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Looking Out Think Tank: The “New Education Experiment” you launched has been 20 years from 2000 to now. What is your biggest insight during these 20 years? Are there any changes that make you particularly happy?
Zhu Yongxin: Twenty years ago, when I wrote “My Educational Ideals”, I had the same mood as I now write “Future School”.
At that time, I was the deputy mayor in charge of education in Suzhou. I wanted to change our education because people complained a lot about education. So, what is a good education? What kind of education are we going to do? What does the ideal education look like? At that time, based on this kind of thinking, such a book was written.
After this book was published, many people said that you wrote very well, but you couldn’t do it. As it is now, many people say that the blueprint you painted in “Future School” is good, but you can’t do it. I told them that it can be done.
Starting from finding an experimental school, we conducted a long exploration. Now, the new educational experiment has grown from one school to more than 5,000 schools, and more than 5 million teachers and students are doing this kind of exploration with us.
It should be said that these 20 years are indeed a blue ray, and they are still moving forward very hard. Because after all, we are exploring in such a test-oriented system. Someone once described us dancing in chains. Although some people say that we performed a wonderful shackle dance, you are in shackles after all.
I think the joy is particularly manifested in two aspects:
The first is a large number of excellent teachers that we have cultivated and grown in these 20 years.
Among the best teachers in China, quite a few are from the new education team. I think this is particularly gratifying to me.
For example, from 2004 to 2019, the “Top Ten People Who Promote Reading in China” selected by the “China Education News”, every year out of 10 people have a new education teacher, this is not easy, at most one 4 years. Our new education does have its unique contribution to the growth of teachers, and even solves some problems in the growth of teachers in the world.
The most critical element of education is the teacher. If the teacher is ignited, the children will be ignited, and if the children are ignited, the quality of education will improve. So I often say that whoever stands in front of the podium determines the quality of education.