Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 207 What Lin Ran Wants to Do (5k)

The same theory applies; who proposes it is very important.

The 60s was an era in which various new educational concepts emerged one after another.

Open education, discovery learning, and the cultivation of students' creativity and critical thinking are all emerging concepts that are gaining popularity in the current educational landscape, with various educational trends constantly emerging.

People like John Holt, Jonathan Kozol, and Herbert Cole, among others, focused on the negative impacts of education on students.

This group of people summed it up in one sentence: the current federal education system is no good, the exam-oriented education system is no good, and we need to change it.

But people are different.

They could say a thousand things, but none of them would be as effective as Lin Ran's single word.

Critics like them can only appeal in newspapers, calling for change, for the education system to focus on students' needs, and not just on exams and grades.

At most, we'll just make an appeal.

But as soon as Lin Ran said those words, the education department would approach him for advice and then begin making 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 leverage the interests of young people, understand what their interests are, and then explore in that direction.

Modern rationality has been transformed into instrumental rationality, and it has been used for technological efficiency rather than human liberation.

Our current exam-oriented education system embodies this trend: it simplifies educational goals to test scores, training students to be products that adapt to social structures, rather than cultivating them into independent thinkers and individuals capable of critically analyzing society.

Lin Ran's words embody the ideas in Professor Horkheimer's book "Dialectics of Enlightenment," and are entirely consistent with his identity.

As he spoke, he was thinking about how to tap into the interests of young people. Whether it was the defeat in the Vietnam War in the 1960s or the post-millennium era, the interests of these young Americans were always leaves.

All kinds of leaves.

Try every possible way to use the leaves.

It was actually Bush who ultimately tried to get education back on track, pulling out the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which emphasizes testing and mandates teacher accountability.

At the time, he required students in grades 3 to 8 to take exams every year through the NCLB, and school performance was linked to test scores. If the scores did not meet the standards, the school would face restructuring or privatization.

If a school fails to meet the standards for five consecutive years, it must replace teachers, transform into a charter school, be taken over by the state government, or undergo a complete restructuring.

In short, this bill is extremely absurd, causing immense suffering for teachers, and from schools to teachers, students, and parents, everyone is suffering.

That's why in 2008, the National Association of Teachers almost spared no effort in supporting Obama, in order to abolish this regime as soon as possible. How are we supposed to get by if you make things so strict?
When Obama came to power, his first priority was to make flexible adjustments to the bill to ease the burden on the teachers who had made great contributions, and then turn it into the "Every Student Success Act".

What is success? Success means ensuring education for impoverished and minority children. How can you be considered successful if you do well on a test?
The most ridiculous thing is that Bush wanted all students to get 80 points so that no one could fall behind, while Obama wanted all Black people to go to school. If you can only get 20 points, then it would be a success if all students got 20 points!
If the Black people can't get 80 points, then let's change the standard of success. Wouldn't that make everyone successful?

From this point on, the Americans have embarked on a path of making education fun and engaging, with no turning back.

Lin Ran continued:

"Our education emphasizes rote memorization and test-taking skills, requiring students to adapt to the demands of exams rather than developing a deep understanding of knowledge or critical analytical abilities."

This educational model treats students as empty vessels to be filled, neglecting their emotional and social needs as individuals. This results in students experiencing anxiety and stress under high pressure, and a lack of exploration of their own interests and potential.

Exam-oriented education reinforces the role of authority by emphasizing test scores and rankings: teachers, testing institutions, and the education system become the authorities that students must obey.

This educational model fosters students' dependence on external authority rather than cultivating their autonomy and critical thinking as independent subjects.

The trend of commodifying knowledge in modern society suggests that knowledge is being produced and consumed as a commodity.

It turned education into an assembly line for producing qualified workers, measuring only students' test scores, not their actual skills.

The socialites in the audience fell into deep thought.

Upon closer reflection, Lin Ran's words make sense.

Teachers only teach you how to pass exams; in reality, you'll have to readjust when you enter the workforce.

Isn't this kind of education model rigid and out of touch with the needs of society?

Clearly, the disconnect between education and reality is a problem that has been criticized both sixty years ago and sixty years later.

The problem is that, until a better solution is found, exam-oriented education is clearly the least bad option.

"In addition to the deficiencies I've mentioned, our current education system is also unequal!"

We reduce the value of students to a single number, and these tests often disadvantage students from poorer economic backgrounds.

Exams typically require students to have a lot of preparation resources, such as tutoring and family support, which means that students from wealthy families are more likely to get high scores, while students from poor families are at a disadvantage.

This inequality not only reflects differences in socioeconomic status, but also reinforces the solidification of social classes.

Our civil rights movement was precisely about promoting equality, and the current inequality in education is very evident.

Exams themselves are exacerbating racial and class inequality; education should not be a tool for dominance.

Cronkite was a little overwhelmed because the topic Lin Ran had raised was too broad.

He originally thought that this issue was simply a matter of mutual benefit.

Lin Ran boasted about himself, mentioning how hard he studied and how he thought in the past, and then he added some self-praise, saying that he was truly a professor and incredibly talented.

We were just flattering each other, and then you suddenly jumped in and started attacking the federal education system.

It's one thing to criticize the education system, but to drag in the civil rights movement and educational inequality is another.

Even though he's a news anchor with ample knowledge, it's really hard for me to keep up with such a grand topic you've suddenly brought up.

Cronkite decided to turn the conversation to Lin Ran: "Professor, what do you think we should do?"

Lin Ran said, "I think we should be more interest-oriented and results-oriented."

For example, in physics, we should organize students into small groups and let them explore a topic.

Similar to rocket launches, airplane models, and weather forecasting, students can complete a project with a tangible result through learning, thus connecting knowledge with application.

Integrate learning with practice.

As for more specific reforms, I think that's something educators should consider.

I just think that an education model based on interest, talent, and practice is definitely much better than an education model based solely on exams.

"If I hadn't developed a spontaneous interest in mathematics, I don't think I would have achieved what I have today."

Lin Ran's suggestion is quite reasonable.

Diversified teaching methods will also be perfected in the 70s.

Lin Ran's proposal fully embodies the spirit of criticism.

His mentor, Professor Horkheimer, was even more obsessed with this.

In 1961, he wrote an article called "The German Jew," in which he clearly stated that the task of education is to make individuals sensitive to any persecution and to resist unjust treatment.

Therefore, Lin Ran's suggestion was not only normal, but also in line with his status.

At the same time, Lin Ran was also very clear that his proposal was absolutely correct, but he couldn't stop the Americans from going too far.

To go from one extreme to another.

With his public appeal, combined with the Baiyue Wars, the trend of making American education more joyful will only come faster and more intensely.

From schools to teachers to parents and students, everyone is more relaxed.

Will anyone object?

Everyone will just speed along this road, flooring the gas pedal.

As for this timeline, will Little Bush come out again to step on the brakes?

Or whether it will be effective for Bush to step in and apply the brakes then is entirely unknown. Even without Lin Ran, America would have ended up on this path sooner or later.

Given Lin Ran's status, position, and reputation, his encouragement would provide initial impetus for the matter, allowing it to develop more quickly.

In some ways, Lin Ran was absolutely right.

Educational formats organized in small groups and learning models focused on projects do indeed have advantages.

Adding some similar content, from the perspective of diversified education, is definitely better than simply exam-oriented education.

Countless theories and practices in the future have proven this point.

Diversified education is definitely better than exam-oriented education, and high-level private schools uniformly adopt this model.

Why didn't China follow suit? Because such an education model means high costs, high demands on teachers, high demands on parents, and high demands on the education model itself. China is too big, with too many provinces. Even within the same province, the difference between a township and the provincial capital is enormous. It simply couldn't keep up.

America is able to do this because she currently has the resources to do so.

However, once Lin Ran embarked on the path of diversified education and advocated against exam-oriented education, which was unfair to ethnic minorities and the underprivileged, Lin Ran had no idea how America would develop along this path or how far she would go.

Historical experience shows that even adopting so-called quality education or happy education will only make this imbalance more obvious and intense.

People at the bottom of society can only rely on gene lottery.

For Black people, they can only rely on genetic lottery-like physical attributes, because good students are considered nerd in groups other than Asians.

Lin Ran was very much looking forward to seeing how this time and space would develop.

I advocate for diversified education and fairness. Standing on moral high ground, even if problems arise in the future, they cannot be blamed on me.

Just like America's NGOs, they have all sorts of seemingly legitimate reasons packaged as environmental protection, human rights, equality, and countless slogans and ideals, but what they actually contain is poison. What they want is deep-seated manipulation, controlling resources and playing financial games.

Lin Ran simply wanted America to explore educational opportunities for the world ahead of time.

In modern times, China has explored various models, and now America must also carry out a small exploration for humanity.

“The professor’s words are very insightful. Indeed, if I had taken physics classes as a child with the goal of launching a rocket, I think I might be sitting in a NASA rocket launch center, chatting and laughing with a professor, rather than in a CBS studio,” Cronkite flattered.

Deep down, he did feel that Lin Ran's words made sense.

Because the problems with exam-oriented education are obvious, easy to understand, and have already occurred.

Lin Ran's proposed diversified education model, which is wrapped in the guise of talent discovery, interest-oriented education, and teamwork, has not been verified. It sounds appealing, but the problems are not apparent.

Gagarin, sitting next to him, was also deep in thought.

The education system in Soviet Russia was even more perverse.

The Chinese college entrance examination (Gaokao) almost completely copied the Soviet/Russian model, with everything from Olympic competitions to various other competitions.

Therefore, having witnessed firsthand how rote learning destroys people's interests and torments parents, Gagarin was able to resonate with what Lin Ran said, believing that the reason the professor became the professor he is today was because he became a teacher based on interest.

The Washington celebrities in the audience shared similar thoughts.

People were very interested in the educational model Lin Ran described, but not so much in the idea of ​​equality.

Even though the majority of people in Washington are progressives, they do not want to see minorities receive the same educational resources and upward mobility as their children.

At least the professors are scary enough. If other Chinese Americans also have the same educational resources, wouldn't the descendants of white people be eliminated?

This has nothing to do with cognition; it's naked human nature.

The fact that Lin Ran could act with impunity in America is also a reflection of human nature; he felt no sense of belonging there, even after he rose to a high position.

Because he knew very well that this was a white-dominated country. He was of Chinese descent, and as an individual he could obtain the highest level of power, but as a group, even if he were to become God walking on earth, he could not make Chinese people have the same status as white people.

Lin Ran smiled and nodded, saying, "I hope our education system can cultivate more talent."

What was most important in the 20th century? Talent.

Before the technological singularity of artificial intelligence is reached, our competition with the Soviet Union and Russia will depend on talent.

The extent to which talent emerges is one manifestation of the system's advantages.

After Lin Ran finished speaking, he looked at Gagarin and said, "Our competition is peaceful and healthy."

Without the Soviet Union, America wouldn't have invested so many resources in space exploration, and we wouldn't have reached the stars so quickly.

Similarly, without America, the Soviet Union would not have invested so many resources in space exploration, and humanity would have remained confined to this small planet for who knows how long.

The existence of Soviet Russia was the driving force behind America's progress, and our existence is also the driving force behind Soviet Russia's progress.

"We hope to lead humanity forward!"

Lin Ran's words drew applause from the audience.

Everyone was clearly captivated by this impromptu speech.

“The rumors in Washington are true,” Brown whispered to his female companion.

"What rumors?"

"Although the professor is a mathematician and aerospace scientist, he is also proficient in law and public speaking. He can explain domestic laws and international provisions down to the smallest detail, and his speeches are extremely captivating."

Listening to a professor's lecture live is far more engaging than watching it on television.

"Civil servants in Washington who had dealt with the professor said that if he had been from America, or even if he were Asian, he would have had a chance to become president," Brown said.

In fact, Lin Ran never thought about becoming president from the beginning, or rather, he never thought he would get to where he is today.

If he had known from the beginning, he would have asked Horkheimer to help him fabricate a native-born Chinese identity.

Then they went to seize Obama's niche and befriend Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s close friend and designated successor, coupled with his own reputation, connections, and resume, plus a Black wife, would be enough to oust Obama.

However, Lin Ran didn't want that; his goal was never just to become a simple president.

Let alone becoming president, even becoming a member of the Eight Banners like the Bush family is not Lin Ran's goal.

Lin Ran's true purpose was to ignite the entire world from the very beginning, ensuring that the flames of the 1960s and 70s would not be extinguished.

After learning that OGAS had united the four Eastern European countries, Lin Ran felt that achieving this goal was more promising.

The collapse of Soviet Russia was irreversible on its own, so slowing down America's rise would allow more countries and regions in the world to experience the flames of war.

It's not about making everyone a friend of the animal kingdom. It's about making the world more complex and delaying or even preventing the arrival of a quasi-cyberpunk society where the gap between rich and poor is extreme. That's what Lin Ran wants to do in this time and space, besides the technology itself.

The discussion then touched on some topics related to the moon landing, but neither the audience in the audience nor the viewers in front of their televisions paid any attention to them.

"It was a pleasure to hear your insights on the moon landing, spaceflight, and personal growth. The professor also shared the secrets of personal growth, which gave us a lot of inspiration."

Thank you for watching today's CBS News program. I hope to have the opportunity to interview you both again next time! Cronkite felt it was well worth it.

Lin Ran's suggestions on education in this program will definitely be a hot topic and generate a lot of discussion.

The exam-oriented education system has been criticized since the early 60s, and various educators have frequently attacked it.

With Lin Ran's support, they certainly won't let such a good opportunity slip by.

Secondly, activists like Martin Luther King Jr., like finding a gun, have a new reason to accuse others of being treated unfairly, and can once again dominate the media and capture attention.

As for the White House, the Civil Rights Act is Kennedy's legacy. Wouldn't Lyndon Johnson want to make his own contribution to civil rights?
Now that the professor has given you the opportunity, educational reform will benefit the present and future generations. Do you think Lyndon Johnson will seize this opportunity?

Just thinking about it, Cronkite knows that this time, the issue of education will cause a huge uproar from Washington to New York, from the Northern states to the Southern states.

And CBS news programs would be repeatedly broadcast; he wanted both fame and money.

　Ugh, I'm at a loss for words. I've been completely lost these past few days, truly lost. I feel like I've forgotten how to write a book. Please forgive me.

　　From the very beginning, including the protagonist's name in the introduction, it was mentioned that whether it's the 1960s or the 2020s, the protagonist's goal is to ignite the entire world. That's all. In any case, thank you all for your support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)