In 2019, Zhou Yijun’s documentary "Childhood in a Foreign Country" exploring global education was broadcast, allowing people to see the diverse looks of education in different parts of the world in addition to the single path of examinations, supplementary classes, and further education. While witnessing the growth of others, many people have re-raised themselves, healed their wounds, and reflected on the hidden problems in their growth.
After five years, director and host Zhou Yijun embarked on a journey again to discover the possibilities of education in a wider world. This season, the program team went to Singapore, a highly competitive and future-oriented country, France, where philosophical speculation is daily life, Germany, where reality is pragmatic, New Zealand, where life-long interests are found through fun, and Thailand, a popular place for studying abroad in recent years. Recently, "Childhood in a Foreign Country 2" was launched on Youku and is currently being broadcast.
Having traveled to many countries, Zhou Yijun feels more and more that education is a country’s definition of citizens and a culture’s understanding of people. In the second season, through the educational concepts of various countries, we also see how this country understands human existence and how it treats its own history.
This episode of France answers the question of where the sense of freedom, diversity and relaxation in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games came from. This is a country that values childhood. Starting from the infant stage, they respect children as complete persons, encourage children to think independently, express themselves bravely, focus on cultivating people's critical thinking spirit, and experience life as much as possible. In the French educational philosophy, finding your own path and becoming yourself is more important than anything else.
Students in Paris have weekends and half a day off every Wednesday. In the view of officials from the Paris Education Department, it is impossible for children to learn language and mathematics eight hours a day: "Children must study relaxedly." On the other hand, it can be seen that the unemployment rate in France is increasing year by year, and in 2023 it will be 7.4%.
When watching this episode in Singapore, many viewers will lament how similar the education landscape here is to that in China, and the competition is even more intense. In Singapore, the primary school entrance exam is no less important than the college entrance examination, and the stage known as the "Primary Six" is crucial. Primary schools in Singapore finish at 2pm every day, and a large number of children flock to cram schools. The slogan posted in the cram school is: "I am not here to be an ordinary person, but to be an excellent person." Singapore allows family corporal punishment. Online classes during the epidemic have made parents crazy, and "rattan" has become their training It is a great tool for children and also relieves stress for yourself.
Singapore, founded in 1965, chose to invest in people due to lack of resources, screened talents through examinations, and developed from a small fishing village into a garden country. It is undeniable that through such an education system, it has cultivated a large number of high-end talents serving global capital, and the country has become full of vitality and economic prosperity.
Unlike Singapore, where the "fear of losing" mentality is prevalent, Germany, which is famous for its rigor and manufacturing industry, is supported by an educational philosophy that allows mistakes. According to the Germans, a person who never makes a mistake is a person who has never tried. At the same time, German education faces reality and provides frank and transparent sex education courses at the primary school level.
"The so-called education is a culture's understanding of people. It refers to how we define people in culture. Is it freedom, equality and fraternity, or is it better to surpass others in the established social rules and endure hardships before you can become a better person? People? It’s hard to say whether there is absolute good or bad.” In Zhou Yijun’s view, there is no perfect education. A friend living in Greece told her that in the ancient Greek concept, education is harm: "Children are in a natural state at first, and education is like a knife leaving marks on a person's body." How to carve people , shaping people depends on the concepts of society, school and family.
After the first season of "Childhood in a Foreign Country" was aired, some parents chose to take their children to move to an educational ideal country such as Finland that they yearned for. After experiencing it, I found that there is still a lot of gap between reality and imagination. In addition to education, there are also issues of adapting to the local climate, culture and language. Changing the environment may not necessarily bring about the ideal results. Practicing the concepts you think is correct in daily life is also a way.In Zhou Yijun's view, sometimes seeing differences is the first step towards becoming a parent.
It can be seen that more and more parents are beginning to realize that there are certain problems with the old education methods, and they are giving more freedom of choice to their children, but at the same time, they are still wrapped up in the anxiety of reality.
Zhou Yijun admitted that there were many moments when she "couldn't help it". For example, after respecting her children's freedom of choice to the maximum extent, she was upset whether she had given in too much and lost her authority as a mother. However, if she was given another chance, she would still choose not to over-control her children’s after-school time: “Today’s parents think they know better and are constantly worrying about their children: which elementary school, which middle school to go to, and where to go during holidays. Which summer camp to go to and which training class to attend? Sometimes parents don’t push so hard and give their children some space to make their own choices. "
In a relatively remote primary school in Germany, a kind of letting go is practiced. An educational method for students to independently plan their learning progress. What subjects to study today and where to study are all decided by the students themselves. Of course, this means that teachers also need to do their part to answer the various questions raised by students. One benefit of this learning method is that children generally have strong self-motivation and tend to show stronger learning abilities after they reach middle school. The female principal told Zhou Yijun that many children are told what to do every day from birth to growing up: "When to get up, brush teeth, wash face, he has never made a choice for himself."
In Zhou Yijun's view, this There is a huge secret hidden behind this educational concept: "The most primitive desire of a child is to grow up. Looking at the adults around him, he also wants to dominate things and become an adult. But many times, we regard this desire as Deprived and suppressed.”
Chinese parents have been looking for a lifestyle that eliminates impurities and cannot accept their children deviating from the established track. Zhou Yijun feels that it is a great thing if a child can develop the ability to know what he wants to do and have a strong desire to achieve it when he is young: "As long as it is not a bad thing, why not let him try it?" What? We are not trying to make choices for our children, but we can help them establish a thinking process. "
Interview with Zhou Yijun: There is a lot of blindness and absurdity in "Volume"
China Business News: The national conditions of Singapore and China are very different. Da, why are you so consistent on the "volume" thing?
Zhou Yijun: On the one hand, Singapore is short of resources and needs to cultivate a large number of elites to serve international capital and govern the country well. On the other hand, they have a mentality called "fear of losing". We also have this mentality and actually compare ourselves to each other.
In Singapore, poor academic performance may not mean there is no way out. The artificial intelligence R&D engineer "Xiao Liu" we interviewed did not do well in the exam and never went to college, but he can still realize his dream through hard work. But why do parents still have to be so "curious"?
A mother told me that because all parents think their children are geniuses at the beginning, they cannot lose from the beginning and have to compete with others. The Education Bureau of Singapore advocates teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and believes that competition at the primary school level is blind. They asked the children to finish school at two o'clock in the afternoon and develop their talents according to their own preferences. As a result, the children all went to make up classes. This was not the original intention of the Education Bureau. I want everyone to see that there is great blindness and absurdity in the matter of "volume".
China Business News: You mentioned that education is not absolutely good or bad. If I were to make a choice from a child's perspective, I would probably choose to be educated in Germany instead of Singapore.
Zhou Yijun: If I were you, I would choose this way. I saw an article before about Lang Lang learning piano. His father would say very harsh words to force him, and Lang Lang became a talent. Someone asked Lang Lang's teacher Gary Grafman what he thought of Lang Lang's piano learning experience. He said that first of all, one must know that Lang Lang is talented. In other words, he is a child who can "force it out." We also see that Yuja Wang has never been forced like this, and she has become a talent.Sometimes, this causal relationship cannot be taken too seriously. Maybe Lang Lang could have become a talent if he hadn't been so forced back then. What is the best way for him, we don't know. The unclear thing about childhood education is that it cannot be repeated. So we should try our best to understand the possibilities of our children before choosing which path to take.
China Business News: In the Singapore episode, you mentioned that children who grow up under fierce competition may attribute their success to themselves and forget that it is the result of collaboration with others. What are the possible impacts of this kind of thinking?
Zhou Yijun: An expert in Singapore believes that through the "elitist" education system, people will feel that everything is obtained through their own efforts. Making big money and having social status are all earned by themselves. If someone can't do it, he or she is not working hard enough or smart enough. Including contempt between professional divisions of labor, and judging people by wealth and income. If you have money and went to a prestigious school, it means you are good. This kind of concept masks who this person really is.
China Business News: When talking about German vocational education, there is a saying that "there is only division of labor, no hierarchy." But in China, many parents still find it difficult to accept their children being diverted to vocational schools.
Zhou Yijun: This is a conceptual issue. In the past, people did form certain stereotypes, thinking that vocational schools were not very good, had a bad atmosphere, and had low academic qualifications. In Germany, people who graduate from vocational schools do not necessarily earn less than undergraduates. There is a saying that a senior plumber earns no less than a university professor. When we talk about education, in addition to talking about what schools and education bureaus should be, changes in social concepts are also very important.
The Singapore Education Bureau has long advocated not making up lessons, and the point system for the Primary 6 exam has also been changed, making it more relaxed than before. However, all parents are saying that the more changes are made, the more "paperwork" is required, and the social concept has not changed. Germany can do this because social concepts recognize that there is no distinction between high and low jobs.
Changing social concepts is a particularly difficult and slow thing, but it does not mean that it cannot be changed. France is a country that values childhood the most, and its fertility rate ranks first in the EU. But one of the moms we interviewed, her grandmother, even her mom, didn't have that much respect for the kids. Their respect for children comes from the joint efforts of French psychologists and sociologists, and may require a change in the concepts of several generations.
China Business News: In recent years, people seem to be paying more attention to children’s psychological problems and adolescent depression than in the past. Does this mean that social concepts are changing?
Zhou Yijun: also needs to be taken seriously because there are more and more problems. This involves what everyone's definition of success is, and whether parents can accept their children taking a wrong step on the road to growth, such as failing to do well in a test. The children we interviewed in the documentary did not do so well in one subject in Primary 6 and did not enter a very ideal school. His mother is also reflecting and feels that although her child has not gone to the school he wanted to go to, he will have different experiences and gains in the new school, which is not necessarily a bad thing for the child. We should learn to accept such unplanned events.
China Business News: During the offline viewing event of "Childhood in a Foreign Country 2", a mother mentioned that she felt very peaceful while watching the documentary, but once she returned to real life, she would be overwhelmed by a large amount of information. , in an environment of general anxiety, how to avoid being affected?
Zhou Yijun: Parents themselves have also been through this. We are all shaped by the concepts of the past. When you find out that other people's children are in prestigious schools and your children are in a vocational school, you will definitely feel embarrassed. Unless this country highly recognizes vocational schools and there is no such thing as a "famous school", then you may not be so anxious. We are indeed affected by the environment and concepts. We are all involved in it, and I myself cannot completely get rid of it. Parents of our generation have begun to accept new concepts in education, which are very different from our parents’ generation.
How not to be affected by the generally anxious environment, everyone’s answer is different. Like the mother we interviewed in this Singapore episode, she wants her son to do well in his exams. How do we respond when things don’t go as expected, do we get angry or accept it? I think you have to be patient and try to understand.
A tutor in Singapore said that when she was growing up, her parents did not let her take tutoring lessons. We don't know why her parents are so strong in heart. You can see her character is very happy. But when we were editing the film, a colleague joked that now she can only be a tutor. This is the judgment of outsiders, not her own gains and losses. So we need to distinguish between what real growth is and what other people's feelings are. These are two different things.
China Business News: The first season in Japan and this season in Germany both talked about one thing. The best childhood is a childhood with choices, so do you think it is important to give children autonomy?
Zhou Yijun: Many things that Germany does are full-blown. It does not prevent you from trying or making mistakes. For example, sex education does not prevent you from realizing your desires - you cannot fall in love, have early love, or have close contact with others. But the bottom line is don’t get pregnant. But our management is usually at the level of desire, and we cannot play or fall in love. The biggest wish of a child is to grow up. If you strangle him to death, it will affect many things later.
China Business News: You mentioned that the biggest touching thing this time in France and New Zealand was seeing the children being very confident. Are there similarities in the reasons behind this?
Zhou Yijun: Their desire to grow up as children was not taken away, at least not so cleanly. They were able to make their own decisions and make their own choices at a very young age. In New Zealand, if you take away some restrictions, the so-called restrictions are adults' concerns, not real safety issues. Take away just a little bit, and autonomy and creativity can grow. It's like growing a flower. If you remove the glass covering it, it will grow by itself.
China Business News: While reflecting on the old education system, we also need to think about how to establish new methods. From the perspectives of families, schools, and society, what inspiration can we get from the documentary?
Zhou Yijun: Education is a country’s definition of citizens and a culture’s understanding of people. Family education is the three views of parents, and social education is the connection between people. Education is so complex, and I think family education has a greater impact than school. How the family views education is very important. Parents can make some additions and subtractions for their children from their own perspective.
In this episode of Germany, you can see that the pushing and shoving between children is nothing. In China, many primary school teachers spend a lot of energy mediating conflicts between parents. Sometimes it is just a quarrel or a collision between classmates. As a result, some parents fight at the school gate, and even the police need to intervene. This brought about a more serious consequence. In order to reduce the occurrence of similar things, the school ordered students not to go out to play during class or go downstairs. How can children be healthy physically and mentally if they have no free activities and no play?
In this episode of New Zealand, you will be very surprised how far they can go, running wild and hanging on trees, but they will not hurt each other. A scientific survey found that after children play thoroughly, there are almost no bullying incidents in schools. Bullying occurs for various reasons, one of which is that children feel bored and bully others. Most of the problems with Chinese children are that they don't play well. We need to face people's desires and impulses instead of suppressing them.
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