From childhood, Xiao Linzi knew he wanted to devote himself to education—specifically, education in the martial-arts world. At eighteen he said goodbye to his parents and went up to Wulin University, halfway up Wolf Fang Mountain. The jianghu saying had it that in the field of education, if Wulin University ranked second, Lin Chong himself would not dare claim first. Xiao Linzi arrived full of confidence.
Studying was harder than he had imagined. Whenever he thought of his ideal, he gritted his teeth. He gritted them for four years, and lost one front tooth in the process.
Time only feels fast when you look back; looking forward, it crawls. In those four years he studied seriously and graduated with some competence and even more confidence. He no longer needed beauty filters for photographs; when he saw the junior sister's iPhone full of photo-editing apps, he laughed to himself.
At graduation, he took leave of his teachers, hugged the junior sister one last time, and noticed plainly that she had grown into a young woman. But thinking of his ideal, he resolutely put aside tender feelings.
After rounds of assessment, he found work at Fenglinwan, a well-known private school in the Jiangnan water towns.
On his first day, the head teacher called him into the office and asked, “What is education?” Coming from a famous school, Xiao Linzi answered at once: students come to learn knowledge; since I have heard the Way before them, I transmit the Way, impart skills, and resolve doubts. The head teacher sipped the newly picked Taihu Cuizhu tea and said, “A fresh graduate—still a little shallow.”
Xiao Linzi was alarmed. Shallow: if I sit down, I cannot sit; thin: sooner or later there will be trouble. He felt his prospects darken. The head teacher, perhaps seeing the change in his expression, added that to adapt to changing conditions, he would need more training.
Xiao Linzi was a dutiful man, without even the ordinary male talent for changing. He had always assumed that peach blossoms bloomed in April, as they did behind his master's house, even when he saw that April had already stripped the world of fragrance. But the boss's words had to be obeyed.
The training was a shock—two shocks, in fact.
From recommended admission to the college entrance exam, from exam-oriented education to quality education, education had been changing all along. If one studied it systematically, two things became clear: first, what you learned was useless, because an ordinary major was too narrow; second, there were too many theories and no agreement among them.
Ancient, Soviet, European and American; Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Laozi, Tao Xingzhi, Dewey, Kairov, Sukhomlinsky, Babansky, “old driver.” Once, after hard work, you learned all the theories, integrated them, connected them to practice, had everything in mind, felt inspired, and prepared to enter the jianghu—only to look around and find that the jianghu had completely changed.
In the past, on the mountain with the master, he had learned a profession. Now in the jianghu people talked about forms, inspections, modern educational technology, multimedia, micro-lessons, open online lessons, big data, school-to-school connectivity, class-to-class connectivity, core competencies, papers, professional titles, evaluations, Yangsi, Dulangkou, Nantong, flipped classrooms, lesson polishing.
Worse, change came fast—every day something new appeared.
Flowers bloom and fall; they fall and bloom again. Once education meant transmitting the Way, imparting skills, and resolving doubts; later three-dimensional objectives were added; now there were core values to pursue. Once it was said that great achievers do not bother with trifles; now it was said that details decide success or failure.
One cycle in the mountains, a thousand years in the world. This era of rapid change is unprecedented in human history; every job may change. Social positions that involve contact with people are especially unsettling.
Meeting all changes by remaining unchanged is very high cultivation. Xiao Linzi is far from it. He can only chase the times and try to be a fickle man.
He had many thoughts. Though negativity shows on the page, and his current level is still low, he is an optimistic person.
Usually, critics do not show the way; they only criticize. Criticism is easy; pointing out a path is hard.
His thoughts are full of criticism, but if you take him seriously, he will dodge. Before leaving, though, he will tell you: two people are standing outside the gate—one is an expert, and the other is also an expert.