Chapter 207: What Lin Ran Wants To Do
The same theory, but who proposes it is very important.
The 1960s were originally an era when various new education concepts emerged endlessly.
Things like open education, discovery education, cultivating students’ creativity and critical thinking—these concepts are surging now, with various educational trends constantly emerging.
Like John Holt, Jonathan Kozol, Herbert Kohl, and so on. These people focused on the negative impact of education on students.
These people summed it up in one sentence: the current federal education system is not good, exam-oriented education is not good, we need to change it.
But people are different.
Even if they propose ten thousand sentences, it is not as effective as Lin Ran proposing one sentence.
Critics like them can only call for change in newspapers, calling for the education system to pay attention to students’ needs, not just exams and grades.
At most, they just call for it.
But as soon as Lin Ran says this, the education department immediately asks him for suggestions and starts some improvements.
“I think the most important thing is interest.
Interest is far more important than the exam itself.
Interest is the best teacher.
We should fully unleash young people’s interests, understand what their interests are, and then dig in that direction.
Modern rationality has been transformed into instrumental rationality, used for technical efficiency rather than human liberation.
Our current exam-oriented education is exactly the embodiment of this trend: it simplifies educational goals to exam scores, trains students as products to adapt to the social structure, rather than cultivating them as individuals capable of independent thinking and criticizing society.”
Lin Ran’s words embody the concepts from Professor Horkheimer’s work “Dialectic of Enlightenment,” completely matching his identity.
When he said it, he was thinking inside that digging into young people’s interests—whether the Vietnam War defeat in the 1960s or after the millennium—Americans’ young people’s interests are all marijuana.
All kinds of marijuana.
Finding all sorts of ways to use marijuana.
America’s last attempt to pull education back on track was actually little Bush, who brought out the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which emphasized exams and enforced accountability for teachers.
At that time, through NCLB, he required students in grades 3 to 8 to take exams every year, linking school performance to test scores—if scores didn’t meet standards, schools faced reorganization or privatization.
If a school failed to meet standards for five consecutive years, it had to replace teachers, transform into a charter school, be taken over by the state government, or be completely reorganized.
In short, this set of laws was extremely perverse, making teachers miserable, from schools to teachers to students and parents, all miserable.
That’s why in 2008, the American Federation of Teachers almost spared no effort to support Obama, just to get rid of this quickly—how can we get by with such strict rules?
As soon as Obama came up, the first thing was to flexibly adjust this act, loosen the bindings for teachers who had made great contributions, and then turn it into the Every Student Succeeds Act.
What is success? Ensuring education for poor and minority children is success—how can good exam scores count as success?
The funniest part is, Bush wanted all students to score 80 points, no one left behind; Obama wanted all black people to go to school—if you can only score 20, then all students scoring 20 is success!
Black people can’t score 80, so we change the success standard—now everyone succeeds.
From then on, America went down the road of happy education and never turned back.
Lin Ran continued:
“Our education emphasizes rote memorization and exam techniques; students are required to adapt to exam demands, rather than developing deep understanding of knowledge or critical analysis abilities.
Education treats students as containers to be filled, ignoring their emotions and social needs as individuals. This education model causes anxiety and tension in high-pressure environments, lacking exploration of their own interests and potential.
Exam-oriented education reinforces the role of authority through emphasizing exam scores and rankings: teachers, exam institutions, and the education system become authorities students must obey.
This education model cultivates students’ dependence on external authority, rather than their autonomy and critical spirit as independent subjects.
In modern society, the trend of commodifying knowledge treats knowledge as a commodity to be produced and consumed.
It turns education into an assembly line producing qualified workers, measuring only students’ exam abilities, not real skills.”
The celebrities in the audience fell into deep thought.
Because upon careful thought, what Lin Ran said makes sense.
Teachers only teach you to pass exams, but when you enter society, you have to adapt all over again.
Isn’t such an education model rigid and unable to meet social needs?
Obviously, the disconnect between education and reality has been criticized by everyone, whether 60 years ago or 60 years later.
But the problem is, before finding a better way, exam-oriented education is clearly the least bad option.
“Besides the defects I mentioned, our current education is also unequal!
We reduce students’ value to a number; these tests often disadvantage students from poorer economic backgrounds.
Exams usually require a lot of preparation resources, like tutoring courses and family support, meaning students from wealthy families are more likely to get high scores, while those from poor families are at a disadvantage.
This inequality not only reflects differences in socioeconomic status but also solidifies class structures.
Our Civil Rights Movement was precisely to promote equality; the current educational inequality is very obvious.
Exams themselves are exacerbating racial and class inequality; education should not be a tool for domination.”
Cronkite was a bit at a loss because the topic Lin Ran raised was too grand.
He originally thought this issue was just you good, me good, everyone good.
Lin Ran boasts about himself, mentions how hard he studied in the past, how he thought, then he follows by praising—not worthy of being a professor, too amazing.
We just mutually praise each other, but you suddenly jump to firing at the federal education system.
Firing at the education system is one thing, but dragging in the Civil Rights Movement and educational inequality.
Although he is a news anchor with sufficient knowledge reserves, suddenly raising such a grand topic really makes it hard for me to follow up.
Cronkite decided to throw the topic to Lin Ran: “Professor, what do you think should be done?”
Lin Ran said: “I think we should be more interest-oriented, result-oriented.
For example, in physics, we should organize students into small groups to explore a topic.
Like rocket launches, airplane models, weather predictions—let them complete project-like topics through learning, connecting knowledge and application.
Combine learning and practice.
As for more specific reforms, I think that’s for education experts to consider.
I just think an education model based on interest, talent, and practice is definitely much better than pure exam-oriented education.
If I hadn’t been spontaneously interested in mathematics, I don’t think I would have achieved what I have today.”
Lin Ran’s suggestion itself makes a lot of sense.
Diversity teaching itself would be perfected in the 1970s.
Lin Ran’s proposal fully embodies the spirit of criticalism.
His mentor, Professor Horkheimer, was even more obsessed in this regard.
In 1961, he wrote an article called “German Jews,” explicitly stating that the task of education is to make individuals sensitive to any persecution and resist unfair treatment.
So Lin Ran’s proposal is not only normal but also fits his identity perfectly.
At the same time, Lin Ran is very clear that his proposal is absolutely fine, but Americans will overdo it.
Going from one extreme to another.
With his public call, combined with the Vietnam War, American happy education will come faster and more fiercely.
From schools to teachers to parents and students, everyone will be more relaxed.
Will anyone oppose it?
Everyone will just speed down this road, flooring the accelerator.
As for whether in this spacetime little Bush will come out to hit the brakes.
Or whether when little Bush comes out to hit the brakes it will still work, that’s completely unknown.
Without Lin Ran, America would eventually go down this road anyway.
And with Lin Ran’s identity, status, and prestige, a couple of endorsements will give this a initial thrust, making it develop faster.
In some sense, what Lin Ran said is completely right.
Education organized by groups, with learning aimed at projects, does have benefits.
Appropriately adding such content, from a diversity education perspective, is definitely better than pure exam-oriented education.
Countless theories and practices in the future prove this.
Diversity education is definitely better than pure exam-oriented education; top private schools all adopt this model.
Why didn’t China follow? Because such an education model means cost, high requirements for teachers, parents, and the education model itself—China is too big, too many provinces, even within the same province the gap between towns and capitals is worlds apart, it can’t follow.
While America can do this; current America has the capital to do so.
It’s just that Lin Ran opened the road to diversity education, advocating against exam-oriented education as unfair to minorities and the bottom, and how America will develop down this road, to what extent, Lin Ran doesn’t know.
At least from historical experience, even adopting so-called quality education and happy education only makes this imbalance more obvious and intense.
Bottom people can only rely on the genetic lottery.
For black people, even only on physical fitness level genetic lottery, because in groups except Asians, good students are seen as nerds.
Lin Ran is very much looking forward to how this spacetime will develop.
What I advocate is diversity education, fairness, standing on the moral high ground—even if there are problems in the future, it can’t be blamed on me.
Just like America’s NGOs with all sorts of packaged righteous reasons—environmental protection, human rights, equality, countless slogans and concepts, but wrapped inside are poisons, wanting deep-level manipulation, manipulating resources and playing financial games.
Lin Ran just wants America to start exploring in education for the world ahead of time.
China in near modern times had to explore all sorts of models; now America also has to conduct a little exploration for humanity.
“The professor’s words are very enlightening. Indeed, if when I was a child, physics class was aimed at launching a rocket, I think now I might not be sitting in CBS’s studio, but at NASA’s Launch Center chatting and laughing with the professor.” Cronkite flattered.
From his heart, he really felt Lin Ran made sense.
Because the problems of exam-oriented education are overt, easy to understand, and have already happened.
While Lin Ran’s proposed diversity education model, wrapped in digging talent, interest-oriented, team collaboration, is unverified, sounding only of its beauty, without seeing the problems.
Sitting nearby, Gagarin was also thinking.
Soviet Union’s education model was even more perverse.
Olympic competitions, various competitions, starting from elementary school with exams to stream, China’s college entrance exam almost copied the Soviet model.
So Gagarin has witnessed firsthand how cramming education destroys people’s interest, torments parents, so he resonates more with what Lin Ran said, thinking the professor became the professor he is because interest was the teacher.
As for the Washington celebrities in the audience, their thoughts were similar.
Everyone was very interested in the education model Lin Ran talked about, but not so much in so-called equality.
Even though Washington public is already dominated by progressives, in education, they don’t want minorities to get the same educational resources and upward channels as their next generation.
At least the professor is scary enough; if other Chinese descent also get equal educational resources, won’t white people’s descendants be eliminated?
This has nothing to do with cognition; it’s naked humanity.
Including Lin Ran being able to act without scruples in America, that’s also humanity—he has no sense of belonging here, even if he reaches high positions.
Because he knows deeply, this is a country dominated by white people; he is of Chinese descent—as an individual he can get top power, but as a group, even if he becomes God’s walking in the mortal realm, he can’t let Chinese descent get the same status as white people.
Lin Ran smiled and nodded: “I hope our education system can cultivate more talent.
What is most important in the 20th century? Talent is most important.
Before the technological singularity of artificial intelligence is reached, our competition with the Soviet Union relies on talent.
And the degree of talent emergence is one embodiment of system advantages.”
After speaking, Lin Ran looked at Gagarin: “We are in peaceful competition, benign competition.
Without the Soviet Union, America wouldn’t invest so many resources in aerospace, and we wouldn’t reach the stars so quickly.
Similarly, without America, the Soviet Union wouldn’t invest so many resources in aerospace, and humanity would be stuck on little Earth who knows how much longer.
The Soviet Union’s existence is America’s motivation source for progress; our existence is similarly the Soviet Union’s motivation source for progress.
Hope we can lead humanity constantly forward!”
Lin Ran’s words elicited a burst of applause from the audience.
Everyone was clearly moved by this impromptu speech.
“Washington’s rumor is right.” Brown said softly to the female companion beside him.
“What rumor?”
“That the professor, although a mathematician and aerospace expert, is proficient in law and speech, able to specify domestic laws and international articles to exact points and subpoints; his speeches are extremely infectious.
Compared to hearing the professor’s speech on television, hearing it live, the professor’s speech is much more infectious.
Civil servants in Washington who have dealt with the professor all say that if the professor were born in America, even as a yellow person, he would have a chance to become president.” Brown said.
Actually, Lin Ran never thought of becoming president from the beginning, or rather, he never thought he could reach this step today.
If he had known from the start, he would have asked Horkheimer to fabricate a native-born Chinese descent identity for him.
Then occupy Obama’s niche, befriend Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King’s close friend and designated successor, plus his own prestige, connections, and resume, plus marrying a black wife, enough to block Obama.
But Lin Ran doesn’t want to; his goal has never been a simple president.
Not to mention president, even becoming like the Bush family’s main eight banners is not Lin Ran’s purpose.
Fundamentally igniting the whole world, not letting the flames of the 60s and 70s extinguish, that is Lin Ran’s real purpose.
After learning that OGAS integrates four Eastern Europe countries, Lin Ran felt it more hopeful to achieve this.
If the Soviet Union’s demise can’t be reversed by himself, then slow America’s rise, let more countries and regions with flames exist in the world.
Not all animal friends, make the world’s form more complex, delay or prevent the arrival of extreme wealth gap quasi-cyberpunk society for humanity—this is what Lin Ran wants to do in this spacetime besides technology itself.
Later they discussed some moon landing related topics, but whether the audience below or viewers in front of televisions, attention was no longer there.
“Very happy to hear the two’s insights around moon landing, aerospace, and personal experiences; the professor also shared the secret of personal growth, giving us a lot of inspiration.
Thank you everyone for watching today’s CBS news program; hope to have the chance to interview the two again next time!” Cronkite felt it was too worthwhile.
This program, Lin Ran’s education proposals will definitely be hotly debated as a topic.
Exam-oriented education has been criticized since the early 60s, with various education experts frequently attacking it.
Now with Lin Ran’s endorsement, they definitely won’t miss this opportunity.
Secondly, activists like Martin Luther King are like picking up a gun, having a new reason to accuse unfair treatment, occupying media space and attention again.
And for the White House, the Civil Rights Act is Kennedy’s legacy—doesn’t Lyndon Johnson want to have contributions to civil rights?
Now the professor has given you the opportunity: education reform, merits in the present, benefits for a thousand years—will Lyndon Johnson seize this chance?
Just thinking about it, Cronkite knows that this time around education, from Washington to New York, from Northern states to Southern states, it will be buzzing.
And CBS’s news program will be replayed repeatedly, fame and money, he wants it all.
