Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 363 I think you're not normal

As soon as Teacher Guo finished speaking, Chen Fan nodded immediately, "Don't worry, I'm just here to register today, I don't know anything else."

At this moment, Jiang Tiantian nodded vigorously and said softly, "I didn't hear anything either."

The three of them turned to look at her at the same time, and all of them showed knowing smiles.

If you don't hear something, you can't take it seriously. If you get this news, even if you don't say it out loud, you will subtly or overtly force the people in your family who are in school to study. In fact, that's exactly what Teacher Guo and his colleagues did.

However, as long as it's not said outright, that's enough. When something this serious happens, how can you really pretend you didn't hear it?!

After laughing, Chen Fan frowned slightly, as if he was seriously considering what Teacher Guo had said.

Teacher Guo and Teacher He were not in a hurry. They sat in their chairs watching him and waiting for his decision.

Moreover, they were all absolutely certain that Chen Fan would most likely choose...

"I still choose correspondence university."

Chen Fan raised his head, his expression somewhat conflicted, but his eyes were very resolute.

Looking at the two teachers who were completely astonished, he said seriously, "Admittedly, regular full-time universities have more advantages than correspondence universities, especially after graduation, there is a great chance to 'rise to the top' and become a cadre in a large organization, but for me, these are not what I pursue..."

Just like last time at the health department, Chen Fan talked on and on, reiterating his idea of ​​settling down in Lujiawan and building a production team.

In general, while university education is valuable, freedom is even more precious. Since correspondence universities offer the same knowledge and have the advantage of allowing students to graduate at any time as long as they pass the exams, it's only natural that he would choose a correspondence university, as it allows him to study, obtain a diploma, and not interfere with the construction of the production team.

It has to be said that people these days really fall for this kind of thing.

On the one hand, it's undeniable that most people pursue "progress," wanting higher positions and higher salaries—this is human nature. On the other hand, positive role models still garner the respect and support of the vast majority of people.

I can't do it myself, but that doesn't stop me from admiring those who can.

This is fundamentally different from the social trend of a certain period in later times, where good and honest people were ridiculed more.

After hearing Chen Fan's words, Teacher Guo and Teacher He exchanged a glance, both of them able to see the surprise in each other's eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Teacher Guo sighed and said, "Some time ago, I heard that the Health Department extended an olive branch to you, wanting to transfer you to the Prefectural Committee, and even offered you the treatment of a cadre, but you refused. I thought it was just a rumor, but seeing you today, I'm afraid it's true."

Chen Fan smiled shyly, "I am very grateful for the kindness shown by the director of the health department, the head of the department, and Deputy Director Hao. However, I am used to being in the countryside and cannot stand being restrained, so I can only disappoint their kindness."

Teacher Guo looked up at Chen Fan with admiration in her eyes. "In our literary and artistic circles, there are also many great writers who have given up the superior life in the city and voluntarily gone to the countryside to get close to the masses and do creative work. In this respect, you have the style of these great writers."

He paused for a moment, and before Chen Fan could speak, he said seriously, "Since you have this ambition, I can't stop you. How about this..."

He turned to Teacher He and said, "Teacher He, bring over the liberal arts special admission exam paper. Let's give Xiao Chen the exam now."

Teacher He nodded, stood up, smiled and gave Chen Fan a thumbs up before turning to walk out.

In less than a minute, he returned with a set of test papers and a pen, placing them in front of Chen Fan. As he separated the test papers and answers, he smiled and said, "The liberal arts exam includes five subjects: politics, Chinese, mathematics, history, and geography. History and geography are each limited to one hour, and the other three subjects are each limited to two and a half hours. Once you are ready, I will start timing you."

After he finished speaking, Teacher Guo continued, "There definitely won't be enough time to finish the exam in half a day this afternoon, but that's okay. Just take as many as you can, and we'll continue timing tomorrow morning."

Teacher He then said with a smile, "We've made an exception for you. Otherwise, we would only give you one exam today, and then one in the morning and one in the afternoon every day. It would take two and a half days to finish all the exams."

While they were talking, Chen Fan had already glanced through the exam paper, then looked up and smiled, "Thank you, teachers. Shall I begin now?"

Teacher He raised his wrist to check the time. "It's exactly 4 p.m. now. You can begin."

Chen Fan slowly unscrewed the pen cap, spread out the Chinese test paper, lowered his head and said with a smile, "I'll try to finish it quickly so as not to delay your departure from get off work."

Teacher Guo and Teacher He smiled, thinking he meant to try to finish a subject before leaving get off work at 6 o'clock.

But half an hour later, after seeing Chen Fan finish the Chinese test paper in a long and fluent manner, including an 800-word essay, the two of them couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.

A Chinese language test paper in half an hour?
Even for outstanding students, it wouldn't be enough to finish an essay, right?
Then, remembering that Chen Fan was already a well-known writer in the province and must have a good command of Chinese language, I comforted myself: It's okay, it's just his strong subject, it's understandable.

But after 20 minutes, when they saw Chen Fan put the completed math test paper aside, not only the two of them, but also Jiang Tiantian, were completely bewildered.

Jiang Tiantian stared intently at a major question on the test paper. She felt that she hadn't even understood the question, but Chen Fan didn't waste a single second. After finishing the previous question, he went straight to this one.

Are you sure you're not just making this up?
Seeing that Chen Fan had already picked up the history exam paper, Teacher Guo gently patted Teacher He's arm and gestured with her eyes towards the math exam paper.

It means letting him see if these answers are correct.

There are only a few staff members at the correspondence education center, a total of only 5 people. However, due to the relatively light workload, only two people are usually stationed here, while the other three rotate between various correspondence education centers throughout the province or work at the main campus of the university. They only come here when there is a need, so they are considered to be on a rotating basis.

He and Teacher He were in charge of humanities and science respectively, and Teacher He was in charge of science, so he asked Teacher He to take a look at Chen Fan's exam paper.

When Teacher He saw his expression, he shrugged blankly, spread his hands, and made a checkmark in the air.

When Teacher Guo saw it, his eyes almost popped out.

Without a doubt, Teacher He means all of them are correct?!
How can this be? !
Chen Fan answered the questions seriously, while noticing their actions out of the corner of his eye. Without looking up and with his hands still moving, he smiled and said, "These questions are very simple. They are basically within the scope of the knowledge points in the self-study series of math, physics and chemistry. I have been teaching math, physics and chemistry courses to students in the production team's study class for the past two or three months, so I am very familiar with these types of questions. Therefore, answering the questions at this time is an advantage."

Teacher Guo snapped out of her daze, smiled slightly embarrassedly, and looked at the test paper.

Okay, so you've just studied the self-study series on math, physics, and chemistry. What about history?

Chen Fan coughed lightly, finished writing the last question on the history exam, looked up and smiled, "History is easier. It's mostly about memorizing knowledge points. Just memorize them."

Ms. Guo felt a little heartbroken, and forced a smile as she waved her hand, "You, you continue."

Chen Fan put the history exam paper aside and then picked up the geography exam paper.

By this time, he had already finished his Chinese, math, and history exams and was engrossed in writing geography. Teacher He raised his wrist to check the time; just 65 minutes had passed.

In other words, Chen Fan finished the history exam in just 15 minutes.

After calculating the time, Teacher He couldn't help but feel a headache coming on, her eyes fixed on Chen Fan's pen.

Wow, he writes like a typewriter! Not only is he fast, but he doesn't even make a single typo. How did he train like that?

At this moment, Teacher Guo also discovered the key point, grabbed Chen Fan's test paper, and his eyes were shining.

A moment later, he handed the test paper to Teacher He and whispered, "Look at these characters!"

Teacher He's lips twitched slightly. "I noticed it just now. He writes so fast and so well, and he doesn't make a single mistake. I don't know how he developed such beautiful handwriting."

At this moment, Chen Fan suddenly raised the pen in his hand, smiled shyly, and said, "Teacher, the pen is out of ink."

Teacher He snapped out of her daze and said, "Oh, I'll go get you some ink."

As he walked out, he kept shaking his head and sighing. This was a large Hero brand fountain pen that he usually used without needing to refill the ink for a week, but it couldn't even last through a single exam today. It was unbelievable!

The ink arrived shortly after, and Chen Fan added it before the exam continued.

Another 15 minutes passed, and all the geography questions were answered, leaving only the last subject, politics.

These days, politics is one of the three main subjects, or even the most important. You can write carelessly in Chinese and make mistakes in math, but you absolutely cannot answer politics questions carelessly.

This is why Chen Fan left this subject until the end.

First, carefully read the question. I. Explain the following terms.

Productive forces, practice, class, ...

II. Questions and Answers

1. What are the different social forms that human society has evolved from lower to higher levels?

2. Based on Mr. Li's theory of the three worlds, what countries and regions are included in the first, second, and third worlds? Give examples.

3,……

These are all easy questions; I can't write anything about the difficult ones here.

Chen Fan focused intently on answering the questions, constantly reminding himself not to write anything carelessly.

The general line, general policy, general task, criticism, and so on—in short, they were very characteristic of the times.

However, none of this could stump Chen Fan. He started answering questions at 4 p.m. and finally wrote the last period at 5:50 p.m.

He then let out a long breath and placed the test paper in front of Teacher Guo.

With two people proctoring one exam, and both holding answer keys, the efficiency was naturally high. The results were already in the air the moment Chen Fan handed in his paper.

Teacher Guo took the political exam paper, looked it over carefully, and said with a serious face, "You did well, but there is still a little room for improvement. Although there are no flaws in your answers, it doesn't mean there are no mistakes. So I'll give you 99 points, that's the highest I can give you."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he humbly lowered his head, "I will definitely study hard and strive to make progress as soon as possible."

Teacher Guo's lips twitched even more violently than his. Then she coughed and said, "Well, out of 5 subjects, the total score is 500 points. You did pretty well, you got 498 points."

At this point, he realized he couldn't continue making things up and said with a helpless expression, "Hey Xiao Chen, why don't you just take the college entrance exam? Studying through correspondence courses is a waste."

If we're wrong and the college entrance exam hasn't been reinstated, I can still recommend you to work at the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles or the Jiangnan Literature and Art magazine. With your qualifications, they can definitely give you a university recommendation.

Postgraduate admissions haven't resumed yet, otherwise you could enroll in a correspondence university and continue your postgraduate studies. Although a correspondence diploma is the same as a regular diploma, a regular diploma still has a greater competitive advantage when compared side-by-side!

Chen Fan said seriously, "Teacher Guo, I appreciate your kind intentions, but my mind is made up, so please don't try to persuade me anymore."

Teacher Guo sighed softly and muttered, "Never mind, correspondence courses aren't bad anyway. Maybe one day when graduate enrollment resumes, you can continue studying. It won't stop you from contributing to the production team."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but ask curiously, "Professor Guo, do you mean that graduate students don't need to attend classes?"

"how is this possible?"

Professor Guo smiled and looked at him, saying, "Under normal circumstances, graduate students are just like ordinary undergraduates. They have to attend classes and study, and they are also divided into general courses and professional courses. After passing all the exams, there is a research project assigned by the supervisor. Then, they have to publish a paper and defend their thesis before they can graduate."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "However, that's normal. I don't think you're normal at all. If all the knowledge you have is from self-study, then your self-learning ability is extraordinary."

In addition, you have already published many articles, and even a long serialized novel. Your achievements have surpassed those of many full-time writers. If you continue to pursue a master's degree, which professor would prevent you from attending classes?

As long as you pass all the exams and complete the publication and defense of your related papers, I don't believe any professor would restrict you. If there is,..."

He suddenly patted his chest and said, "My senior is a professor of Chinese Language and Literature. I'll take you to him. I guarantee there won't be any problems."

At this point, Teacher He also said, "My senior sister is also a professor of literature and was once a member of the National Writers Association. You can come and find me too."

Teacher Guo immediately turned her head, "You're making it sound like my senior brother isn't a member of the Writers' Association. I'm a member of the provincial association."

Teacher He chuckled and said, "Whether it's the provincial association or the national association, they've all suspended their work. Only 'Jiangnan Literature' has just resumed publication. The other associations only have one liaison office, so let's not talk about that."

Teacher Guo, "You were the one who brought it up first."

Seeing that the two teachers were arguing, Chen Fan quickly raised his hand and said, "Teacher Guo, Teacher He, postgraduate admissions haven't resumed yet, let's not talk about this for now."

Guo and He exchanged a glance and gave each other an embarrassed, fake smile.

But she secretly decided that she would send a telegram to her senior brother/sister tomorrow, asking him/her to snatch the position of Chen Fan's mentor.

If I can't be a graduate student advisor, I can be a correspondence course teacher!
They would be very happy to take on an established writer as a student!

The four of them came out of the room, all of them covered in a light sweat.

The exam room was large, with two rows of windows for ventilation, but the weather was still hot, and it was quite uncomfortable to stay inside for two hours.

After coming out, Teacher He immediately turned on the ceiling fan above his head. The fan blades turned and brought a cool breeze, making him feel much more comfortable.

Seeing that both teachers were wiping their sweat with handkerchiefs, Chen Fan also picked up his backpack, took out a handkerchief from it, and handed it to Jiang Tiantian, saying with a smile, "It's clean, wipe yourself."

Jiang Tiantian blushed slightly, gracefully reached out to take it, and whispered, "Thank you."

While wiping away sweat, I remembered that I still had a handkerchief to return from last time. This was the second one. I could only wait until it was clean before returning it to him next time.

Or... she turned her head and glanced at Chen Fan, who had taken out another towel to wipe his sweat. Her heart pounded, and she thought to herself, "Could there be a third one?"
Did I become the one who rubbed the handkerchief?
Teacher He took a big gulp of water, then pulled out a few forms from the filing cabinet, placed them on the front desk, and said to Chen Fan, "Come and fill out this form, and I'll issue you an admission notice."

Chen Fan immediately got up and went over, saying, "Thank you for your help."

Teacher He waved his hand, "You're welcome."

While Chen Fan was filling out forms and attaching photos, Teacher Guo walked over with a teacup and said with a smile, "Every year, correspondence universities have one or two specially recruited candidates. They are basically those who missed the registration deadline. However, most of them pass the exam and are not considered outstanding. You are the first one to score over 400 points."

He silently added to himself, "And it's 498, what a monster!"

Chen Fan smiled and glanced at him, but didn't say anything and continued filling out the form.

Teacher He continued, "With your grades, I'm starting to wonder if you can graduate directly. I'll send you the complete set of textbooks in a bit."

The major courses for literature majors are mainly divided into two parts: linguistics and literature, which include more than a dozen subjects in total. If you want to choose the courses for this year's final exam, you need to choose a few from these dozen subjects, plus the required general education courses. After studying through correspondence courses, you will take the semester exam at the end of the year.

You will receive credits for passing the exams. Once you have all the credits for all subjects, you can apply for the graduation exam, which is a thesis and defense. This part includes both written and oral exams, meaning that in addition to answering questions, you will also be assessed on your oral expression skills, such as recitation.

Upon successful completion of the thesis and defense, students will receive a correspondence bachelor's degree certificate from Jiangnan University.

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but look up at him.

Was correspondence education really this rigorous back then?

I doubt even regular full-time school education has this many intricacies.

Well, this isn't just Chen Fan's baseless guess.

At the education conference earlier this month, the vice president commented on a certain school: "Then it should be called Tsinghua Middle School or Tsinghua Primary School, not University."

Therefore, there is a reason why, during this specific period, the value of a degree from a correspondence university is higher than that of a full-time university degree.

However, in terms of benefits and job placement, correspondence courses are indeed inferior to full-time courses.

This is somewhat disjointed.

(End of this chapter)