Shanghai's 2021 started with a real estate boom and emergency regulation, and ups and downs in the heavy news of primary and secondary education reform, one wave after another, as a developed city in a developing country, the property market, chicken baby... The fragile heart of middle-class families. After going through all this, I have a little insight that there is nothing new under the sun. These "policies" and "new regulations" seem to be unrelated to each other, but they are closely related; and all "bad luck" comes from my own anxiety 's heart.
There's always someone -- an invisible group behind the waves enjoying the benefits of people's group anxiety. What is the relationship between education and housing? Some people say that Mother Meng moved three times for virtue and wisdom, but Mother Meng's parenting wisdom lies in recognizing the key influence of the environment on people, including character and virtue. What are the reasons for the contemporary "Mother Meng"?
Who forcibly ties together things that were originally irrelevant, and then staged a hallucinatory magic in a huge city, so that people clearly know the magic tricks, but still want to be intoxicated? In 2017, an Indian film swept the capital. While marveling at the ingenuity of its story, I still wanted to say why the most popular topic in Chinese society, education, was finally filmed by Indians?
The story is not complicated. At first glance, it is a bit "routine", because its content is the most familiar to us: a middle-class Indian couple, the owner of a clothing store, Raj and his wife Mita, in order to give their daughter Pia a better education I tried every possible way. When they finally put their daughter into a prestigious school, the principal said that for the sake of "educational fairness", the source of students must be tilted towards the underprivileged children. If they want to enroll, they must prove that Pia's family is poor. So the couple moved to the slum again, in order to pass the investigation of the Ministry of Education. Of course, in the end it passed the test perfectly.
The key turning point comes at the end of the story: when Shyam, a slum neighbor who treats them like family, discovers the true identity of the Raj family, hatred does not lead him to choose revenge, although he does it out of justice and for the sake of his children. The desire to be able to enter the school chose to report it, but he saw the innocent Pia on the way. Out of softheartedness, Shyam gave up the report. At this moment, how the Shiam family treats the Raj family disguised as poor people before the film has a meaning. Poverty also exudes the radiance of human dignity - poverty cannot stop goodness, and honesty also unreservedly reflects hypocrisy. Perhaps out of some Indian-style "political correctness", the Raj couple finally returned the school places that should have belonged to Shyam's children. This ending is unreal and is the only flaw in the film. What is the real treasure? Raj the rich and Shyam the poor have made their judgments. Raj and his wife, from the famous brand they appeared on the stage, to their unswerving determination to dress up the poor to grab the quota, and the Shyam and his wife to rescue their neighbors under various difficulties. Those in need have proven their inner value judgments; what is real education? What did the Rajes convey to Pia invisibly? Seize, plunder, and win at the starting line. What the Shyams convey to their children is charity, tolerance, and forgiveness. I would say that the latter cannot be guaranteed by any educational resources, school district housing, or family composition. Poverty and wealth by themselves do not bring meaning, but the benevolence of abundance and the meaning of poverty can elevate human nature to a higher level. This is education.
In other words, the film tells us that education is a tool for disengaging people from their instincts. Human instinct also has a very powerful function, especially at the level of survival, at a critical moment, it is essential for people to make interests such as preserving their own life and health - but at best it is just an instinct. And what education is, it is to make people re-examine their instincts - the opposite of greed, the opposite of contentment, the opposite of demanding, the opposite of alms, the opposite of resentment, the opposite of open-mindedness, the opposite of cowardice, and the toughness. It is good to have the instinct to put oneself in a completely safe position, but it is also important to get oneself out of the "comfortable zoom", to a less "safe" position, and to see other possibilities of life. Shyam has no visible resources—money, fame, proud children, but he has one that Raj cannot reach—he has nothing anyway, and he has nothing to protect but life. The life here is not life in the sense of security: fullness, warmth and abundance, but life in the sense of morality: justice and conscience. Because he did not dare to expect the former, but the latter was the only thing he had, a real, innocent life, a badge of honor for the poor. So the moment he gave up his whistleblowing, he had come to the sanctuary of immaculateness with the feet of his filthy workers, and with his overworked, miserable eyes saw the call of the light itself, so overwhelming According to all living beings, impartiality.
The headmistress in the film is a wonderful character. She originally thought that the "inclined policy" she mentioned was the government's real purpose of education fairness, but it turned out to be just a trick to comfort the underclass, and the principal's "big love" for children of all classes was just an ugly mask. , is an assistant for acting. Some people think that this is too much, because it stimulates the conscience of the audience. Because we hope that this kind of educational fairness attempt is true, which is why a policy has aroused heated discussions among millions of parents in the magic capital. People should not only care about whether their children can enter a "good school", but also vaguely Knowing that class solidification exists, what will be the fate of the descendants behind us? However, this headmistress directly dispelled people's dreams. Just as if someone said that Principal Zhang Yumei was just a persona and a hype, I think this will not only cause heated discussions, but also cause commotion. I've always felt that Indian cinema is technically far inferior to Chinese cinema today, but it's smart enough - how does "Starting Line" comfort us? It directly exposed a bigger "melon", which is also a realistic truth, a truth: education is not a good school at all, you see, the headmistress of a "good school" is actually such a scumbag, so, Don't worry, you don't have to go to such a good school. The real education is the education of human nature, and it is the practice of parents. The threshold of knowledge may be high or low, but beauty and goodness have no high or low. The title "starting line" is also quite meaningful: since there is a starting line, where is the end point? The destination for all is the same. This is the greatest and truest destiny of mankind. The so-called starting line is a paradox.
How smart is Indian cinema? Pia's gender is also a clever touch, as far as this movie is concerned. You must know that whether in East Asia or South Asia, these areas with strong family and caste awareness have extremely large gender divisions. It goes without saying that women are discriminated against in Indian society. Whether in China or India, when talking about the concept of family inheritance, it always refers to male offspring, not female offspring. Then, parents' educational anxiety is more focused on sons than daughters. Of course, China's one-child policy breaks this slightly. Just imagine that if Pia were a boy, the conflict of interest between the two classes that the film focuses on would be more intense. This not only involves issues of educational equity, class struggle, but also family struggles, because men are always cohesive. With the expectation of more interests of each family. Therefore, Pia's girl setting saves unnecessary trouble, allowing the film to discuss only one thing well.
Still, I would like to talk about a profile of gender in education. Because when I watch Indian films, I have to connect with Chinese society and culture. On the one hand, the content of the film is very close to us, and on the other hand, Indian culture is highly consistent with China. But the difference is also obvious. The tangled problem in "Starting Line" is ultimately a problem of human nature. The education problem is simply that parents will continue to stay in the middle class in the future to obtain so-called better educational resources for their children; and the education problem that Chinese parents are anxious about - from School district housing, to school selection, remedial classes, research... I always feel that it is not entirely to make children into the upper class. There is also a complex level, which is unique in the world, and that is the concept of "good children". The best children here do not include women. Except for the special circumstances of the only-child generation, since ancient times, if women do not complete the confrontation with their own gender, they are not qualified to achieve the family mission at all. When Mulan joins the army, she must first dress as a man. The ending of "Ci Mulan", "An Neng can tell me whether I am male or female", has a deep meaning. The daughter who has taken off her armor is still pondering and recalling the beauty and cunning of turning into a male body; Jin women disguise themselves as men in order to be named as a hero. Serving the country and the family has always excluded women. A very interesting fact is that although we have the impression that "women have been devastated by feudalism since ancient times", there is actually no object of allegiance to women, except for her "women". body”, as well as the task morality attached to the female body: giving birth to a boy, keeping chastity. The imperial examination system is so complicated and long-standing, but it is a field that women do not need to be involved in at all. It is absolutely unnecessary for women to be among the "good children". The obsession of "good children" in China as a distant loyalty to their ancestors (Guangzong Yaozu) is very different from the intentions of parents around the world to give their offspring more social resources.
Secondly, the concept of "good children" has also changed in different times. After the Confucian "education without class" determined ability rather than family background as the prerequisite for education, the status of the imperial examination was established, and it was also the Confucian "appointment of merit", which firmly established the decisive factor of ability in class mobility. Mr. He Bingdi In the "Social History of the Ming and Qing Dynasties", it is mentioned that the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties used various methods to weaken the influence of "innate factors" such as ancestors' fame, fame, donations, etc., to ensure that education is relatively relative. "fairness". While the imperial examination can play a major role in judging meritocracy, the rapid rise and fall of class also occurs from time to time. Therefore, "good children" are not only the guarantee for future generations to have social resources, but also the premise of breaking the curse of "richness but three generations". Guarantee for the prosperity of the family for generations. As hard as it is to rise, it is not bad if it does not fall. Today, the college entrance examination system generally still retains the form of meritocracy, but people find that China's class still tends to be "solidified", the "key" and "echelon" starting from kindergarten, and the concept of school district housing outside the blessing, " "Rich" and "expensive" are more closely related, and in the final analysis, it is still a question of educational philosophy. The relatively rigid exam-oriented education is no longer "appointing people on merit", but a touchstone that netizens dubbed "being a tester", and the so-called poor children who have succeeded in one fell swoop do not have the aura of "virtuous", at best they are still "small towns". title". It should be said that the problem-solving technique is not completely unrelated to knowledge, but of course the difference is also great. Key schools can invite more sophisticated tutors for problem-solving skills, and students with similar qualifications can get better guidance and pass the exam relatively easily. The identification of "good children" has basically stayed on a score in the admission notice, and no longer "wearing a hairpin" and "golden seal on the chest" like Jia Lan in "A Dream of Red Mansions". All-round judgment of character, talent, fame, etc. In other words, a "good child" has basically been reduced to a "high score", and a boy who is admitted to Beiqing, but lacks spirit can also be included in it. For such a phenomenon, we should not simply reflect on the selection system, but also reflect on the content of education. India filmed "Starting Line", reflecting on selection. This country is very interesting. In recent years, it has reflected on many of its own phenomena, some of which are revolutionary, such as religion, caste system, and class stratification. .
Reflecting on the content of education, India is still a step ahead. A year later, Bollywood showed the director's expectations for education with a "Mr. Here, teachers and students alike need comfort and acceptance. Obviously it is our "teaching and learning", and it was photographed by others first. School education, in our film and television works, is more about the classroom as the background of a story, rather than the theme.
I hope our descendants will not stand on the starting line.
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