The restoration of the college entrance examination system is not so much the restoration of the education system as the restoration of intellectual dignity. During the eight years from 1977 to 1985, millions of young people in China obtained higher education diplomas from full-time colleges and adult higher education through college entrance examination and self-study. Diploma has become a symbol of a generation of young people's successful ideals and personal value realization, and the pursuit of diploma has become one of the hot spots in China's social life during this period.
However, with the passage of time, the "diploma fever", like a shy girl, quietly receded in the hot spots of social life in China.
Why? Fu Xi? Unfortunately?
The advantage transformation of knowledge and money
A prominent feature of China's entry into the 1980s is the upsurge of commerce.
Needless to say, in China, which lacks the tradition of commodity economy, the consequences of strengthening commodity information from system to concept for the first time are unexpected. On the one hand, China's market is unprecedentedly prosperous, and doing business has become the best way to get rich. On the other hand, the social distribution is unfair and the enthusiasm for production is shrinking. The new upsurge of learning culture for all has been seriously impacted. The new "reading uselessness theory" became popular. Students drop out of school to do business, professors set up stalls in the streets, graduate students give up their degrees to run industries, and so on, all of which have become new trends in society. Young people in China who have just woken up from the political fanaticism of "ten years of turmoil" have been exposed to the temptation and oppression of commodities.
When Liu Jingsheng graduated from high school, there was no street stall in an alley called Xiushui East Street in Beijing. When Liu Jingsheng saw his neighbor and classmate Xiaosan proudly take a taxi to Renmin University to report for study under the envious eyes of his neighbors, he felt uncomfortable for a while. I can't help it, all this is just because he didn't do well in middle school and didn't even get into a secondary school.
Later, inspired, Liu Jingsheng set up a clothing stall in Xiushui East Street and became a clothing self-employed. Every day, under the contemptuous eyes of his neighbors, he boarded a flatbed and went out early and returned late. But with the passage of time, Xiushui East Street became bustling, with clothing stalls next to each other, and his clothing business was surprisingly good. At the end of the day, you earn thousands more and hundreds less. Over time, Liu Jingsheng's RMB, US dollars and Hong Kong dollars filled the safe at home. Finally, one day, Liu Jingsheng took out some of them, bought a brand-new Polonaise sleeping car, and drove to the highway in front of his house. After he honked the horn for five minutes, almost all the neighbors gathered around the car, and their tongues almost fell off the car. Even Xiao San, who graduated from college and worked as a cadre in the central government, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Still a buddy."
When it comes to this matter, San Xiao, who has been a national cadre for four years, is deeply touched. He said: don't go to college, get a broken diploma, maybe just get one. The reason for Xiao San is that Liu Jingsheng's IQ will not be above him. Liu Jingsheng can do it. Why can't he do it?
A long time ago, there was a folk song in Beijing: "Those who build atomic bombs are not as good as those who sell tea eggs" and "Those who write books are not as good as those who sell books". People of insight pointed out that if a nation's values are not inclined to knowledge and science, it certainly has no future.
Life should allow multiple choices.
However, we should also see that the rise of "diploma fever" also hides another crisis: the singleness of social choice. Imagine that when thousands of young people in Qian Qian regard getting a diploma as the only channel and means to change their destiny, their opportunities are bound to be limited, and the road to success is bound to be narrow.
With the deepening of China's reform and opening up, young people in China are beginning to feel more and more new opportunities brought by new life. Young people turn their eyes to a wider field of life and discover and realize their self-worth. It is not "one road to the ancient Huashan Mountain", but "all roads lead to Rome". They even feel that life is full of charm as long as it is full and beneficial to physical and mental health, even if it is unknown in ordinary jobs.
Wang Tiantian is one of them. She wears a dress and a bow tie every day and greets Chinese and foreign guests politely in luxury hotels. Regarding her graduation from high school as a waitress instead of going to college, Wang Tiantian said: "This arrangement of fate does not mean that I am mentally retarded." On the contrary, Wang Tiantian thinks that his IQ is not lower than that of the students admitted to the university. For example, she said, "I can make clothes, play the piano, draw pictures, take pictures and cook, but none of my college classmates can." Why not go to college to get a diploma? Wang Tiantian has his own opinion: "I don't think it's great to have a diploma. I think people live in the world for too short a time, only a few decades. If it is for the recognition of society, for the recognition of others, for recognition, not for life itself, I don't think it is cost-effective. There are many ways to pursue knowledge. Why do you have to get a diploma? I just want to live too tired, not too boring, that's all. "
How many young people does Wang Tiantian's viewpoint represent? No one can say for sure. But in any case, choosing a diploma and choosing a life should not be contradictory. From the perspective of a nation's long-term interests and a person's long-term development, a high level of education is an important part of strength, and a long-term vision is desirable.
The sacredness of blasphemy
Under the condition of commodity economy, the magic of money is beyond people's imagination. Diploma, which has always represented the sacred and rational tool since human beings received education, cannot be separated from the restriction of money. A few years ago, in order to make money, some schools and individuals, under the guise of vigorously developing education, did not hesitate to exchange the dignity of diplomas for the interests of goldfish.
Zhao Dongdong has done two money and diploma transactions. After graduating from high school, he replaced his father as a buyer in a factory, and later moved to a company for promotion. The experience of crisscrossing told him that it is impossible to live a good life without bluffing. Take the interviewee as an example. If a man's high school graduation level is exhausted, he can only find a woman who graduated from a technical secondary school. If he wants to improve his level, he has to mix diplomas with college degrees or above. To this end, Zhao Dongdong really took some brains. There are many institutions of higher learning in Beijing, but he knows that he is too weak to even enter the school gate. But Zhao Dongdong is well informed and well informed. He found all kinds of recruitment advertisements in the newspaper and thought it was an effective way to get a diploma. So he spent several hundred yuan to sign up for "Correspondence University" in other places and "Humanities University" in Beijing. He feels that these two "universities" are more "professional counterparts". One: you don't have to take an exam to enter school, just pay the money. Second: there are social celebrities in front. Third, you can get a diploma without a closed exam. Once, Zhao Dongdong went on a business trip to visit the Correspondence College, and the result was both expected and unexpected: the sign of "College" hung on the door of a primary school. Back in Beijing, he found the "Humanities University" again. Unlike "college", the brand of "University" is hung on the door of a third-rate middle school.
Jiang Shuying, director of the office of Beijing Adult Education Bureau, believes that the phenomenon of issuing diplomas indiscriminately in previous years is more serious, and the main purpose of "running a school" is to make money. Since money can buy a diploma, a sacred diploma is no longer sacred.
Social function that should be paid attention to
Diploma occupies an important position in social life, which is inseparable from its social function. No matter how exquisite a person is, the social function of a diploma should be considered first in his attitude towards it. This function should include the social value, economic value and academic value of diploma. In a sense, the social function of diploma determines people's attitude towards diploma.
Zhang Guoan works as a sand turner in a factory with tens of thousands of people. Turning sand is the dirtiest and most tiring job in the factory, and most people don't want to do it. So, people with access and ability go out. Zhang Guoan is a conscientious person. He has no choice but to have his own career. When he was in middle school, his academic performance was not bad, and he secretly wrote essays, poems and novels. A few years ago, with the consent of the factory, I applied for the Chinese major of RTVU, and I was admitted. In the past two years, I have learned a lot from my schoolbag. He is counting on not returning to the smoky sand turning workshop after graduation. Unexpectedly, he came back with a college diploma, but the factory could not arrange him. The director said that the office was overcrowded and there was nothing he could do about it technically, so he had to go back and forth. Zhang Guoan is also kind: it's not easy for people's factories to pay thousands of dollars for our study. Why do we hang ourselves from a tree? He tried to jump ship and contacted several units himself. But some people say that there is no shortage of pens now. Helpless, he had to work in the workshop. Someone made an account for him. After studying in TV University for two years, Zhang Guoan got 5,000 yuan less than others. He held his breath and said that a diploma is better than no diploma these days!
However, his workshop director has another view on this: although he felt wronged when he sold one in the workshop with his diploma, he said he was looking for a wife to have children. I'm sure the quality is higher than that of a master without a diploma.
What the workshop director said is also true. Getting a diploma doesn't mean leaving hard work and manual labor. A person's value and ability can not be proved by a diploma. It is naive and superficial to simply take a diploma as a "springboard" to gain social recognition. As long as you selflessly dedicate your knowledge and wisdom to the cause needed by society, you will truly realize yourself in any job. Of course, this does not mean that we can ignore the social function of diplomas.
Diploma craze seems to have passed, but for China, which is in the process of modernization, diploma will still be a hot topic. For a developing country where illiteracy and semi-illiteracy account for a quarter of the total population, the decline in people's enthusiasm for diplomas is not the gospel of the country and society. In a sense, people's pursuit of diploma is the pursuit of civilization and knowledge. The fundamental way to improve the cultural quality of the whole nation lies in the development of education, and the number of diplomas will still prove the level of national education. Under the socialist economic system, how to use economic leverage to mobilize the enthusiasm of social people to pursue knowledge and science will determine the future trend of China diploma and the future prospect of China.