One test, not necessarily for life

The results of the college entrance examination have been released. Although the majority of readers of my official account are aged 25 to 30, in the past few years, many high school students and college students have come to me to communicate and share their plight.

I am also a past person under the examination-oriented education system. It has been ten years since the college entrance examination. Today, this article would like to share my own thoughts on the important turning point of the college entrance examination in life.

(1)

When I was in elementary school, my math scores plummeted from the fourth grade onwards. I often failed the test, and 40 to 50 points gradually became the norm, but before the fourth grade, it was the norm to score above 95 on the paper.

I remember that there was an article in the Chinese textbook at that time that told the story of Lei Feng's score of 88. At that time, I thought that Lei Feng's grades were very bad.

Since the fourth grade, almost all of our math exams have been Mathematical Olympiad questions, which are taken every Monday. Therefore, the proportion of failing grades in the class has instantly increased to more than 50%, and the students with the best math scores will take more than 60 exams from time to time. Under this pressure, some classmates were soon sent by their parents to the Children's Palace to participate in the Mathematical Olympiad training. Obviously, this gap was further widened.

As a result, my expectations for mathematics were crazily lowered in the exams, and my confidence was shattered again and again by the failing grades on the paper. The fear and shadow of mathematics accompanied me throughout my elementary school years.

What's worse is that our exam papers need to be brought back to the parents to sign. I can still remember the self who bowed his head humbly and tremblingly handed the exam papers to his father for signature.

Without exception, every time my father was in great pain, the blue scriptures on his forehead erupted, and the hand holding the paper smashed me in the face, his words were full of insults and denials of his personality.

At the time, I was so pessimistic that I thought my whole life was coming to an end. The worse my math grades got and the more abusive my parents got, the more my rejection, disgust, and distaste for math got worse. In the early 2000s, everyone was still advocating "Learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, and travel the world without fear", and this slogan made me start to lose confidence in my future life.

When I entered junior high school, I was still full of shadows on mathematics, and even worried that "failure" would accompany me throughout my life in the future, but I never imagined that the mathematics test in junior high school would allow me to get high scores many times, and I suddenly changed from a poor student in elementary school. Become a top student.

After that, my attitude towards mathematics took a 180-degree turn. I became very fond of doing math problems, and became more and more handy, and I was addicted to the world of thinking and disintegration. Sometimes I have a standard answer, and I have to rack my brains to think about whether there are more ways to solve the problem.

The teacher's award and the grades on the rolls reassembled my broken confidence little by little. After gaining confidence, I actually fell in love with mathematics, which once terrified me.

I think maybe it was because I grew up in a very difficult educational environment and the people around me were generally powerful, but when I suddenly entered an environment where my studies were relatively easy and the level of students was generally average, I was able to re-improve my own education. Mentality, not only no longer afraid of "math", but also fell in love with the "nightmare".

Not only mathematics, but the whole junior high school career was a very good and happy time for me, because my grades in junior high school were always in the top five in the class, and occasionally I could get the first place in each subject, but I It is not a top student in the strict sense, it can only be said to be at the middle and upper level.

If I was just a little transparent in elementary school, and my grades were in the middle, then the high school brought me many high-light moments because of my good grades, and these high-light moments also brought my inferiority and fear in elementary school to a little bit. sew up.

In fact, I can’t be said to be diligent in my studies, and I have hardly fallen behind in dating, playing games, and socializing. I am quite satisfied with the state of the middle and upper levels. It is precisely this mentality that affects me to this day.

I remember my high school ideological and political class teacher once told us in class:

"Reading is about reading. Some people can't improve their grades no matter how hard they work. Some people don't need to work hard. Even if they sleep in class, they can still get high marks in exams. You will feel very unfair, and you may even wonder why. Efforts are not rewarded. But this is the difference between individuals and individuals, so even if you don’t study well, don’t think that your life will be hopeless from now on.”

I have heard similar words from the teacher of the music class in junior high school.

Music is the least important subject for exam-oriented education. It can always be deprived or cancelled by the main course teacher at will, but he is the only music teacher I have ever met in my life that impressed me. I think he really Understand what "education" is.

He is well-informed and has visited the former residences of many European music celebrities, as well as the Vienna Concert Hall. Even as our teacher, he goes to his own teacher for vocal lessons every week while sharing with us what he has taught.

He will tell the life stories and experiences of many famous musical figures in class, analyze the background of the creation and birth of the works, the ideas expressed in the works, etc., not just let us learn how to vocalize, sing, learn notes, tones, etc. Pure " "Technical" knowledge, he pulled the depth of musical works to a deeper level, and guided students into a broader perspective to understand these works.

In addition, the homework he assigns is also very interesting. He often asks each of us to investigate the appreciation of famous people's life and works in small groups.

At that time, the research object I chose was Chopin, and this assignment allowed me to fully understand the life and experience of the series behind a musician, whether it was his love, his identity, and how the era he lived in affected his works. and many more.

In fact, this type of course can better motivate students to take the initiative to conduct in-depth research and exploration on a topic, rather than follow the textbook outline to study according to the script. Mindless.

Although he is only a music teacher, the knowledge he has mastered is far higher than that of many teachers who teach step-by-step. His humorous, guided approach completely changed my view of music class.

He will also talk about life in class. He said that he has taught for so many years and has seen students of all kinds. He has met some impressive children. He sleeps in class every day, but if he gets up to answer the questions, he can answer them completely. There are also some children who can only rely on mental arithmetic for a few seconds to solve math problems, and then they can blurt out the answer. Even teachers will be surprised by the ability and talent of these children.

When he told this, he was full of emotion and said to us:

" Some people are born with extremely high talents and attainments, and they are destined to have a higher starting point than ordinary people, but I hope you know that most people are just ordinary people, and such people are very few.

The reason why I teach music is because I really love music, music lights up my life, I don't have any talent in music, but just because I like it, so I will spend a lot of study time on this In fact, will choose to become a music teacher.

Although music can be sacrificed and replaced at any time in the system of exam-oriented education, after all, exam-oriented education is somewhat utilitarian, but I hope that your life will not only pursue "utility" and "usefulness", but be able to have " The existence of beauty, know what it means to appreciate "beauty", music is a kind of "beauty", art is a kind of "beauty", don't let these "beauty" easily disappear from your life. "

At that time, I didn't learn much music skills, but his experience and experience broadened my imagination of life, broadened my desire for the outside world, and planted a seed in my heart.

(2)

Looking back on my exam-oriented education career, I think it has given me some inspiration for my future life——

Exam-oriented education, the single evaluation system in which scores are king, has severely destroyed my confidence. Poor grades can directly destroy a child's dignity and personality. He can't raise his head in front of others, as if he is a useless waste, but it can be reversed . After the situation, you tasted a series of praises, honors, and praises brought by good grades. Your attitude changed, from hating to thinking that the evaluation system was extremely fair, and even rejected those who tried to slander the system. After all, you are System preference.

Just like in the first season of Black Mirror, the person who was dissatisfied with the system and resisted loudly doubted, but after receiving attention and preferential treatment, he turned into a loyal supporter of the system.

So how does the "single evaluation system" change a person's situation?

Growing up in an environment with many talents and extremely difficult, obviously you will not be able to objectively judge the true level of ability of the society you live in, and then start to self-denial and lose self-confidence, doing everything is full of pressure, depression and fear , you will be deeply miserable because the people around you are at a much higher level than you.

When you enter a place with relatively easy difficulty and few talents, your broken confidence can be quickly repaired and grown, but at the same time, you will get a lot of "preferential treatment" because of the ability weapon. With "right", the sense of superiority continues to grow and expand, so you will become the most loyal supporter of this set of evaluation criteria - "Good grades mean everything, and poor grades are inferior."

You will even enter the society with the cognition of this set of standards and use it as the basis for all decisions - famous schools and famous enterprises are the upper class, while ordinary colleges and even those with low education are the subordinates. After all, the "label" screening method is perfect for this society where efficiency is king.

For those who have always been at a lower level in exam-oriented education since childhood, some people will also form a kind of extreme and prejudice in their minds.

Some people will think that "study is useless, education is useless" , people with high education are not as good as themselves, and thus lose basic respect for knowledge; University, then it is bound to be able to become a "superior person", to be proud in front of others, to continue to deepen the obsession with "educational education", and even to pin it on the next generation.

The cognition between people is obviously deeply affected by this single evaluation system, and this system can easily bring two extremes.

However, there are two sides to everything, especially when the college entrance examination is over, the student life is over, and the rules of society begin to not operate as they used to be on campus. The standard system in the minds of "good students" and "bad students" back then, In the face of social competition problems, it is likely to start to reverse.

The society is often not as fair as the campus, and there is no strict standard and supervision mechanism. Society is a complex dye vat, and all kinds of people will exist. There will be endless phenomena of breaking the rules, playing cards according to common sense, being unreasonable, and even stabbing knives in the back. Flatterers and flatterers are emerging in every corner of the workplace. If you want to get along well in this world, you need to re-learn the ways of life and survival that the school has never mentioned.

It is no longer an embarrassing thing for college students who graduated from prestigious schools to put down their posture and start working for rich people whose education is far inferior to their own. It sounds unfair, but it just seems to be fair in a certain sense.

In the past, the skills of "being good at doing questions" will not be the only criterion for judging, making you sit firmly in the position of "superior people" in your life. On the contrary, in the complex social network, it is likely to become vulnerable.

Survival or earning skills are not strongly correlated with grades. People who are good at books and know how to read and answer questions may not have strong survival skills (the ability to make money) in society.

As for the saying that teachers and parents often persuade: "When your college entrance examination is over, you will be fine." Naturally, it became a "lie" that you have heard.

The game of life is short and long. The college entrance examination is an important node, but it is not a finalized node. When you are younger and go through major events, even in Waterloo, your repair costs can be very low.

This is the same as investing as early as possible. The sooner you learn how to make decisions, even if you lose money, the money will only be a small amount of money compared to your future wealth, but the experience of losing money can greatly help you improve in the future. Judgment and Winning.

Social evaluation is much more complicated than the single evaluation system on campus. Looking back on the days of class, I still can’t forget the music teacher. I think he is trying to restore the students’ views on the mainstream evaluation system to a certain extent. He does not judge a child's ability by the level of scores. He will encourage and provide advice, no matter whether it is good or bad. He knows that education is not a "question-making skill" after a lot of training, so he will guide us to discover more diverse "Beauty", to understand different people and their experiences, to appreciate and feel the works, rather than rigid technical assessment.

(3)

Ten years ago, my mind was flooded with images similar to most people's, with a set of standard answers that couldn't go wrong.

If you asked me at the time, how did my life go?

This script is nothing more than being admitted to a key university, working in a local newspaper or TV station after graduation, holding an iron job with a very high cost performance, meeting the right person by fate, forming a family, having children, and occasionally bringing the whole family Traveling at home and abroad two or three times a year, it's a good life.

After graduation, I did not continue to play the role of a "good student" in the eyes of adults, but made many rebellious decisions again and again . All major decisions are "unreliable" and "high risk" in the eyes of adults. Decision-making is constantly being denied and disapproved, but I am like a runaway horse, insisting on confronting the voice of "opposition".

This is my life, no one has the right to deprive me of the right to choose, even if I make a bold and unimaginable decision, it is my own experience and experience. After entering the society, this kind of thought becomes more and more intense, because for a student who has just graduated, he has nothing, so what is there to lose? Therefore, no matter what encounters and experiences, for me, it is a process of accumulation of experience points for fighting monsters and upgrading, and there is no so-called good or bad.

I am still me, but I am not me anymore.

Looking back at the college entrance examination, it seems to have changed my life, but it does not seem to have a decisive role in my life. I did get a salary that exceeded many fresh graduates after graduating because of my diploma, but I did not embark on a career that corresponds to my major, and my ambition was not there. Ten years later, my college entrance examination and my current career are closely related. Not much, after all, I have been good at Chinese writing since I was a child, and I will not lose this ability because of the end of the college entrance examination.

If you can discover your strengths from a young age, then I believe that an exam is difficult to determine the path you will take in your life. In short, I did not become a "superior person" because of the score that time, nor did I become a "low-level person".

I live my life completely according to my own free will. No one can intervene anymore, and many decisions only depend on whether I want to do it or not.

Ten years later, the script I originally envisaged has already been rewritten in a mess. So far, I have not started a family and business, and it has not been as stable as I originally thought. Plans do never keep up with change. Life is bound to be filled with a lot of contingency, and contingency also carries some inevitability.

In the past ten years, the cities I have lived in, the languages and cultures I have been exposed to, and the people bred by different systems, education, and environments have been constantly shattering and challenging the educational concepts and life I have been exposed to since childhood. idea.

My thoughts and three views have been rebuilt countless times after being destroyed and pushed down by other ideologies. This process is very painful and will make you doubt your life, but after the pain, it will start you on a brand new journey.

Strictly speaking, from the moment you finish the college entrance examination, your life should begin to be involved and dominated by yourself. Parents' opinions can be your reference for decision-making, but they must never be your direct decision-making answer. Otherwise, you will gradually lose your will and assertiveness, and your dependence will not change at all because of your adulthood.

If you do well in the test, it is worth celebrating, but the end of the college entrance examination does not mean the end of your life game, you will enter a higher starting point, face more difficulties and challenges, and you are proud of The ability to take the exam and the state of being admired by everyone will fall into the abyss instantly after entering the ecology of the strong.

If you don't adjust your mentality in time and lower your attitude, you will easily fall into anger and dissatisfaction, confusion and struggle. The glory of the college entrance examination in the past will become the only thing you can talk about in your life, and it may also make you feel that "virtue does not match".

Education is useful in the first few years of graduation, but over time, the evaluation of education and career ability will be directly inversely proportional. When five or ten years later, you still need to talk about your education to win the favor of others, then such a life is bound to be Loss of "growth".

A brilliant degree can make or break you.

I once wrote about the pain and struggle of top students in the article "The Confusion and Struggles of First-Class College Students" :

"Our education system only gives one definition of excellence, and only sends smiles and flowers to those students who get high scores, which will inevitably lead to students' thinking is single and linear, and their personal development lacks independence and diversity.

Many college students lack the ability to explore their inner self, the ability to talk to themselves, and more profound thinking and exploration of society and life. Therefore, "confusion" is bound to be an expected product of utilitarian education. "

If you fail the exam, you can choose to repeat it, you can choose to go to a not-so-good school, you can choose to find a way to study abroad, or you can choose not to go to university. While the risks and challenges you face will be far more difficult than those of someone walking the established route, the experiences and experiences you gain will be very different.

The phrase "what time to do something" is not unreasonable, but it does not mean that it is the truth.

In fact, life in this life is long and short. Even if you fail the exam, it does not mean that life in this life is completely over.

In the past ten years, I have met some people who dropped out of college or dropped out of school, and many people took the initiative to choose to take a gap year or two to go to school. I have also met some people who failed to go to college, but their ability and The depth of thought exceeds that of many people.

If "going to a good university" is the indisputable answer, and "one test for life" is the indisputable truth, then they may all become social losers because of one test.

However, some of these people are precisely because they failed to enter a good university, or even because they did not enter a university, but instead created a script of their own life, entered the university in advance, and acquired many survival skills and abilities. After some people made money to solve the crisis of survival, they began to pick up textbooks and apply to study in overseas institutions. Although this is not the norm, they have never been completely reduced to failure by failing the college entrance examination.

Of course, I have also met some friends who have gone to university and have a bachelor’s or even a master’s degree, because they found a direction they are interested in after work the day after tomorrow, and they are ready to apply to Chinese and Italian universities and re-study related majors that they are interested in. 's undergraduate.

Finally, although I don't like exam-oriented education, I think the process of "college entrance examination" is a very precious experience in life. On the contrary, the result may not have much impact on your life. Because this process of sleepless and sleepless struggle and hard work may be experienced only once in your life. After experiencing it, you may be able to more empathize with the meaning of the "college entrance examination" to your life.

As long as you don't give up on continuing your studies, explore a lot of unknowns, get in touch with new ideas, cultures, etc., or try new challenges and experiences after you finish the college entrance examination, then the college entrance examination score is what you get at the age of 18. As a result, for better or worse, it is very difficult to bring the so-called "decisive" effect to your 28, 38 and beyond.

Because, no temporary "achievement" can shackle a person's ability and potential. From a regulated life to a life of free decision-making, you can completely adjust your mood to start your own voyage, write your own life script, and experience the life you want.

When you jump out of traditional rules and ideas, try to formulate your own rules of the game, and turn passive into active, then "the result of the college entrance examination" will no longer be able to characterize your life.

Wide sea diving, sky high the birds to fly.

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