Author: Qinghe President WeChat official account: Zhiben News Agency (ID: zhibenshe0-1)
This year, nearly 13 million candidates rushed to the examination halls, setting a historic high for the number of college entrance examination takers. At the same time, the number of college graduates this year has reached a historic high of 11.58 million.
In terms of the current economic and employment situation, it is not easy for young people and parents. Some parents are worried about whether their children will be able to get into a good university, while others are worried about whether they can find a good job after graduating from university.
In this issue, I will first interpret the college entrance examination system from an economic perspective and how it needs to be improved. In the next issue, I will talk about three specific questions: how to choose a major for candidates, which majors to avoid in the era of artificial intelligence, how to spend meaningful college time, and finally, how to cultivate our own children as parents with relatively young children.
The college entrance examination is a very special and important system in Chinese society. The college entrance examination has indeed changed the fate of many people and families, playing a very important role as a springboard.
Few countries place so much importance on an exam. Many families have been preparing for this exam for over a decade. A large number of children focus their childhood and adolescence on learning and preparing for school exams, ultimately in order to do well in this exam. At the same time, parents have also put in a lot of effort, time, and money for their children’s exams, including companionship and patience.
It can be said that the college entrance examination is a highly resource-consuming competition model. Are we learning knowledge or just for exams? On the surface, we are learning knowledge, but in reality, we are preparing for exams. The teacher will always tell the child that your daily tests and monthly exams are all about checking and filling in gaps, and the ultimate goal is still the college entrance examination. The more you go to middle and high school, the more you are dealing with the college entrance examination.
But after you finish the exam, let’s think again, what knowledge have you learned? What mindset have you learned? Do we feel very empty? Besides tools such as English and mathematics, what else have we learned? Perhaps I have also learned some, but the resources, time, and costs involved are too high. But there’s no way, this is the college entrance examination.
Do you think it’s a bit strange? Why are so many children, so many families, and the entire society pouring so much resources into such an exam? Why is the college entrance examination so important?
College entrance examination is the springboard of life for “small-town swot”
The reason is simple. Everyone knows that the college entrance examination is a springboard in life. A springboard for entering a higher class can also be likened to a vertical ladder. It is indeed true that many people and families have used this elevator and this springboard to enter higher levels of society.
Ancient society is more obvious. Once he wins the imperial examination, his social identity will immediately change and he is likely to enter the bureaucratic system. In modern society, the college entrance examination is also a ladder up social strata.
The college entrance examination for the generation born in the 1960s is actually very difficult. They have received very poor basic education since childhood, and do not even have many opportunities to study well, and the admission rate for the college entrance examination is also very low. At that time, being admitted to university was equivalent to being admitted to 985 university today. However, once admitted to university, his social status will undergo a fundamental change. At that time, there was a job assignment, and after graduating from university, I directly entered the system to work. College students from rural areas have become urban registered residence after graduation. Their social status and economic conditions are completely different. At that time, there was a great difference between rural registered residence and urban registered residence.
After entering the system to work, they have a stable salary income, and the conditions for choosing a partner are better. After marriage, the unit also has housing distribution. Nowadays, it is difficult for young people to buy a house, and at that time, the unit directly divided the houses. Meanwhile, children can enjoy better education. Finally, after retirement, one can also enjoy a relatively high retirement pension. A portion of those born in the 1960s have greatly changed their destiny through the college entrance examination, with completely different economic conditions and social status.
Next is the post-70s generation, whose college entrance examination is not easy and admission rates are relatively low. At the same time, many post-70s graduates have cancelled job assignments and housing allocations, which means they do not have any benefits in this regard.
However, the post-70s generation encountered the era of the best economic growth in China. After graduating from university, whether it is foreign-funded enterprises, some good state-owned enterprises, or private enterprises, they all need them. In that era, they had many opportunities to make money and could start their own businesses. Learning English to do takeout and export manufacturing has earned many post-70s a lot of money. Those who study computer have caught up with the The Internet Age, and now the Internet giants are basically the post-70s. In that era when entrepreneurship was relatively good, these post-70s were more likely to gain financial freedom.
The college entrance examination after Post-80s was relatively lucky. They began to enter the era of college enrollment expansion after the reform of the college entrance examination. At that time, the enrollment rate rose rapidly. At the same time, the number of students joining the college entrance examination is also increasing rapidly, and then gradually began to enter an assembly line examination mode, that is, the small-town swot mode.
After finishing college and entering the society after Post-80s, the pressure of employment competition is relatively great. However, 211, 985 and post-80s students who have read master’s and doctoral degrees have changed their lives. They can have a better competitiveness in the society, and to a certain extent, they can also get better opportunities, including those who have been admitted to the civil service system, career organization system, as well as large state-owned enterprises, Internet giants, foreign-funded enterprises, etc, The fate of many small-town swot has changed.
Since the 1980s, more and more people have received university education, which has improved the cultural and knowledge level of this generation of young people; On the other hand, educational qualifications are depreciating, and the return on investment in education is decreasing.
After 1990 and now after 1990, the trend of the generation after Post-80s continues. More and more people join the college entrance examination, and the enrollment rate is also rising. After entering the society, the pressure of employment competition is greater than before. Especially in recent years, the employment pressure for college graduates has been very high.
In summary, over the past few decades and generations, the college entrance examination has become a relatively awkward system.
On the one hand, the college entrance examination is a springboard for many people, families, and especially ordinary children to change their destiny. On the other hand, the employment pressure of college students is increasing, and the competition pressure is also increasing. The role of the springboard seems to be not as great as before, which is often referred to as the declining return on education investment, high costs, and resource consumption, but the returns are not high, especially now that it is more difficult for ordinary families to get into good schools.
The college entrance examination focuses on intelligence, perseverance, and family resources. Family resources are becoming increasingly important nowadays. The upper middle class in the city can provide good family resources to help children learn, such as having a good degree room, educational resources will be better, and there will also be extracurricular tutoring, which enhances their competitiveness in the college entrance examination. Ordinary families, rural families, have limited access to educational resources, and their competitiveness in the college entrance examination will decrease.
However, as an ordinary family, he relies more on the college entrance examination as a springboard and mechanism to change his own destiny and the fate of his family. From their perspective, it is necessary to attach greater importance to education and the exam, rather than giving up education and exams.
What exactly is the problem? Why is the entire society pouring resources onto this springboard?
Next, we will explore the issue of the college entrance examination.
Why does “carp” need to jump over the dragon gate instead of swimming over it?
We regard the college entrance examination as a springboard. Actually, this is the problem itself. There is a vivid metaphor for “carp jumping over the dragon gate”. Everyone, why does this carp need to jump over the dragon gate instead of swimming over it?
The reason is simple. The water leading to the inside and outside of the wall is not free flowing. If the water flows freely, the fish will naturally swim over without jumping. Under normal circumstances, if a fish wants to swim upwards, it can swim upstream and through its own efforts. However, if there are many dams in this river, layer by layer, the fish will not be able to swim up normally through their own efforts, but will need to jump up and use a springboard to jump up.
The college entrance examination is the springboard for carp to jump over the dragon gate. It is actually a screening mechanism, what screening mechanism? Firstly, it is an intelligence screening mechanism, through which different levels of intelligence are screened out, and then higher intelligence individuals have the opportunity to achieve an important leap in life through this springboard.
Therefore, the problem lies in Social mobility. If a society has low mobility, layers of dams, and a relatively stable social class, then it needs a springboard even more. The entire society, especially ordinary families, will concentrate their resources on the springboard, hoping that one day they can jump over the dragon’s gate.
How to solve this problem?
It is to break the solidification and enhance fluidity. Only a mobile society is a diversified society that can stimulate the diversity of human talents. On the contrary, the diversity of human talents can create a more diverse and diverse society.
The purpose of education is to stimulate and cultivate the diversity of human talents
In the field of education, there is a very core and common sense issue, which is to respect and stimulate the diversity of human talents. However, the college entrance examination only uses one standard to screen people, which actually goes against the diversity of human talents.
The college entrance examination is an examination of intelligence. In this system, children who are good at exams have obvious advantages. Since entering kindergarten, this type of child has received a large amount of resources from the entire society, including high-quality teachers and school resources. From a young age to the metropolis, he has been very confident because all children and teachers praise children with good grades. This also includes parents, and parents of other children are praising this child with good grades. Then, he was able to smoothly enter the prestigious university 985 through the college entrance examination, and after graduation, he was able to smoothly enter large enterprises or work within the system. So no matter which generation, children with good exam talents have a significant advantage in the college entrance examination system, and in fact, they have benefited from the system dividend of the college entrance examination.
However, the proportion of children with exam talent who are suitable for academic research is less than 10%, which is just a few percent. So what about the remaining over 90% of the children? Children with other talents, such as athletic talent, artistic talent, and speech talent, do not have an advantage in the college entrance examination system and are relatively disadvantaged.
More importantly, under this system, these children’s other talents cannot be discovered or cultivated at all, and are wasted in vain. This leads to a mismatch of educational resources and a waste of talent, which harms human diversity and creativity.
So, can China, like the United States, fully tap into the diversity of children’s talents, allowing those who can learn to attend prestigious schools, engage in academic research, and those who can play to play, enter the NBA, enter the rugby league, enter the baseball league, sing, dance, and engage in artistic careers.
The diversity of human talents depends on a very important condition: society is mobile, free and diverse. If there are too many social restrictions, liquidity will naturally be poor, and there will be no diversified society. For example, if singing and dancing are considered unprofessional and inappropriate, the art market will naturally shrink.
Only a diverse society can absorb, tolerate, and stimulate the talent of diversity. For example, if China has a developed football market, it will motivate many people to learn football. If China has a developed basketball market, it will motivate many people to learn basketball. If there is a developed music and entertainment market, it will motivate those people to learn singing and art. If China had a developed high-end manufacturing market, it would motivate those people to study technology in technical schools. In this way, the diversity of human talents can be fully demonstrated.
But why am I using ‘if’? Why haven’t these markets developed? This is the question we need to consider.
The diversity of human talents and the diversity of society complement each other. On the one hand, we need to change the single exam system of the college entrance examination, discover human talents, cultivate diverse talents, and unleash diverse talents in order to create rich commodities, various industries, and markets. This is called new supply creating new demand. On the other hand, breaking down social liquidity barriers, encouraging diversified market development, and encouraging the free development of various industries and markets. Only when various markets develop freely can people’s diverse talents be fully utilized in the market.
In fact, only the full development of the free market can break the solidification of social mobility. In the past 300 years, the development of the free market has broken the class solidification of ancient society. Handicrafters and traders in European cities and towns broke the hierarchical social system established by the aristocracy of the city-state. In the past 40 years, China’s economy has developed rapidly, and many people have changed their families’ lives and their own destinies by making money in the market. Hayek once said a very classic sentence, he said that only money will be open to the poor, while rights will never be.
So, in summary, we still need to vigorously promote market development. The diversity of the market and society, as well as the diversity of human talents, are mutually matched and promoted. The liquidity of the market can break the solidification of social liquidity, and conversely, we should be vigilant: to curb the development of the market to maintain the solidification of social liquidity.
Of course, the content of education reform is quite complex. For example, public education should invest more, resources should be more balanced, and the degree housing system should be broken to allow ordinary families to receive public education with equal conditions. For example, schools should cultivate children’s ways of thinking and values, rather than just knowledge memory and exam taking skills, to fully stimulate children’s sense of freedom and independence.
The purpose of education is to stimulate and cultivate the diversity of human talents.
In the next issue, I will talk about some more specific issues.