Restart life

Chapter 75 0073 [The Whirlpool of Public Opinion, At the Eye of the Storm]

In the second semester of senior year, time suddenly becomes tight, and day students don't even have time to go home for meals.

For example, school ends at 12 noon, and 12:30 is the lunch break.

There's only half an hour allotted for meals, and that includes queuing time and running back and forth between the classroom and the cafeteria. The actual time spent eating usually doesn't exceed fifteen minutes.

An exceptionally powerful character who can finish a fight in two minutes, swallowing it whole without even chewing.

Bian Guanyue is not used to it at all!

It was lunchtime self-study when the homeroom teacher, Liu Shuying, called out, "Chen Guiliang, come out for a moment."

Chen Guiliang put down the exam paper and walked out.

Liu Shuying said, "A reporter from Longdu Daily is here. Come with me to the principal's office."

Longdu City currently only has this one newspaper; district and county newspapers have ceased publication, and the evening newspaper has not yet been launched.

"Chen Guiliang is here!"

Principal Yan stood up with a smile, appearing exceptionally kind and approachable.

This isn't an act; he's always like this, and I've never seen him lose his temper.

Last year's achievements were remarkable: producing the top science student in the province, successfully upgrading the school to a provincial key school, and hosting a centennial celebration that brought back many distinguished alumni. The school also leveraged the influence of Guo Xiaosi to enhance its reputation, and its youth environmental innovation project ranked first nationwide.

In two years, he will become an official.

"Hello, principal."

"These two are reporter Yuan and reporter Xiong."

"Hello, Reporter Yuan. Hello, Reporter Xiong."

Reporter Yuan is in his thirties and works as a print journalist. Reporter Xiong is in his forties and works as a photojournalist.

They came to conduct the interview purely as a formality, and incidentally collect a hundred or two yuan for travel expenses. It's fine if the school doesn't pay them; they won't say anything. But if they do, the relationship will naturally be more harmonious.

Another thing is to take a picture of Chen Guiliang.

As for the content of the report, the school had already written the draft, and the reporter just needed to take it back and revise it.

In actual interviews, whatever Chen Guiliang said was unlikely to be published, unless it was particularly beneficial to the school's image.

That's how daily newspapers in small places are; harmony is paramount.

Therefore, I won't go into the details of the interview; it was all just correct but meaningless talk.

After taking the photos, they collected their money and left; the two reporters had other interview assignments to complete.

The reporter and the homeroom teacher left together, but Principal Yan stopped Chen Guiliang and said to him like an elder, "The second semester of senior year is very demanding. Are you able to handle it?"

"The homeroom teacher and all the subject teachers are very nice," Chen Guiliang said, seemingly ignoring the question.

Principal Yan praised, "You've matured a lot since your second year of high school."

Chen Guiliang said, "People always go through a growth process."

Principal Yan was even more satisfied: "The school has already prepared the personal materials needed for the independent admission exam for you. Your teacher, Ms. Liu, will give them to you this afternoon. Have you decided which university you want to attend?"

"We're still waiting for news from Tsinghua and Peking Universities; they need to hold a meeting to discuss it," Chen Guiliang said.

Principal Yan said, "Some media outlets are coming at the end of the month. A regular interview might not be effective. Holding a press conference would seem like making a mountain out of a molehill. Do you have any ideas on how to showcase your literary skills and knowledge of classical Chinese?"

Chen Guiliang thought about it carefully: "How about I teach a Chinese class in the multimedia classroom? It will not only showcase the school's hardware and software capabilities, but also highlight my knowledge of classical Chinese."

"How will you teach?" Principal Yan asked, intrigued.

Chen Guiliang said, "Teachers and students voluntarily came to the multimedia classroom to listen to the lessons, and the reporters also sat down to listen. Discussing the errors in the Chinese textbook is definitely a topic of interest, and the reporters also found it novel."

Principal Yan asked in surprise, "There are errors in the Chinese textbook?"

Chen Guiliang nodded and said, "There is a wrong annotation in the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, which has led to students having a misunderstanding of the whole article."

Principal Yan said, "Please explain in detail."

……

Was the article in the Xihua City Daily the catalyst for raising Chen Guiliang's profile?

Not at all.

The real opportunity came from the reform of the college entrance examination and enrollment system!

State media have grasped the spirit of the higher authorities and have been raising the issue of educational equity since the second half of last year.

The Southern Weekly article, in particular, was a response to this trend. After the Spring Festival, public opinion entered its second phase, with a series of old cases of cheating in the college entrance examination and admissions being exposed.

Ms. Chai, who was once universally condemned, is now a good journalist who speaks out for the people. She exposed a top music academy for rigging its entrance exams on CCTV's "News Investigation" program.

Candidates with major mistakes ranked higher, while outstanding students faced elimination.

The program's broadcast caused a huge uproar. More cases of irregular exams and admissions practices were exposed by the television station and newspapers!
Even the New Concept Writing Competition has been thrust into the spotlight.

The retakes of Han Han's exams have been brought up again, with the criticism directed at the first and second cohorts of award winners who were admitted without taking the entrance exam.

At this very moment, Southern Weekly published another article discussing the rationale for prestigious universities vying for Chen Guiliang. Specifically, does a student with excellent writing skills truly deserve to be specially recruited?
Chen Guiliang instantly became the focus of public opinion!
The battle of wits has begun.

Southern Metropolis Daily took over the baton and started playing the same old game: publishing readers' letters.

From the Republican era to the present day, the so-called letters from readers may have been genuine when the discussions were heated, but in the beginning, they were all self-directed and self-acted.

First, posing as a reader, write a letter of objection. Then, posing as a reader again, write a letter of support. And deliberately leave logical loopholes to attract more genuine readers to write back in rebuttal.

The two publications, Southern Metropolis Daily and Southern Weekly, are playing a double act with a very simple purpose.

In short: grab attention and boost sales!
As for the final outcome of the debate, they won't consider it, nor do they care.

"As a parent of a senior high school student, I believe that the special admission for the first prize in the New Concept Writing Competition is inappropriate and does not conform to the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality..."

"First, let's talk about transparency. The first New Concept Writing Competition actually allowed for a separate make-up exam, and the questions were even set by the proctors on short notice. Is there any possibility of collusion beforehand? Could it be that someone else wrote the essays for the contestant and then memorized them for the make-up exam? There are too many opportunities for behind-the-scenes manipulation. How can anyone believe it?"

"Let's talk about fairness. Ordinary students study hard for years, like thousands of soldiers crossing a single-plank bridge. The college entrance examination can change a person's life. Why should writing an essay allow someone to cross the river by helicopter? Is this fair to millions of students?"

"Finally, let's talk about fairness. In science competitions, both the process and the results are objective. But judging essay competitions is purely a subjective process. What fairness can there be? You say this essay is well-written, but I might say it's worse than an elementary school student's essay! If a participant knows a judge privately, wouldn't the judging committee give them a high score out of personal favor?"

"Due to public outcry, no winner of the New Concept Writing Competition has been admitted to Tsinghua or Peking University through special admission for three years. Why should Chen Guiliang be able to do so this year?"

This so-called "letter from a reader" quickly sparked heated discussions across the country by taking advantage of the hot topic of fairness in college admissions.

Numerous genuine reader letters have been received calling for the abolition of special admissions for humanities competitions.

Letters supporting Chen Guiliang quickly followed, listing examples of exceptionally talented individuals from the late Qing Dynasty. One such example was a certain master who scored zero in all other exams but excelled in one or two subjects, ultimately gaining admission to a prestigious university and making significant contributions to the nation.

They also criticized the college entrance examination system as unreasonable, causing many talented students to lose the opportunity to pursue higher education.

Back and forth they exchanged words, a fierce battle of wits ensued, and the war of words began.

Other media outlets, seeing this, thought, "Why are you the only one making sales? We want a piece of the pie too!"

As a result, more and more media outlets are discussing related topics.

Some newspapers, unprepared, directly quoted an article from the *Xihua City Daily* and published both of Chen Guiliang's poems in full. They didn't discuss fairness in the admissions process, but instead focused their reporting on Chen Guiliang himself and his writings.

"A Journey to the Seas" and "Answering Editor Dong of 'Pen Club'" have finally moved from being noticed by the internet and a few media outlets to being watched and judged by ordinary people.

Many writers and literary critics also joined in, taking the opportunity to make their presence felt.

Some people praised it highly, while others called it utter nonsense.

There were even newspapers that used Chen Guiliang to discuss left-behind children and rural education.

It was utter chaos.

Given the overwhelming criticism, Tsinghua University and Peking University held a particularly heated meeting to debate whether to lower the admission score for Chen Guiliang.

This wave of public opinion is unlikely to end anytime soon, and its popularity will continue to rise.

Because college entrance examination and enrollment reforms are inevitable, the authorities have been secretly pushing for them. In two months, even the Ministry of Education will have to step in and announce four major cases of exam cheating.

This applies not only to the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) but also to the College English Test Band 4 (CET-4). A well-known university was directly stripped of its CET-4 testing center status.

More than just one or two people went to jail for intentionally leaking state secrets!

Even during this year's college entrance examination, many people still defied the rules and committed offenses. These cases will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished during the college application period, and the information will be made public as a warning.

Chen Guiliang was inadvertently swept up in the tide of the times.

Regardless, Chen Guiliang became famous throughout the country, and was widely recognized as a "talented man" and an "ambitious young man".

However, many people insist that even talented individuals should not be specially recruited, as this is a matter of principle.

The editorial team at *Mengya* magazine was in a state of chaos, as prestigious universities kept calling to say they wouldn't be lowering admission scores for the New Concept Writing Competition next year. They decided to lay low for a while.

Principal Yan of No. 2 Middle School was quite happy, as the media outlets that had previously been unwilling to come changed their minds.

There were even uninvited guests.

On the agreed date, more than fifty media outlets stormed the school!
(End of this chapter)