Chapter 7: Chapter 7: What is the Purpose of Education?
The next morning, Zhengyang No.13 Middle School's playground was packed with a large crowd early on.
There were students and parents.
The crowd gathered in small groups.
In the presence of parents, the students seemed somewhat reserved, while the parents were discussing their children and their studies, where the parents of good students naturally becoming the center of attention.
Lin Xiaoqing's mother, Zhao Hongjuan, was surrounded by a few parents from class three.
Zhao Hongjuan was in a floral dress, showcasing her outstanding figure openly. With her hair tied up and glasses on, she carried a refined and cultured aura. Standing next to Lin Xiaoqing, anyone would find it hard to believe they were mother and daughter.
At this moment.
Zhao Hongjuan was talking about her daughter's grades. "Xiaoqing's Chinese and English grades are okay, but her science is slipping a bit, her math and physics are always a drag."
"I'm quite worried. Now that we're moving up to twelfth grade, if we don't catch up, it will be too late. I plan to get her a tutoring class, no matter how late it is at night, I've got a gold medal teacher in mind..."
Lin Xiaoqing stood aside, forcing a smile on her face.
Zhao Yi passed by and waved at Lin Xiaoqing. He was about to leave when he was called to a halt.
"Zhao Yi!"
Seeing Zhao Yi, Lin Xiaoqing seemed to have found a lifesaver. She interrupted her mother's speech and enthusiastically introduced him, "This is my classmate, Zhao Yi. He's giving a speech today too, and his script is well written."
A bunch of parents cast scrutinizing glances at Zhao Yi, and he could feel the pressure.
He was different from other students.
His parents were at work during the day, and he didn't even tell them about it.
Free of parents, he was free of burdens.
Zhao Hongjuan enthusiastically asked, "Zhao Yi! I remember, Xiaoqing mentioned you, your academic achievement is quite good, isn't it?"
Zhao Hongjuan thought that being able to give a speech on stage certainly proved good academic achievement.
"Huh?"
Zhao Yi looked at Lin Xiaoqing in confusion. Lin Xiaoqing rolled her eyes, indicating she had never said such a thing.
A shaggy-bearded parent suddenly laughed, "Speaking of Zhao Yi, this kid, he speaks well, does things well, he will definitely be capable in the future!"
The implied meaning behind his words was that Zhao Yi wasn't good at studying.
Zhao Yi turned his head.
He recognized the face.
After thinking about it, he realized it was Sun Liang's dad.
Hearing that Zhao Yi's academic performance was not good, the parents immediately lost interest.
Zhao Hongjuan added awkwardly, "Twelfth grade now, we have to work hard for a year."
"Yeah! Twelfth grade now!"
"The last year! It will be too late if we don't study!"
"Work hard for a year and maybe you can get into an undergraduate program, or at least a tertiary institution..."
Zhao Yi was so frustrated he felt like spitting blood. He cast a resentful look at Lin Xiaoqing, then asked Sun Zhiguo, "Uncle, where is Sun Liang?"
Sun Zhiguo pointed in a direction, "Over there! This kid just doesn't want to stand with me."
"I'm going to find Sun Liang!"
Without waiting for a response, Zhao Yi slipped away quickly.
"Class one, the far left!"
"Class three, over here!"
Just before the assembly started, the homeroom teachers stood in their designated places and had the students gather together. The parents' seats were positioned corresponding to the students on one side.
The boys from the class went upstairs to help bring stools to the playground.
The parents had stools while the students stood.
By the time the headmaster came on stage to speak, Zhao Yi, not feeling at ease standing, was squatting with Sun Liang on the spare stools at the edge of the gathering, unable to see anything from the crowd at the front.
The senior year assembly at Zhengyang No.13 Middle School consisted of a few procedures.
Firstly, the principal would give a speech.
Secondly, the grade director would come on stage to report and summarize the grade's progress, praising those with excellent academic performance.
Then it was the students' turn to speak.
The first to take the stage was Cui Wei from Humanities Class Seven. Cui Wei was tall and good-looking, excellent at both football and basketball, proficient at all kinds of sports. The only thing he was not good at was studying.
This was Cui Wei's first time acting as a student representative at a speech, he was clearly quite nervous, especially with a crowd of parents below the stage, the scrutiny from hundreds of people was tremendous pressure.
After going up, he just kept his head down and read from his script, he didn't lift his head once.
The parents were also discussing amongst themselves.
"Why is it Cui Wei? With his grades, isn't he at the bottom? Forget about getting into an undergraduate program, it would be luck if he could even get into a college!"
And that was one of the more polite comments.
Some parents were vicious, one sentence from them could suffocate a person, "Look at what he's saying, 'As a representative of twelfth-grade students, I pledge to study hard in the final year.' Can he represent all twelfth-grade students? And study hard? He's just leading our kids astray!"
"His speech must have been copied, I might believe it if someone else were saying it…"
Zhao Yi's face darkened as he listened.
Fairly speaking, Cui Wei's speech was not bad. The content was inspiring, with clear pronunciation and a tinge of emotion. However, his grades were so low, making him somewhat of a figure in the school; many parents knew about his poor academic performance.
How can someone with bad grades represent all students?
If his grades are poor, no matter how much emotion he puts into his writing, it's all pretentious, grandiose, and hollow!
Zhao Yi was about to go on stage, and his speech theme was to talk about dreams and life. Given his grades, his speech would also be 'pretentious, grandiose, hollow'.
How awkward!
When Cui Wei's speech finished, the applause was scattered from the audience, just a group of familiar faces giving him face.
The hosting teacher spoke into the microphone, "Next up, please welcome Zhao Yi, the student representative of Senior Three Class Three, to give his speech!"
Class Three, a group of people looked at Zhao Yi.
"Zhao Yi, it's your turn!" Sun Liang pushed Zhao Yi.
"Come on!"
"Go on, you have to be better than Cui Wei! Bring honor to our Three Class!"
Lin Xiaoqing was next to Zhao Yi, studying her manuscript intensely to utilise the little time she had left. She planned to recite her speech from the manuscript.
Zhao Yi gritted his teeth and stood up, handing his manuscript to Lin Xiaoqing.
"What?"
Lin Xiaoqing looked a little confused as she took the paper, only to hear Zhao Yi say with a smirk, "It's a gift for you – free of charge!"
He walked towards the stage.
There were over five hundred people on the playground, including teachers and students, and even the school's security guards and the snack bar owner were among the bystanders.
Zhao Yi walked lightly to the most eye-catching position under the flagpole, he turned to face the audience, a hint of a smile on his face that showed not the slightest sign of nervousness.
He picked up the microphone and joked to test the sound, "I'm Zhao Yi from Class Three. You all know me, right? If not, no worries. You'll know me today."
"Hulala…"
Laughter broke out in the audience, and some students shouted, "We know! We all know!"
Zhao Yi continued with his opening, "Speaking today as a representative, I feel a ton of pressure! It's my first time in three years of high school! So, I want to take a moment to thank the school leaders and teachers for their trust in me." He bowed slightly.
The teachers in the front row exchanged a look, and they had a good impression of him - this student was not nervous at all, his mentality was much better than his peers.
"To be honest, I didn't want to be a representative."
Zhao Yi's tone was earnest, "Based on the theory of academic performance representation, I am only ranked around tenth in the class, I could only represent those students with worse grades than me."
"Therefore, I will represent those students who are in the middle and the bottom in terms of their grades to give this speech."
"Hula~~~"
All the students were energized.
The teachers in the front row looked at each other and then at Teacher Sun. Her brows furrowed slightly; what she was hearing did not match the script she had seen before.
Zhao Yi moved on to the main content, "As a middle-of-the-pack student, I have already felt immense pressure, with pressure from parents, pressure from the school, and especially, anxiety about the future."
"At our age, pursuing education is quite sad."
"If we go back to ten, or twenty years ago, college students were scarce, and upon graduation, they were assigned jobs, whereas now, we have to look for jobs ourselves. Looking ahead, in a few years, when we graduate from university, perhaps for an ordinary position, you will be facing nine or more competitors."
"It's not a wild imagination, but a reality we must face."
Zhao Yi's face turned serious, "As students in the lower middle range of grades, will we be competitive in society when we graduate with common undergraduate and junior college degrees?"
"Hu~~"
There were murmurs among the audience.
No one expected that this would be the content of Zhao Yi's speech.
Zhao Yi paused for a little while, then continued, "In fact, it's just ordinary social and workplace competition, nothing to be sad about."
"The sorrows we will encounter are numerous, for instance, when you get into university and upon graduation, you start job hunting, only to realize that your boss is your classmate..."
"Yes, that same classmate who dropped out of primary school because they didn't want to go to class!"
"Hahaha…"
Raucous laughter followed.
An example that might be casually mentioned ten years from now is novel in this context.
Everyone was roused.
Zhao Yi continued, "When you finish college and venture into big cities, after struggling for several years and finally making a place for yourself, you go back to your hometown only to find that your childhood playmates who didn't go to school have all become millionaires."
"This is no joke."
"There are a plethora of reasons, perhaps they made their money by starting businesses or they're demolition benficiaries. Or they originally came from affluent families. Isn't there a saying, 'Being good at math and science is nothing compared to having a great dad'?"
"Hahaha~"
The scene was getting a bit out of control.
Zhao Yi's tone remained calm as if he was speaking of ordinary things. His clear and resonant voice echoed throughout the playground, "When that time comes, we might question ourselves: spending so much time, money, and energy on education, what exactly is its significance?"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone