a large group of girls with superior conditions and extraordinary talents, Hillary was like a frog at the bottom of a well, rustic and narrow-minded. Many of her classmates, even her roommates, had traveled around the world, had broad horizons, knew many languages, and most importantly, understood fashion, and were full of charm in their every move.

In such an environment, Hillary clearly felt out of sync with the people around her. In order to keep up with the rhythm of the people around her, she tried hard to learn and imitate, but every time she opened her mouth, the people around her would become quiet, and she felt deeply embarrassed. But in fact, no one noticed all this.

"At that time, I was very confused and felt powerless. I always thought I was lagging behind others. Therefore, I began to consciously avoid interacting with people as much as possible. I always covered my face with glasses and simply tied my hair into a ponytail. What's even more ironic is that Lake Woban, which attracted me to Wellesley, I had never seen it before Christmas. I felt that I had completely forgotten about it, even though it was right below my dormitory building and I could overlook it from the dormitory." Hillary said.

As we all know, she later became an ambitious and accomplished politician. She was very influential in her university and organized many student movements. She was a "small town girl" in her experience, but she was good at thinking, setting life goals and achieving them step by step. The small town experience did not become a stumbling block for her.

In the "Neapolitan Quartet", the protagonist Lenno is also a typical small town girl. Anyone who has read this book knows that her family background is very ordinary. She was once inferior to others, but she eventually became a talented writer. The gifted Lina was also born in the same small town. She and Leno were sometimes rich, sometimes poor, and they were constantly changing their fates. Should we use material standards to judge whether they are successful? If you are a reader, you can feel that they always have pursuits beyond material things.

Not everyone can go into politics and change society like Hillary did, but at least we can judge the situation, make the best decision for ourselves within our capabilities, and maintain the best mood.

Schopenhauer said that youth is when the tree of people's knowledge takes root, although only the top of the tree bears fruit in the end. Just as every era, even the most barren era, thinks it is much smarter than the previous era and other earlier eras, in fact, the problems faced by each era are mostly similar. Didn't today's small town test-takers have similar roles in ancient times? How do we evaluate the value and happiness of those people now?

Roscher explicitly states that from a scientific point of view the development of nations is always essentially the same, that despite superficial differences there is in fact nothing new under the sun, but always the same old "random" and therefore scientifically insignificant mixture. This is obviously a particularly "natural scientific" (naturwissenschaftliche) perspective.

If one day I have a luxurious house of my own, it is just a place to live. If I have a car I like, it is just a means of transportation. I will never be proud of these things. It is enough to meet the basic needs of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

There is only one true happiness in the world, and that is romanticism.

My romance is like the essence flowing out after opening a facial mask bag, or like the soda rushing out of a Coke bottle just after opening it.

//The picture comes from Baidu search

Part 3 The conflict between small town test-takers and their original families

Recently, a kind of "current situation post" has become very popular on Xiaohongshu. Young people write down their age, whether they have a car, a house, a loan, etc., and list their material conditions one by one. If they have a car or a house, the comments will say that this age is very impressive, how envious they are, etc. Since when has having a car or a house become the standard for measuring a person's value, especially when there is no understanding of this person's thoughts.

When we really start to examine the issue of garages and houses (especially in first-tier cities), we will gradually realize that it is difficult to cross the social reality of class. There is a saying: Why do you think that your ten years of hard study can be equivalent to the efforts of several generations of others?

The resources that class brings to a person are multifaceted.

When the small town test-takers enter the society, they deeply realize how big the gap is caused by their families. They complain that their parents have no vision. If their parents had a little knowledge and vision, they would not have to take so many wrong paths and their achievements would definitely not be limited to this...

(Lu He, Douban)

"Personally, I think poverty brings too many derivative problems. Knowledge is one of them. Excessive frugality, left-behind children, left-behind elderly people, and separation of couples. Children's needs are not met. Over the years, it may become a kind of pathological psychology."

In fact, for small town test-takers, poverty is not the only reason they complain about their parents. It is the ignorance that is often tied to poverty, the lack of love from parents, and the lack of careful education, which, to a certain extent, makes them point the finger at their parents. Perhaps it can be understood that they find a reason out of dissatisfaction or even resentment, that is, poverty. — — Sometimes, in order to make their position clear enough, people will modify the original words to make the words seem absolute.

Netizens said that small town test-takers have experienced poverty, hard work and struggle, and have struggled to become middle class. They can see the upper class and are truly well-informed, so they have a better understanding of the "original family theory". The resentment towards parents is more due to their vision, not poverty itself. It is not that they hate their parents for not being able to take them to see a bigger world, but that they hate their parents for desperately holding them back when they want to see the world. For example, when you are taking the postgraduate entrance examination, they tell you that XXX next door has been making money for several years without studying, and XXX has been a primary school teacher after studying at a normal school. When you are single and struggling, they tell you to have a baby quickly, preferably two in three years, and you must have a son.

When modern people can obtain a lot of information to accelerate the accumulation of wealth and obtain resources, closed-minded people are unwilling to "obtain information" and "learn methods", and always choose the least efficient and most difficult way. For example: a common family phenomenon after large-scale urbanization in rural areas:

The older generation of people who were born and raised in rural areas, honestly worked and farmed, and had limited vision. When it comes to the younger generation who have experienced urbanization, they can see that others quickly accumulate wealth and make multiple profits through investment, but when they are on par with others in terms of health, intelligence, hard work, etc., they are left far behind in a very short period of time because they have no initial capital or way to rise. In addition to these superficial "wealth" and "resources" issues, there are more family education that the older generation of parents cannot understand that their children really need, resulting in widespread and unspeakable psychological pain among their children. All of these add up to what most young people want to say now:

Due to their narrow vision, they lagged behind another group of people in development by several decades and accumulated serious mental illnesses.

Not all parents will leave their children precious intangible assets, such as teaching by example, a healthy body and mind, an independent spirit... Some parents leave their children with only a strong desire for control, pressure in the name of love, slander and wrong guidance in the name of good for you. And those children who are resentful of their parents happen to be those who have not been left with any intangible assets. This is closely related to the quality of the parents. Everyone should admit that quality cannot be equated with wealth. But usually, the proportion of low quality is higher among the poor, the proportion of high quality is higher among the rich, and the proportion of middle-class people is half and half. After all, most people in the last generation struggled from poverty, and economic ability is also a part of comprehensive ability. In other words, poverty is not the reason for children's disobedience, but a by-product of the low quality of their parents.

This situation is seen by simple and crude bystanders who are not involved in the matter. They just complain about poverty, refuse to get married and start a family, and blame others. They are just a group of "angry young people" created by the times.

I don't support attributing the problems of the times to people who were equally devastated in another era. Those elderly fathers and mothers who were in poverty also suffered the pain of their time. And we, the new generation of ordinary people, also have our own pain.

The changes in today's social form cannot be blamed on individuals. It can only be said that this is a problem of the entire social ideology. The mainstream media has been elitist and stratified, which has subtly influenced the public. In times of peace and prosperity, class solidification may also represent the relative stability of society, and the upper class naturally wants to maintain this privilege. As a sober individual, we can only try our best to resist this pervasive invasion and realize that everyone has a mission.

"I fully understand the perspective of my parents. The environment they live in has narrowed their minds. They don't realize it, but I do. So I can understand and tolerate many of their unreasonable behaviors. But they can't. They don't want me to do things that are beyond their understanding, so there are many arguments and estrangements."

This is the root cause of the conflict between small town test-takers and their parents.

"I don't complain that they can't give me the life that the people around me get effortlessly. I just hope that they won't add unnecessary troubles to my struggles that are exhausting both physically and mentally."

"'Why have children if you are so poor?' This is also what I hold dear, but I only restrict myself."

"I must say that the upper limit of parents' cognition sometimes does restrict their children's pace of progress, but this is not necessarily positively correlated with the parents' economic conditions, but is definitely related to their vision and cognition. If parents' economic conditions are limited and they completely let go, perhaps their children will have another choice of free development. But if they always interfere with their children's work and life with their limited social experience, and require their children to obey their requirements with the authority of morality or elders, it will form an invisible shackle, making their children feel caught in a dilemma. The pain of the original family is not necessarily an economic problem, but it is definitely a boundary problem of the relationship between parents and children."

(Douban review)

In fact, it is not just the small town test-takers. Students who come from big cities with no background, students who come from small cities and leave their hometowns to work hard and whose test scores are not that good, all have the same, similar or even worse predicaments.

After all, the mainstream discourse of "knowledge changes destiny" promotes a social Darwinian logic of achieving class advancement through higher education. Students who pass the college entrance examination and enter first-class universities are considered to be able to become the backbone of society or at least live a decent middle-class life. However, in the class barriers that spread from society to university campuses, some college students from lower-middle-class backgrounds gradually realized that the gap between themselves and some of their peers was destined from birth.

As one team member accurately summarized, "The vast majority of 985 students who are in trouble are small-town test-takers." "Small-town test-takers" have gaps with their peers in family background, parents' knowledge, studies, internships, love, and socializing.

As they stumbled and stumbled, they kept hitting walls. Self-doubt replaced pride and confidence, and their initial dreams were shattered. As they approached graduation, they realized that they had become a "waste" without any background or advantages, whether in further studies or employment. Not to mention finding a decent job, they even faced the dual dilemma of dropping out of school and being unemployed. As for the reasons for becoming "waste", the group members often mentioned when analyzing their own experiences that they were forced into a pitfall major, their short-sighted and strong parents, their own narrow vision, and the proud resumes of their peers. In short, it was the social reality of class solidification.

(Ji Zhuoyang, Zhihu)

//The picture comes from Baidu search

On an ordinary weekend, I read Schopenhauer's resume, Borges' interview and Kazuo Ishiguro - the pianist walked into a small town in Central Europe, sometimes being a bystander and sometimes being involved.

In these strange talks, elements such as family of origin and personal value realization began to flash in my mind. Schopenhauer and Kazuo Ishiguro were obviously lucky people who could study philosophy. As small town test-takers who urgently need to change their fate, finance, law, and computers are their best way out.

Regarding the issue of original family, I can deeply see the irreconcilable contradiction, understand the position of small town test-takers, and deeply understand the limitations of my parents' generation that cannot be changed.

There are many realities that we cannot change. If we spend our time comparing ourselves with others, it will only consume our energy and enthusiasm to achieve our goals. We cannot change our given origins and backgrounds. Even if they are not good enough, they cannot be the reason why we cannot achieve our goals one day, because failure to achieve our goals is normal and even the case in most cases.

Background is like hay in front of a donkey. When you get some, you always want more. Desire is endless. There are countless subdivided groups in the upper class. For us to pursue our goals, it is just a means, a shortcut, a complaint and an excuse when we don't want to work hard. But so many people have wishes, why do you have to realize yours?

Wishes are often elusive, require great effort and are full of uncertainty. But the wealth within your reach is right in front of you, shining with gold, and can instantly turn you into a magnificent building.

We are still young, and exercise makes us feel full of energy. Running in the sunset, sweat wets our skin, our backs are steaming, our cheeks are flushed, and our hearts are pounding. There are still many stories to write, many countries to visit, many books to read, many new skills to learn, and many people to meet. It is impossible to be confined to a small space.

I think for me personally, the ultimate goal of life is not material things. Compared to a family who can directly provide me with fine clothes and delicious food, I care more about having a family who supports me in making any decision. When I describe my grand blueprint for the future to them again and again, they always say: "We always believe in you. As long as it is the goal you set, you can definitely achieve it."

Part 4 Conclusion

On the professional social platform Maimai, one can occasionally see bitter self-deprecations from “small town test-takers”; finance and coding are generally recognized as two paths that can make it slightly easier to cross social classes.

The most common and easy way to succeed in life is:

Get into a first-class university through the college entrance examination, apply for a computer major in an American school for graduate school, and then enter a large American FLAG company after graduation to earn an annual salary of more than US$200,000. Not everyone can do each of these steps, but it is a relatively low-difficulty and high-feasibility roadmap to obtain a middle-class income.

The author Dong Ge replied on Zhihu that small town test-takers have almost no way out in China. If there is any, it is probably to participate in entrepreneurship.

Even if your annual salary is one million, 65 after tax, plus daily expenses, and you live frugally, you can save 500,000 a year.

Even if you can work until you are 50, there are only 25 years between graduation and retirement, and the total income after discount is only 12.5 million. Surprisingly, the best case scenario for a lifetime is just a two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartment. This does not include medical, education, and entertainment expenses. Small town test-takers are the fuel for our country's progress.

"Every weekend, I would open the world map to see where the way out was."

China has no way out. Imperfect tax distribution and serious gap between the rich and the poor make it impossible for those who strive to have a decent life. The only way out is to harness resources and participate in entrepreneurship.

There is no way out in Europe. Stagnant economic development and language and cultural barriers have made those who do the test stop at the middle level at most. It is enough for those who are not ambitious.

There is a little way out in the United States. Although there are plenty of high-tech jobs, the language and cultural barriers prevent most people from getting into the middle and senior levels, which is enough for most people. But if you go to Silicon Valley, if you are not handsome and your family is average, be prepared to be single.

Singapore has a little bit of a way out. Prices are not high, the gap between the rich and the poor is small, and the educational resources are high-quality. If you work hard for a few years, you will have no problem living in an affordable house. The only problem is that Singapore is a small country after all. Although there are some top companies, the choices are still much less than in the United States and China.

If you are willing to start a business/996: China.

If you're willing to be single: Silicon Valley.

If you are willing to sacrifice a certain degree of development: Singaporean/Chinese foreign companies.

If you don't want to work hard to get promoted: Europe.

But if you don’t want to work 996, but are willing to struggle, hope for a better development, and also hope to find a suitable partner: then there is no easy way out, there is only one way, that is to rely on moving. You need to reach a level where every country is willing to give you a work visa, and then constantly leverage the talents of each country.

That is, when you are young, you achieve rapid career development and rapid accumulation of original capital in Silicon Valley. When you reach middle or middle-senior management, you appropriately sacrifice career development and go to Singapore or foreign companies in China.

In fact, we are still lucky. If you are a top student in Thailand/Vietnam/Malaysia, you have no chance in your own country. You can only go abroad. From a historical perspective, most ordinary people with higher IQs in history have wasted their talents. This era gives them a little chance to display their talents. The United States has also spotted this point and has become a black hole for world talent.

Regarding “salary will increase, you will definitely earn more in the future” and “you can invest, you can’t just leave it alone forever”.

He explained that the increase in income is caused by two factors, one is the growth of one's own strength, and the other is the impact of the price/industry environment. Generally speaking, the general salary adjustment and stock price increase are invalid after discount, because the price/stock price increase implies the increase in housing prices, and your purchasing power has not changed. The growth of personal strength has an upper limit. From junior staff to team leader, small bosses can make it with hard work, and most people cannot make it in their lifetime to become senior managers/partners. At that stage, opportunities are more important than personal efforts, so you can't say that you will make a million at the age of 30, and you will make tens of millions at the age of 35. For many people, graduating from 985 is the peak of their lives.

If we define success in life as reaching the upper class and quantifying it as owning a house or a car, it is indeed a big challenge for small-town test-takers. The above answers can provide practical suggestions based on different material goals in life.

But the key to the way out for small town test-takers should be to deconstruct their own desires and acknowledge the environment they are in. You must slowly understand what is a real opportunity and what is artificially created scarcity. We must also always understand that life is destined to be missed, we cannot get every opportunity, and we cannot take every advantage. Actively give up small advantages, and don't do things that damage your own pattern. In the long run, you will naturally relax a lot. You must always reconcile with yourself, and always admit that in addition to competition, there are many other things in life that can determine the final height, such as birth. Maybe we will never reach the starting point of the second-generation rich in our entire lives. But so what? Living a happy life is a very subjective thing.

First, we must learn to identify what is false scarcity, rather than grabbing any resource we see, and curbing our rampant, consumerist desires. Second, we must understand that competition is not the optimal solution to the problem, but development and cooperation are. Real great achievements can never be achieved by relying solely on competition.

In the movie "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji Tai Chi to fight against the two elders of Xuanming. After teaching him once, Zhang Sanfeng asked, "Have you forgotten it?" Zhang Wuji said, "I almost forgot it." Zhang Sanfeng replied, "When you forget it all, you can fight."

For small town test-takers, they must first forget that they are “test-takers” and let go of competition. They also need to forget their small town mentality and understand that we can miss a lot of things in the bigger world, and we won’t lose everything if we lose a little. Only in this way can we break out of the limitations brought by the fixed mindset and gain self-consistency and peace.

(Fine adjustment, Zhihu)

Some people say that too many Chinese people generally lack philosophical enlightenment education. The sadness of individuals who cannot live out their own self and go with the flow can be seen everywhere. The environment is important, but whether a person can break through the environment and become his true self is the most valuable proposition for everyone. However, only a few people see and care about this proposition.

Some people say that part of Chinese culture is too focused on a person's social attributes (identity, status, occupation, etc.), and ignores a person's nature (exploration, freedom, being loved and respected, etc.). Philosophy development requires many "thinkers" who may not pay much attention to material things, but care more about the fullness of the spiritual world. Unfortunately, Chinese culture always encourages people to be secularized, cater to the so-called mainstream values, and does not want people to have too much independent thinking. For example, emperors of all dynasties burned books and buried scholars to control thoughts. Perhaps Critical Thinking will sprout in the middle of every peaceful era, but it is often strangled by the ruling group - meat eaters are despicable. Congenitally bad, there is no way to develop acquired. Many Chinese people have never found opportunities to develop themselves throughout their lives. They live in various social rules and regulations, like tools and screws.

Reading history, understanding and seeing the cultural shackles, and analyzing what one really wants in life are things that small town test-takers urgently need to do.

Zhihu user Sima Yi wrote that the United States was in a steady development stage around 2000, and there was also an ecosystem of gentry. Many children from ordinary families with good academic performance would choose the university in their own state because of tuition and dormitories, giving up better and more distant offers, and then find a relatively decent job in their own state. China has been developing at a high speed, and big cities have reached a very developed level, but many small towns have not, and many people have not.

When China's current suffering young generation gradually grows old and economic development gradually stabilizes, there will no longer be huge shocks in outlooks, no longer grandparents and relatives who feel unable to communicate, and all that young people watch, listen and play can be done by the elderly as well. At that time, there should no longer be the problem of small town test-takers having difficulty finding a way out.

Part 5 The meaning of life

Wealth is not just the amount in a bank card. It symbolizes a luxurious, comfortable, livable house that can recharge and nourish anyone who is exhausted outside. It is a spacious bathtub indoors, a garden and a swing outdoors. It symbolizes the perfumes and luxury goods on the first floor of the shopping mall. Others' envy and jealousy, the owner feels like a god looking down on the ants in the world. It symbolizes the freedom to decide one's own schedule, vision, circle, and the breadth of vision. Everything you see and encounter in a day is more refined and thoughtful. It also means the ability to pursue every exciting hobby and cutting-edge technology in the world, and taste fresh grapes and strawberries just picked from other continents.

Any form of expression shown to a person who has never been exposed to wealth may cause negative emotions such as inferiority, jealousy, etc., stimulate their desire, and desire often accompanies them throughout their lives.

But in fact, a house is just a worldly resource for us to place our bodies. It is a tool, not an end.

Sometimes I wonder, is there any difference for us to own a house when we are young without paying anything, or to own it when we are older?

It's nothing more than less fixed disposable income, but we can live well without this money, as long as we live in a city we like and have a healthy body.

In every society, there are many shortcuts to getting a house, such as relying on parents' assets, embezzling property that does not belong to you, or clinging to a wealthy partner. But we only live in this life, and we don't have many lives to live. It's okay to use this life as a test. After getting material things, how will we give meaning to our lives? When we get a house, more vain material desires will appear one by one. These bubbles of desires are impossible to stop, but the decision to be lazy and cheat is not so easy to change, and you need to bear all the consequences.

It is not so important whether you have a house between the ages of 20 and 30, but this period is definitely the most precious decade for us to cherish. You are in good health, your parents are still alive, and many of your dreams and wishes may come true. How can you worry about a place to live all day long?

Walking in the mountains on weekends, I passed by groups of men, women, young and old who I didn't know, just like when my parents took me up the mountains when I was a child. Perhaps these children who grew up in Shenzhen will go up the mountains alone one day, become couples holding hands, and become parents of others. They obviously won't become small town test-takers, but will their lives be free of struggle and confusion?

"Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains." Perhaps due to objective limitations, the small town test-takers will never be able to become the "ideal template", but the background and experience of prestigious schools that they have worked hard for have given them more choices than their peers.

“There is only one true heroism in the world, and that is to love life even after recognizing the truth of it.” Fortunately, more and more small town test-takers have begun to reflect on the rigid evaluation system, are tearing off the single label of prestigious schools, and are accepting the ordinary and wonderful life as an ordinary person.

(Note, Zhihu)

Part 6 Media Comments

We are concerned about the phenomenon of "985 waste import plan" not only because their current predicament reveals the problems in education. They grew up in a utilitarian, rational, standardized measurement and selection model, and lack tenacity and agile survival skills when dealing with the real, complex and changing adult world. The failure stories they tell, the world in their eyes, and their lack of self-identification and inner emptiness are the undercurrents of conflicts and collisions in values, economic growth models, generational differences, etc. in the society's rapid development over the past 20 years.

— — "Small town test-takers: Why do they call themselves "waste"? "

Everyone's development is limited by various conditions. Education is the most important way to get rid of the life track of their parents, but not all limitations can be broken by individuals. This is a fact that everyone must accept. Another fact is that most people's lives cannot escape the word "mediocrity". It is inevitable to leave the small town, with a halo on your head, and enter the big city, but encounter a gap in life, culture and other aspects. But there is no need to complain about it, or even be decadent and pessimistic. Adjust your mentality, keep working hard on the ground, and move towards your goals. Life will naturally not let you down. Just like many people in "children who are good at doing questions", although they sigh, they will reflect more and find a way out in sorting out the past. They know that the choices and efforts after entering university are equally important.

— — "Why did the "small town test-taker" cause heated discussion?"

Part 7 Appendix: Sharing of experience in recruiting students for overseas study

A year ago, I returned to China with many questions about society and life. As an empiricist, I didn’t want to just listen to what others said, so I gave up the opportunity to stay in Melbourne and returned to China to find answers. I joined the industry that was growing the fastest at the time.

Yohji Yamamoto said: "Self" is invisible. Only when you collide with something else and bounce back, you will understand "self". Therefore, you will know what "self" is only when you collide with something strong, scary, or high-level, and then you will know what "self" is. This is the self. So you must believe in all your experiences and the things you have collided with. It must be good to know yourself.

//The picture comes from Baidu search

After work, I met many clear-headed, logical, professional and friendly superiors and colleagues, and I often encountered difficult problems and moments of self-doubt. However, the doubts I had a year ago finally became clear at the end of 2021, but I knew I hadn't finished exploring.

This year I hesitated countless times, and there were countless moments when I wanted to give up and say, "That's it, I won't go to work anymore." I thought of countless ways out for myself, but in the end I didn't want to be a quitter.

When I feel that I have only a limited understanding or am emotionally unstable, I go back to the book to find the answer again and again. I never deny that there are regrets, but there must be losses and gains before we can talk about courage. I believe that as long as I continue to input and output and make progress, and remember all the influences that place has brought to me and continue to give strength to my current life, then I have never left Melbourne. The undulating sea level of Melbourne on my arm will always remind me and seal the beautiful dream I had when I was 22 years old.

​

This year I became more down-to-earth and stopped using my parents' credit card, but I still pursued the world of books. Emer Towles wrote in "The Rules of Being High": "For the proud young, there is an undoubted charm in the pursuit of eternal truth. However, if a person loses the ability to enjoy worldly pleasures - smoking on the porch, eating gingerbread in the bath - she may put herself in unnecessary danger. What my father wanted to tell me at the end of his life was that this danger should not be taken lightly: one must be prepared to fight for simple pleasures and protect them from the temptations of elegance, knowledge and all kinds of charm."

Finally, here is a fragment of an experience sharing article I wrote in September 2020 when I achieved some small success in Melbourne's autumn recruitment. Although these words seem very immature from today's perspective, and are not based on today's insight into the real society, they are very idealistic, but they encouraged many people at the time. I hope that now they can also inspire some small town test-takers in similar situations, and encourage those who are confused in school, work, and participating in recruitment. There are always times when we are proud of our small town origins.

I wrote this to encourage my friends who are still going through campus recruitment. Don’t underestimate yourself, don’t be afraid of failure, and bravely fight for what you want.

The original purpose of writing this text is because I hate all clichés. I don’t want to be classified as “a post-95s generation with many options, too many choices, and easy to give up”; I don’t want to be classified as “who still studies now? People who work generally don’t want to study anymore”. I don’t want to be classified as “a useless international student with a fake master’s degree in Australia and a little money at home”.

I want to try and see how many possibilities there are in life. I love many things, I even love the cruel world of human nature revealed in literature; I also hate many things, I want to fight against consumer anxiety, all clichés, condescending, self-righteous, and hypocritical... But what I want most is to control my life.

Cloudy 2020 Graduate Autumn Recruitment Experience Sharing (Excerpt)

As international students, we have many disadvantages when we return to China to find jobs. We cannot have a year-long internship experience like our domestic classmates, and many of them even have no internship experience at all. But we actually have a lot of potential and advantages, which may not be fully explored by ourselves. When facing a series of strong candidates such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and Jiaotong University, we must first have confidence in our abilities and understand that we have unique competitive advantages. Convince yourself first, then you can convince the interviewer opposite you.

The logical and analytical abilities we have constructed in our projects and papers can all be abstracted and integrated into our own ability models. Western research methods are very different from those in China. Recently, I was reading Li Yinhe's autobiography, "The Honey Collecting Records of the World". She was also an international student. After returning to China from the United States, she used the Western method system to study Chinese society. At that time, there was no mature sociological research system in China, so she won the favor and imitation of the academic community and made outstanding contributions to Chinese sociological research.

How to apply the knowledge and theories we have learned in the West to the complex and ever-changing Chinese society is a question we need to continue to think about during the autumn recruitment and our future careers.

When I was a freshman, I knew nothing about choosing a major and didn't get any advice that was very suitable for me. But I had no complaints. They all completed me. At that time, I tried to solve problems with finance, and used the financial field to show me the operating rules and various mysterious principles of the world. But the result was that I didn't seem to enjoy those boring concepts to me. At that time, I didn't even understand the difference between accounting and finance, because the former had a higher entry threshold in school and required a special test, which I was lucky to pass, so I chose it.

But I have never believed and never agreed to this day. Perhaps my parents have unspoken doubts about me in their hearts: they think that my original choice of business and my current career plan are contrary to, abandoned, and completely unrelated.

Business also has many ways to analyze and solve problems. The ultimate goal of learning is to abstract the methodology and think about how to apply it. Learning accounting allows me to more professionally consider risk points, the level of market acceptance of products, and the balance between output and input, so as to evaluate product quality and effect. And in papers and academic writing, those gains will benefit me for a lifetime.

When I was a senior in college, I went through a period of anxiety, isolation and pain. My personal experience and social observations gradually made me dissatisfied with the current situation of young people staying at home and their spiritual social needs being highly unmet. Information technology has brought about social problems in the new era, disintegrating the traditional way of life. The times have drawn a huge question mark in everyone's mind. I don't want to escape, I want to face and confront this problem directly - people's hearts are eager to connect deeply with others, but they are contradictory and reject real and possible opportunities for communication. People are intoxicated with unrealistic, imaginary perfect friends/lovers, but they are dismissive of others in reality. This is also one of the important topics I am focusing on in sociology now.

What kind of product can solve this problem? Can the Internet completely solve mental problems? I am still looking for the answer.

There is no doubt that my idea at that time was very naive, but at that time I set the career goal of "product".

50% of my passion for products is based on ideals and emotions. I hope to learn and participate in solving important problems that are happening in the world and have not yet been solved.

During graduate school, I was fascinated by sociology and focused on minority rights.

“Your user group should be as large and broad as possible. Don’t just consider the 70%-80% majority. Pay more attention to the 20%-30% group. Design products that will not make them feel like “aliens”. Care about them and have a positive impact on them. They may be disabled, poor, or too tall or too short. This is the mission.”

Chinese companies have already become very good at serving the general public. As for enterprises and minority groups, can I participate in the newer battle?

I think that for product work and interviews, fresh product graduates who lack experience should not be afraid to produce works and should not resist hands-on practice. Only works can best prove your passion, words alone are not enough. Even if you don't have the opportunity to show it to the interviewer, you will be very familiar with the things you have done yourself, and there will definitely be opportunities to guide the interviewer to know this during the interview. Product is a job that requires understanding of the industry and coming up with unique and novel ideas based on facts, phenomena and evidence. It requires us to have our own opinions and judgment, to be able to explore and dig out the essence behind the appearance, and to be able to strategize and control the project.

I wrote this paragraph because I know some of my friends are watching this career and are confused. When choosing a career, you must compare and match the job requirements with your own strengths/weaknesses. If they do not match, even if you pass the interview, it will only be very painful. If you do not meet the basic product capabilities, you will basically not be able to impress the sensitive interviewer with your sincerity.

Finally, if you have decided to choose, if you really love this job, then be brave and bold to do it and prove yourself. Don't be afraid of being questioned by any authority or non-authority. Only you know yourself best. No effort and contribution will be in vain. Take me for example, including the competitions that did not win awards, the startups that did not go into operation, and the business plans that did not have any practical effects. These experiences that may be hastily defined as "failures" in the eyes of others were packaged by me throughout the autumn recruitment and became a series of shining journeys that witnessed my growth and won the affirmation of the interviewer.

The autumn recruitment is a very hard process for every fresh graduate who participates. At the age of 22 or 23, we are eager to leave our parents' arms, step out of the familiar campus for the first time, and try to prove/measure ourselves with social indicators. We can't wait to cancel our parents' credit cards, want financial independence and freedom, and want them to see that we are no longer the children who rely on them and accomplish nothing. Although our peers are competitors, we are friends who work side by side, move forward for the same goal, and cheer each other up. Compared with family members, we can understand each other better. On the stage of life, we are no different from the contestants on variety shows. We are young, have ideals, enthusiasm, ability, and ambition, and we will definitely have a bright future.

Life has just begun. Step out of your comfort zone and be yourself. Your life has unlimited possibilities.

Always pay attention to marginalized groups, always respect others, never give up family, friends and happiness for fame and fortune, and never forget that the prerequisite for creating great works is: being happy enough and kind enough.

I will be more determined and keep reminding myself to keep my original intention.

At the end of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", the young people packed their bags and left the estate.

"Goodbye, old life!"

"Hello, new life!"

//The picture comes from Baidu search

Part 8 Reference Materials

Book

Hillary Clinton: Han Lei

The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante

My World View by Albert Einstein

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

"The Rules of Being High" by Emer Towles

The Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer

Economy and Society by Max Weber

article

Baidu Encyclopedia:

Small Town Test-taker

Small Town Test-taker - Baidu Encyclopedia

Zhihu:

"What does the term 'small town test-taker' mean? Where did this phrase come from?"

What does "small town test-taker" mean? Where did this meme come from? - Zhihu

"Where is the way out for small town test-takers?"

Where is the way out for "small town test-takers"? - Zhihu

Douban:

The Snobs of Our Time

https://www.douban.com/note/822603710/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends

Guangming Daily:

Why did the “small town test-taker” cause heated discussion?

Guangming Daily

Sanlian Life Weekly:

"Small town test-takers: Why do they call themselves "waste"? "

Sanlian Life Weekly

Movie

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber

Other featured articles

Society｜Exploring the social dilemmas of contemporary young people

Naples: Starting with a Book Review

Their books and stories | Six female public figures

Society | Deepening into feminism from the movie "Door Lock" and the feminist disputes on Weibo

The end of 2021 | Life is a bright lamp that is always being polished