Weekly BGM [College Entrance Exam Season Special].
Welcome to the tenth issue of "Weekly Insights." This week's topic is "My past years."
Topic: My Past Years
The 2022 college entrance exam (Gaokao) has concluded. Every year's exam season inevitably brings back memories of the past, and this year is no exception. On the afternoon of June 6th, I took some time to reminisce about my youth.
That afternoon, I logged into the official websites of my elementary school, middle school, and high school, preparing to download some memorable things for future reminiscence. The results were greatly disappointing – none of my schools' websites could be accessed; they had all gone offline. The information channels for my elementary, middle, and high school had all switched to WeChat official accounts.
I used Oldest Search, which I recommended in issue 6, but still couldn't find historical snapshots of my schools' previous sites.
Eventually, I found historical snapshots of my high school site, middle school site, and elementary school site in the Internet Archive.
My high school's site was last updated in 2016. The historical snapshot matches what I remember seeing when I visited the school website during computer class in my first year of high school. The English listening MP3 files in the "hot articles" list next to the campus news section reminded me of doing listening exercises during morning reading in my freshman year. Back then, the last 20 minutes of every English morning reading session were used for listening practice.
My middle school's site was last updated in 2018. Every graduating class's graduation video used to be displayed in the left sidebar of the homepage for alumni to reminisce. Since the Internet Archive didn't capture external video links, I couldn't find the 2016 middle school graduation ceremony video – somewhat disappointing. If I visit my alma mater someday in the future, I'll definitely look for that lost footage.
Finding my elementary school's site in the Internet Archive took a long time. Although my memories of elementary school have become blurry over time, I still vividly remember the school's motto – "Let every teacher and student bloom with the smile of success."
Back then, I snatched a "Five Good Student" award from a classmate. Back then, I went with my class to Jianghai Customs Garden for an outing. Back then, during the Lixia egg-fighting festival, I became the egg-fighting champion [actually, I waited for others to fight first before joining – winning through strategy]. Back then, I stood in front of the whole school singing "Shake the Sun"... Everything feels so close, yet so far.
Once I started the exam-oriented education of middle and high school, my campus life was no longer as rich as in elementary school. The goal in middle school was to study hard and get into a good high school; the goal in high school was to study hard and get into a good university. I loathe this homogenized education – that youth was fulfilling but joyless. In China, the Gaokao is a relatively fair life competition, but fairness cannot mask its homogenization flaws.
Last night [June 8th, 2022], after watching an interview with the Jiangsu liberal arts top scorer, I felt more at peace with my Gaokao disappointment. That top scorer eventually went to Wuhan University. Her exceptional performance earned her the top spot, but the excessive pressure unfortunately led to depression.
Between health and grades, I choose health. The meaning of life isn't just about grades, and the meaning of studying isn't just for grades either. During high school, my understanding of computer science was nearly zero. Like most students, I was controlled by my parents for 18 years and was confused about my future.
Since entering the computer science major, I've gradually discovered myself. The new technologies emerging from computer science fascinate me. Learning is no longer exhausting for me – doing what interests me is enjoyable.
But undoubtedly, even in university, there are still courses that waste your life. During my freshman and sophomore years, I was an obedient child, continuing the study methods from high school, eventually achieving a good GPA. In my junior year, I began to awaken. I grew tired of being part of the silent majority, tired of courses that don't teach real skills. I started doing what I like. If I had to choose between failing a course and pursuing my interests, I'd choose my interests. Because failing is just a tactic teachers use to scare the weak. When you're strong enough and teachers know you're pursuing your interests rather than skipping class without reason, they'll respect your choices too.
Watching Bilibili uploader Li Tianyi's video was quite touching. Here are some notes I took for your reference. May you find your field of interest early and live for yourself.
Quotes
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Take photos when you can, capture moments when you can, show off when you want to. Ten years from now, no camera or photography skill can capture you as you are now. Boldly document life. Every day you have now is worth treasuring.
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Most people just drift through life. An excellent person will definitely appear unique.
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Replace time spent watching dramas with documentaries, replace time spent scrolling your phone with reading books. Persist for a month and you'll feel obvious progress.
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People are always lonely – learn to adapt. Only inner strength can truly overcome loneliness.
Link Sharing
Secretly tell your crush that you like them. 🫣
Enter your name in the first text box, your crush's name in the second, then click to generate a URL. Share the generated URL with others. If someone enters their name and it matches, it means xxx (figure it out yourself). If it doesn't match, it won't hurt too much. 😄
Recommends an excellent movie every day, solving your movie selection problem. Bookmark it and check when you want to watch a movie during leisure time for inspiration.
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Everything has its nature – water is plain, salt gives flavor. Water plus water is still water, salt plus salt is still salt. Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty – the five flavors harmonized, coexisting and complementing each other, presenting a hundred flavors. Things are like this, events are the same, and so are people.
This was the 2019 Jiangsu Chinese Gaokao essay topic. At that time, I wrote about sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty, and got 97 points in Chinese. If I have time this summer, I'll rewrite the 2019 Jiangsu Chinese Gaokao essay to recapture that year's feeling.
I personally think this is a very cool thing to do. If you also want to reminisce about your Gaokao, you can rewrite your Chinese Gaokao essay when you have time.