I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 63 On the cusp of the storm
The news that the provincial education channel was going to launch a summer talk show spread like wildfire. Anyway, everyone in the system in Shazhou City knew about it. Zhang Dangyang even went back to his unit and brought back some Jiangning specialties for his former colleagues and leaders, various chicken, duck and goose products. No one accused him of doing anything crooked.

Isn't it worth it?

"Hey, Dangyang, what's the specifics? How come you suddenly got a project approved? That's a provincial TV station project."

The former office director was asking Zhang Dangyang for some information.

Media publicity matters cannot be taken lightly; shrewd people are always extremely cautious.

Caution is the boat.

"Sigh, it wasn't approved for me. It's for a health product company in Jiangning City. Big ads... we can't afford that; it's just sponsoring a small program. Those high-rated satellite TV channels, those prime-time slots, I have no chance at all. My program isn't even in prime time, it's during my afternoon nap time..."

He told some truths, but not much.

Zhang Dangyang had already made up his mind that if things went smoothly, he would quit his job and sign a cooperation agreement with the provincial education channel.

Of course, not in his name, but in the studio.

Gaining brand awareness isn't that difficult.

He didn't think about going solo; he just followed Zhang Da'an and was guaranteed a good harvest regardless of drought or flood.

Otherwise, if things continue like this, he'll probably be stuck as a clerk for another three to five years, and might even become a permanent representative. Without connections or influence, he'll be stuck here for the rest of his life.

He's not at the age where he's considered a "veteran" and ready to retire yet; he definitely wants to keep struggling.

These past two days, Guan Changsheng, the vice president of "Zhang An Health," and he finalized the sponsorship design and slogan. After that, both sides will go all out to get things done.

To be fair, Zhang Dangyang is quite confident in the "top scholar theory" because the topics proposed by the "top scholar" himself are all sensational, highly topical and socially relevant, and will have a significant impact.

As long as two or three topics go viral... no, as long as just one, this column will come alive.

After surviving, the focus shifted to how to expand and strengthen the program, making "Top Scorer's Talk" a regular feature on the education channel, and eventually a star program.

Especially in the last two years, with the resurgence of the "child prodigy craze," the name "Zhang An" has occasionally been mentioned by the media.

After all, last year's top scorer in the college entrance examination chose to repeat a year instead of going to university, and even switched from science to humanities, which is quite a story.

People want to know what exactly happened that made the child prodigy "Zhang An" make such a choice.

Nobody wants to miss out on interesting gossip.

During the pre-release promotion on the provincial education channel, the 2017 college entrance examination results for Jiangkou Province were released on June 24th. A total of 1,689 students in the province scored over 600 points.

Of these, 1,688 were science students and one was arts students.

The only liberal arts student in this year's exam to score over 600 points achieved the highest score in the province, with a total score of 702 points, just eight points shy of a perfect score, and leading the second-highest scorer by more than 40 points.

This extraordinary candidate is Zhang Da'an.

When the municipal bureau sent the congratulatory message to the Shazhou Daily, everyone found it unbelievable.

I was both happy and nervous. But overall, I was excited.

The reason is simple: although the college entrance examination model in the province is different this year and it is impossible to rank students nationwide, the provincial top scorer still came from Shazhou City. What an honor!

Last year's top science student was from Shazhou City, and this year's top arts student is also from Shazhou City.

What does this mean?
This shows that Shazhou City has a good education system, with a balance between arts and sciences, and promotes all-round development!
However, the joy couldn't mask the anxiety. The reason was simple: the new Dongwei Port Middle School was bound to have explosive academic results, and it was already a foregone conclusion that it would "sweep" the entire Shazhou City and Wudu City. Would it "sweep" the whole province as well...?

That's hard to say; it depends on how the higher-level leadership defines it.

After all, the issue of repeat classes has existed since ancient times, but whether the focus is on educational equity or exam-oriented equity is still a matter of debate.

As long as educational fairness is not compromised, whether the examination process is fair or not... those are minor issues.

Some people can gain 10 or 20 points by learning a skill, while others can get admitted to university without taking the entrance exam by winning an award for learning a skill. Where can you find justice in this?

If this were to turn into a major social debate, what would become of us?
It should be noted that some test takers have to lose their fathers in order to earn ten extra points.

As for bonus points, Zhang Da'an could actually get bonus points for both the middle school entrance exam and the college entrance exam, since although his household registration only lists him now, it used to be a complete household.

It's just that Zhang Da'an didn't fill it in, and the Municipal Bureau didn't know about it before. It was only after Zhang Zhengdong mentioned it that the Municipal Bureau found out about it. But at this point, giving Zhang Da'an an extra ten or twenty points wouldn't make much difference.

They've already achieved top scores in both the middle school and college entrance exams, so these few points don't matter.

But this year is different. The Municipal Bureau wanted to make a big splash, so they also wanted to give Zhang Da'an some points. Therefore, they added Zhang Da'an's bonus points. However, when delivering the good news, they consulted Zhang Da'an's opinion and reported a score of 702.

Otherwise, Zhang Da'an's total score could have reached a terrifying 722 points.

This year, the total score for the college entrance examination in Jiangkou Province was only 710, instead of 750 last year. It was 722, which directly exceeded the total score.

Especially considering that the second-ranked liberal arts student this year only scored 583 points, this is not even in the same league.

So when the Shazhou Daily published the good news, all the major print media in the province also got the data. The score of 702 shocked all the parents of college entrance examination candidates in the province.

Parents of students at "Zhang An Education" were especially overjoyed, having already received their scores by phone.

The most surprising result was the number of students who scored over 600 points. Around 700 students scored over 600 points, meaning that once the students in this year's "top scorer tutoring class" are excluded, there will be fewer than 1,000 graduating high school students in the province who score over 600 points.

Xindongweigang Middle School alone accounted for 40% of the top-scoring students. How can such terrifying data not be frightening?
Even though the entire city of Shazhou was under pressure regarding the college entrance examination results of Xindongwei Port Middle School, the parents' eagerness to "announce it to the world" still created a sensation.

This out-of-control sensation left the entire Shazhou City Education Bureau trembling with a mixture of exhilaration and fear.

So exciting!

By the end of June, various media outlets had begun to raise questions, but no media outlets had yet gone to Xindongwei Port Middle School to verify the matter, so it was still in the "rumor-based" stage. It wasn't until the first episode of "Top Scholar's Talk" aired that Zhang Da'an, the current and previous year's top scorer, personally admitted to the matter. At that time, public opinion in the entire Jiangkou Province pushed the Shazhou City Education Bureau into the spotlight.

As for Zhang Da'an himself?
He still harbors a rebellious mentality of seeking revenge against society, and he doesn't care about being in the limelight.

All he knew was: the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!
(End of this chapter)