Shang Zhenwu explained to Ling Muhua, the beautiful director of the Education Bureau, about the factors that the so-called productivity and economic model determine the education system, especially the so-called economic base determines the superstructure, and the education system does not depend on the quality of education, of course, the quality of education is very important, but it is not fundamental. The productive forces determine the relations of production, and then the relations of production determine the social system. China adopts an economic system dominated by public ownership, so the ensuing education system is naturally the most important means to maintain social fairness as much as possible. Under the model of public ownership, it is to create cheaper and lower education costs for outstanding talents, and the excellent universities in the United States charge expensive fees one by one, not only can they not get subsidies, but they will also have to repay the loans for more than ten years in order to go to college.

Therefore, the role of education is not only to teach and educate people, but also to be able to cultivate a person into a talent. The main foundation is to maintain social fairness, the most basic fairness. As long as all the people receive the same level of education as much as possible, then they will also have the opportunity to move from an ordinary person to the upper class. And if education is not as fair as possible, there is no other kind of equity. And although the educational environment in China's big cities is better, it is far better than the Yankees who put almost 90 percent of their resources into the remaining less than 5 percent of the schools. ”

Shang Zhenwu explained to Ling Muhua that the most important role of education is not to teach talents, but to maintain the most basic fairness of society, which made Ling Muhua feel a little surprised. At present, many people focus on the quality of teaching and the so-called future development, but rarely focus on the nature of education and socio-economic relations. From the point of view of the quality of education, it is naturally incomplete, because the quality of education can be smashed with money. As long as you are willing to invest, you can also invest all your resources in several schools. As long as you are willing, you can invest almost all your wealth in a few top schools, and this school will naturally have a high level of education. But this has a serious consequence, that is, the number of students in a school is limited, so who can come to school in this way is a spell for a father. Isn't the Yankees so right away? They have invested almost all their educational resources in a few schools, so that they are all very different in education level, countless times larger than the gap in China. In addition, more than 70% of the places in those prestigious schools have been booked by those rich people, and ordinary people cannot fully survive on scholarships alone, and they have to repay student loans for more than ten years after graduation.

Ling Muhua fell into deep thought and asked: "According to what you said, my country's investment in education is relatively much more average than that of the United States, and many people think that exam-oriented education can't learn things, it's useless to learn things, and they can't use it after graduation?" ”

"This is simply ridiculous, since ancient times, you have lived to learn all the time, if you can just rely on what you have learned in college can be without worrying for a lifetime, then you will not be able to make progress in this life. In all schools, what you learn is definitely a little behind the times, the difference is just how far behind. And learning is not about knowledge, but about thinking. How is it possible to expect to earn a living by learning things in school? The vast majority of knowledge in this world can only be understood but not spoken, especially many things have to be learned by themselves in society, and cannot be learned in school. It's ridiculous to blame the school for messing up with yourself. Even if you learn something in college, you don't have to work in that industry! If you work in that industry 100% absolutely, then is there any meaning in such a life? Wouldn't it be ridiculous if what you learned in college had to work in your own industry? ”

"So the real knowledge is to learn it yourself on the job, not to expect to be able to learn it all in school. But isn't it ridiculous that some people actually blame themselves for not doing well, and then blame the school, and then blame the education system from the school? No system can guarantee that everyone will be able to become a master. No one's success can be replicated, and only the survival of the fittest can achieve evolutionary success in this world. It would be absurd to blame the system for one's own failures. Is it possible that a foreign system has been implemented in which everyone can become president and everyone can become a rich man? Even according to the education system of the Americans, they have never seen the Yankees, and all of them are the richest people in the world! ”

And Ling Muhua felt that what Shang Zhenwu said was simply in her heart, because she had been wondering in the past. As a person who works in the education management industry, she has always thought about the quality of education. After all, the quality of education determines the direction of her future work, and there are many debates about so-called quality education and exam-oriented education. However, they also focus on the quality of education, and do not think too much about the fundamentals. The foundation of education is to maintain the minimum fairness of society, and this minimum fairness is to maintain those who are able and willing to work hard to reach the top at the lowest cost. And if you can't even do this, then let alone what kind of education it is, at that time education is useless. At that time, no matter how good the level of education was, it was just a high-level slave.

And Ling Muhua didn't think of this before, but simply looked at the problem from the quality of education, not from the economic foundation of the entire country. This education system should not only be judged by the quality of teaching, but also by whether it can match its social system. At present, China's foundation is a country dominated by public ownership, and it is natural to try to let talents rise at the lowest possible cost.

"Then some people say that it is difficult to produce noble children from poor families, and many rural college students are unable to reach the upper level, which shows the problem of the education system?" Ling Muhua asked.

Shang Zhenwu immediately got the answer through Ling Muhua's thesis four years later.

"Actually, this is very simple, this does not mean that there is something wrong with our education system, but that our education system is too good. If an ordinary person has not received any proper education since he was a child, then he may be willing to be a peasant facing the loess with his back to the sky all his life, and he has no idea of changing his destiny at all. If you look at it from ancient times, if a farmer has not received any education at all, his thinking may only be to spend his whole life in the farmland, and then farm with peace of mind, and then prepare to pass on the profession of farmer from generation to generation, day after day. ”

"But now, because of the high education penetration rate, many rural college students think that they should change their fate. Because they received an education, they knew that they wanted to change their fate. If they had never been to school in their lives, would they have thought about changing their fate? First of all, they know that they want to change their destiny, according to our education, we are already helping them, helping them to have this idea, otherwise they would not even have this idea. With the popularization of our education, the vast number of rural relatives also have the idea of changing their own destiny, and more and more rural people have the idea of changing their destiny. ”

"But everybody wants to change their fate, so what? That will make the competition countless times higher, so that the competitive pressure will increase countless times, and there will inevitably be more people than in the past. In any era, the upper strata of society will always be the minority, but the lower strata will always be the majority. It is impossible for everyone to climb to the top of the tower, and the path to success for everyone who climbs the top cannot be replicated. It's not normal to think that you can't succeed and blame it on education. Education can only guarantee your foundation, not your future. There are too many fortuitous factors in anyone's success. I'm afraid, even if there are many high-level officials now, how many can expect to be able to reach the top? At that time, the founders of those consortia in the United States, many of them had the initial dream of being able to have 100,000 US dollars, but they eventually succeeded in the conglomerate. Therefore, there are too many accidents to show whether you can succeed or not, and even you can't predict that you will be able to succeed in the future. So isn't it ridiculous to blame the education system for such an accidental thing? ”

Ling Muhua also nodded and said, "Yes!" The path to success cannot be replicated, and if it can be replicated, then the path cannot be followed. Because if it's a business opportunity that everyone can see, it's not a business opportunity. If people want to succeed, they must look at opportunities. And knowledge and ability, that is just the basis for seizing so that you can seize the opportunity. If you don't have the knowledge and ability, then in the end, even if the opportunity comes, you won't be able to seize it. It seems that what you said is right, it is not that our current education system is too poor, but that it is better than that of foreign countries, because although it cannot create too many achievements at the top, it gives everyone the opportunity to seize the opportunity as fairly as possible. If you think that you can succeed if you go to a good school, you are just putting the cart before the horse. Opportunities in life are the most important thing, and knowledge and ability only make you more likely to seize opportunities, not necessarily successful. ”

"Maybe what we educators have to do is to average out the educational resources as much as possible, so that everyone can get the same level of education as much as possible. Only if everyone obtains the same level of education as much as possible, then whether they can get ahead in the end depends on their efforts and whether they can seize the opportunity. Of course, there is no absolute fairness, what we educators have to do is to maintain the minimum fairness, that is, the education is as average as possible, and students must be given the opportunity to compete with the same standards, which is to maintain the minimum fairness. I kind of understand that what we educators have to do is maintain a minimum of fairness. As for improving the quality of teaching, it should be put in the second place. ”

Shang Zhenwu continued: "The so-called moral education, in fact, in my opinion, is not necessarily very important. Guan Zhong also said that Cang Liao knows etiquette and knows honor and disgrace when he has enough food and clothing. A person's morality is based on having sufficient economic conditions, and it may not be possible to have enough morality with sufficient economic conditions, but it is absolutely impossible to have morality without sufficient economic conditions. The right to life, no matter what the era, is always higher than the right to life. Morality without a sufficient economic basis is vulnerable. And some people think that Yankees have morality, but it turns out that Yankees have a high crime rate. And some people may say that it is a statistical problem, but the crime mortality rate of the Yankees is much higher, several times higher than ours. I really don't understand, even the most basic life can't be guaranteed, so what's the use of wealth protection? Or is it that wealth is worth more than human life in the United States? Therefore, morality is not about the upper line, but the bottom line. Confucius said many years ago that he had looked at Zhiren and his character by the nature of his mistakes. And to look at a country's moral level, we can't just look at the upper line, but more importantly, look at the bottom line. ”

"The Yankees seem to be quite moral, but the safety of human life is not guaranteed enough at all, which shows that the gap between the highest and lowest levels of morality is too great. And we may have more ordinary petty theft, but we are far better than them in terms of life support. If even life cannot be protected in the most effective way, how much security do you expect from your property? What social morality should raise is the bottom line, not the ceiling. And this bottom line is also the issue of economic strength, if as long as the economic strength is sufficient, that is the basis for determining the moral bottom line. If there is not enough economic strength, the bottom line of morality cannot be talked about at all. Too many people just see the moral ceiling of foreigners, but they don't realize that our moral bottom line in China is much higher than theirs. ”

"And many people think that the education system is problematic because they only see the upper limit of foreigners, but they don't see our relative bottom line. In terms of education level, our bottom line is much higher than that of foreigners. Therefore, we should not only look at the upper limit, but also look at the bottom line. The bottom line is the foundation of maintaining society, and the ceiling does not represent any problem. Instead of thinking about how to raise the ceiling, think about how to raise the bottom line, which is the most fundamental question. From our ancient sages, the sages also said that the way of heaven is more than what is damaged and makes up for the shortcomings, this is actually a thinking that improves the bottom line, and only when the bottom line in all aspects is improved, then is the real stable and harmonious society. If you just think about raising the ceiling, then the gap will inevitably get bigger and bigger in the end. ”