Chapter 10 Chapter 9: Fiery Deformation Birth

On this day, before Li Jun's father came home from get off work, he smelled a smoky smell of smoke. He quickly opened the door and was shocked: I saw that I just got the admission letter from Peking University yesterday, and I was so happy that I couldn't sleep all night. At this moment, the closed-eyed son was lying on the floor, and beside him was a pile of messy books and review materials that were still smoking... "Xiaojun! Xiaojun—!" Lao Li rushed in quickly, and then quickly grabbed the phone: "120? Please send an ambulance quickly, something happened to my child!..."

"Ring, ring, ring—" the ambulance alarm alarmed the entire street where Li Jun's home was located. Li Jun was rescued later, and the diagnosis was temporary suffocation caused by excessive fireworks. At night, Lao Li's family stood by Li Jun, who had just woken up and was about to become a Peking University student. They were both sad and happy. "I said sell it as scrap, but you insist on burning it. No, how dangerous!" Lao Tzu blamed his son for being ignorant. "I've been crushed by them for several years, and I don't think I've moved the mountain that doesn't burn them out of my heart. Hehe. I was almost crushed to death by this damn mountain again..." Son Cangzi showed a bitter smile on his face.

Li Jun and his father were talking about the same thing, that is, the seventy to eighty catties of reference books and review materials that Li Jun had prepared for the college entrance examination during his three years in high school. Yesterday, Li Jun received the admission notice. After he and his whole family were overjoyed, the first sentence he said was "vicious": "Do you know what the first thing I want to do now is?" The younger sister said, "Should I pay back the five hundred yuan you owe me?" Li Jun, who is an older brother, shook his head and smiled at his younger sister's words.

My mother said: "You should talk to your ex-girlfriends. After you go to Peking University, you don't know what will happen in the future. Talking about girlfriends should be put aside." The son smiled again, and said to his mother: "Don't worry, with the golden signboard of Peking University, I promise to find you the most satisfactory daughter-in-law back, but now I won't do such boring things." Father said: "I guessed it, you want to organize a room full of review materials and books bought for you, and leave it for your sister to use in college."

The son said: "Who knows what my sister and the others will take the exam in the future! However, my father also knows me. The first thing I want to do now is to remove the Taishan that has been pressing on my heart for three years!" The mother and younger sister didn't know what Li Jun was talking about, only his father winked at his son and said, "You kid is so crazy now!" That night, the son and his father failed to reach an agreement on how to remove "Mount Tai", and the son insisted on "destroying it thoroughly and cleanly."My father said that it was the "baby" I bought for you with a broken leg, and it was my "all hope".How can it be burned in one fire?

burn!Don't burn or understand the hatred in my heart for many years!The son who has become a "Peking University student" has become more vocal now. Seeing that his wish to see Jackie Chan has come true, Lao Tzu smiled at his son and said nothing more.However, the emergency rescue on the second day made Lao Li, who is a father, really hurt a lot: as the head of a working family, Lao Li usually likes to keep records of daily family expenses in a small book, and there are details columns.In the three years since my son entered high school, he spent 1,038 yuan on teaching materials and review materials to prepare for the college entrance examination; 1,800 yuan on attending various remedial classes; buying "brain gold" , "Unforgettable" and other brain nutrition products cost more than 2,400 yuan; during the "three-mode" examination and the college entrance examination, the "oxygen supplement fee" was 120 yuan, and others such as "improving life" were conducive to stimulating Brain Intelligence's specialty restaurants cost a total of 934 yuan for eight meals.Over the past three years, the total expenditure on "replenishing the brain" for his son amounted to 6,292 yuan, accounting for 23 percent of the family's annual expenditure.

Lao Li shook the "Household Expenditure Record" in his hand, and said to me self-deprecatingly: It's not that I am "not a man". It's just a matter of recording and posting, otherwise the calculation will surprise you. "It's worth it. My son was determined to be admitted to Peking University, and the family has tightened their belts in the past few years. It's not a waste of 'investment'. Compared with some people who spend nearly 10,000 yuan on health supplements such as brain health for their children, We are still few!" Lao Li told me.

I didn't expect this report to involve a commodity industry that seems to have nothing to do with higher education, but later I encountered complaints and reactions from many parents, including Li Jun's father, during the interview, so I decided to The increase in secondary writing occurred in a deformed industry that developed with the Chinese college entrance examination, or it was a "wild mushroom" that grew out of the big tree of the Chinese examination. I know a big-name figure in the stock industry who has "behaved well" and put the words "behaved" in quotation marks at his own request. It's a legitimate business.

The mouths of adventurers who can tell the truth have the most exciting legends.For the time being, I call this businessman who has been fighting in the front line a winner-he has always won or won ahead of others a lot of time.For example, he now has tens of millions of assets, but what made him start his business first was not by investing in the stock market, but by selling books that had nothing to do with stocks.The winners used to be what we colloquially call booksellers.His career as a bookseller was purely accidental.He was also one of the more than 10 million candidates in the year of the "resumption of the college entrance examination". It was only because of his family background that his father's landlord hat had not been removed at that time, so he was finally disqualified by the commune revolutionary committee.He said that although he said goodbye to the ideal and pursuit of realizing his university dream in a fit of anger, he did not regret that the college entrance examination brought him another opportunity, which is another way for him to become a multi-millionaire today-the way to make a fortune.

Winner has been eager to learn since he was a child, and he cherishes every book and textbook he has learned. He even keeps a lot of homework books. From elementary school to junior high school, he keeps all of them in his own textbook box.After graduating from junior high school, he lost his eligibility to go to high school, but he also kept a full set of high school textbooks and carefully completed the high school courses by himself.He is still grateful to a high school student with the same surname as Murakami, who gave him all the high school books he finished.Later, something unexpected happened: the college entrance examination, which had been suspended for more than ten years, was about to resume. For a while, the generation who couldn't even find the books were so busy that they didn't know what to do.The winner is very excited, because he kept all the textbooks and homework in the middle school neatly in his small wooden box!But what made him miserable was that he himself did not have the right to go to college. The children of "ghosts and snake gods" were not allowed to take the test. The opinions of the commune at that time were very clear.So the winner became the right-hand helper for a group of peers in the production brigade and the commune who wanted to go to college.

"Winner, lend us the book!" "Hey, winner, you see I have returned all my knowledge to the teacher, can you help me copy your previous homework for me?" Faced with the rare enthusiasm shown by his peers, the winner felt that although he could not take the college entrance examination, it would be very beneficial to do something for everyone. The spiritual realm of people in that era was very pure. In the past three years, he couldn't remember how many texts and review questions he had copied for those peers who were admitted to college. In short, he remembered that there were dozens of people who invited him to dinner just to express their gratitude after being admitted to college.Later, he became famous in his hometown. Some people said that as long as he had the review materials from him, he could pass the university entrance examination.In the 1980s, some middle school students and parents in the vicinity came to him in groups to ask for materials.If he couldn't copy it again, he started to copy it with carbon paper.At first he did it for everyone voluntarily, but later everyone felt embarrassed and offered to give him some money. Gradually, this kind of "help" became a kind of transaction.As the awareness of commodities gradually enters people's lives, Winner thinks that so many people who take the college entrance examination every year, if they organize the review materials into a book, can't they sell it?At that time, he asked someone to answer the textbook review questions and the college entrance examination questions he had left behind and copied them into a book together. He charged a cost of one yuan for each copy. After selling more than 600 copies, the net profit after excluding the cost is 300 to 400 yuan. "Doesn't this mean that I have raised several pigs a year?" Winner hid in the bed and counted, his heart was about to jump out of joy: Do it!Make it a thousand yuan next year! During the three months in the spring and summer of 1983, the winner got up early in the dark, and bound two thousand copies of "reference materials for the college entrance examination", each priced at two yuan - he began to have a sense of commodity, priced at two yuan, one It's also sold for fifty cents, or one yuan if it doesn't work.Later, the winner couldn't help but laugh from ear to ear, because all his 2,000 "reference materials" were sold out this year, and the average price was no less than 1.50 cents.This year he earned a total of more than 3,600 yuan, with a net profit of more than 2,700 yuan after deducting costs. Winners are famous in cities and villages with a radius of dozens of miles, but too famous will cause bad things.This summer, he was locked up by the market management committee for twelve days and fined 2,000 yuan.The winner cried aloud for it. He no longer dared to print and sell books, but the desire to "make a lot of money by selling review materials to people who are taking college entrance examinations" has been turning in the winner's mind.In the winter of this year, a bookseller from the provincial capital suddenly visited and asked the winner to come out, "How about we join forces?" "I dare not, they will arrest me as a speculator." The winner was terrified. "What are you afraid of? I have the book number of the official publishing house!" said the bookseller. At this time, the winner knew for the first time that publishing a book requires an ISBN, and that having an ISBN is considered legal, not speculation. "Okay, as long as it's not speculative, I'll do it." The winner smiled, and he negotiated with the bookseller. He will be responsible for the content and marketing of the college entrance examination review materials, and the bookseller will be responsible for the procedures related to the book number and marketing. open. This year, Winner and the bookseller printed a total of 20,000 books, which were only sold in Jiangxi and Henan provinces, and 100% of them were sold, each earning more than 40,000 yuan.They agreed: No one will put the profits in their pockets, and they will all invest in "reproduction" in the coming year. In the second year, the winner and the bookseller cooperated again. This time they printed a total of 100,000 volumes and distributed them to the national market, winning another big victory in one fell swoop.Each person gained more than 200,000 yuan in profit. "At that time, we felt that the whole of China was full of gold! We printed college entrance examination review materials just like printing renminbi, and as much as we printed, we could turn into money. In the third year, my friend and I cooperated again. I don’t want to not win this year. , 300,000 copies were printed, and 100,000 were in my hands..." said the winner. "why?" "The market was seized by several publishing houses." Winner said, "Although what happened this year was a bad thing for us, it actually pointed out the direction for us to take the road of teaching materials for the college entrance examination. The bad thing turned into a good thing. .Since this year, we have set foot in the publishing house, and in a short period of time, we have turned several small publishing houses that were not even able to eat into a large publishing house that is famous all over the world..." The later stories of the winners become mysterious—when they earn a certain amount of money, they no longer tell others the secrets of the specific numbers and operations.But I know many of Winner’s fortunes. In the mid-1980s, he successively contracted several education publishing houses and science and technology publishing houses in the south, and his only business was to compile and sell teaching materials and reference materials for college entrance examination review.A certain publishing house operated by him could not publish dozens of books a year, and most of them were loss-making businesses. The winner contracted the teaching material editing room of this publishing house, and earned more than 500 yuan in profits for the publishing house in a year. ten thousand yuan.Later, the small building of the publishing house was built, and the wages and bonuses of the employees also doubled, but the winners here became the losers.The president of the publishing house said to him politely, next year we plan to mobilize all editors to come to produce teaching materials, you are not an editor... The implication is to "please" him to go.The winner sneered, shook his hand and left.After going to another publishing house, the winner learned to behave: I only pay for your ISBN, and the rest has nothing to do with your publishing house.Okay, the ISBN for a set of textbooks will cost 30,000 yuan.The winner said yes, 30,000 is 30,000.Later, when the publishing house saw that he was printing 100,000 volumes of books, they said the book number was 50,000 yuan.The winner still says yes, 50,000 is 50,000.Due to such a relatively straightforward operation, the winner quickly became a "millionaire" in those few years, and his personal assets reached tens of millions of yuan in 1990. Later, the winners stopped doing this business. It was not that money was not easy to earn, but that the Ministry of Education and the Press and Publication Administration had been focusing on the management of teaching material publication.Those publishers who didn't know the market at first have also gradually gained momentum after several years of exploration, and they can make a lot of money without the participation of booksellers like Winner. The winner bid farewell to the battlefield of college entrance examination textbooks and devoted himself to the stock market.And those publishers who can or cannot publish teaching materials still make a lot of money from students, and have become the richest class in China's publishing industry so far. "Whoever has the right to compile and print teaching materials will win a golden job!" This sentence has been said for many years in the publishing industry, and it is enduring. A certain educational publishing house used to be just an educational science and technology editorial office under the Provincial People's Publishing House, but this happened more than ten years ago. The "little brother" who was assigned to the education club became respectful in front of them.There is only one reason, that is, the presidents of the people's associations now often have to "work" with the education associations to find some textbooks to publish, so as to alleviate the loss of publishing by the association.As for the education club, there are not many staff, but the gold content of each staff is the highest under the Provincial Publishing Group, because being able to enter the education club means that you can get a salary that is more than three times higher than that of ordinary publishing houses. A three-bedroom, one-living room house that people in the official publishing house have been looking forward to for a lifetime.The changes in the status of the "big brother" People's Society and the "little brother" Educational Society of the Provincial Publishing Group in the past ten years typically reflect that China's examination system and examination phenomenon directly gave birth to a very eye-catching Industry, that is, the unprecedented development of the educational publishing industry. According to the annual publication statistics released by the State Press and Publication Administration in 1999, among the books and publications in the country, teaching materials and educational books related to teaching materials account for more than 30% of the total number of books in the country, and the annual sales volume reaches 30%. About 10 billion yuan.This figure is astonishing. It is equivalent to telling us that there are more than 300 million students in the country, and each person pays more than 100 yuan for teaching materials on average.In fact, this is only an inaccurate data, because many textbooks that go through the "second channel" such as various "reference materials" and "reference books" specially prepared for students in the college entrance examination (and high school entrance examination), etc. It's not in the statistics at all.A parent of a student told me the source of the "reference materials" he bought more than a year before his son took the college entrance examination: he is from Xi'an, and he heard people say that "the college entrance examination reference series" such as "Haidian Kaowang" published in Beijing "They were all edited by famous teachers from Peking University and Tsinghua High School, so at the unprecedented book fair held in Xi'an in 1998, he bought more than 30 books worth more than 500 yuan for his son at once.Later, I heard that there were two more sets of "reference materials" that were good, so I specially asked someone to buy a set of "sample books" at a high price from a bookseller.In fact, the phenomenon that this parent talked about is not uncommon.The "examination books" seen on the market and in Xinhua Bookstores are only two-thirds of such books; and one-third are sold through informal channels. People may still remember that between 1990 and 1993, the state-owned Gu Weimen had repeatedly concentrated their efforts on cracking down on and suppressing the underground publication and distribution of various examination reference materials and books.Among them, during a "strike hard" in the south, the so-called "College Entrance Examination Reference Summary" printed by an illegal bookseller was blocked in one fell swoop, with more than 500,000 copies!According to the confession of this underworld "boss" who specializes in "teaching materials for college entrance examinations", in the past five years, he has used the book numbers of educational publishing houses such as Qinghai and Gansu to engage in illegal transactions. There are more than 30 books, The total yardage is as huge as tens of millions of yuan.Moreover, the black books of this underworld "boss" are selling very smoothly, and he has never "checked in".The reason is that his printing cost is low, there is no book number fee, and there is no tax payment, so the low discount of the books he sells wholesale gives him enough market. "But the fundamental problem is not here, but because the annual exam market is too big, as long as you fool around with a good title, someone will buy it." The "boss" of the underworld said the root of the problem. There is no need to hide the fact that a considerable number of publishers in China are too fat to rely on the annual "textbooks" and "examination reference books", and they are so fat that every year you can sit there comfortably and wait for batch after batch. A group of people happily send money for you... A writer-born director of a literature and art publishing house in a certain province said angrily that he had worked hard to lead the editorial staff of the agency for more than ten years, and every year even the bonus was a problem. The leader said that their work was not successful, but The president said that his publishing house has won the national "Book Award" and the "Five One Project Award" from the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Every year, all the staff of the literature and art club spend a lot of energy to catch these high-quality goods, but in the end, his soldiers are getting fewer and fewer. Now the backbone of the club is only a dozen old editors in their fifties and sixties. All the young editors who are capable have gone to educational publishing houses. "It's so comfortable there. You don't need to use your brain. This year's textbook is a reprint of last year. Change the book cover and change the name to become a new book, and the more it sells, the better it is. If you have time, you can go out and do a second job." Those who left him The young editors said to him with a smile. "Is there any way, this is China's national conditions!" The president said that the annual sales volume of Ba Jin's "Trilogy" that he spent several years painstakingly compiling and printing is not as good as the "Hot Knowledge about College Entrance Examination" published by Renjia Education Publishing House. Guidance" one-tenth of a month's sales. Beijing Xisi Xinhua Bookstore and Xinjiekou Xinhua Bookstore are the two closest bookstores to my home, and they are also the two points where I focus on tracking the book market for writing this book. On the eve of the college entrance examination in 1998, the bibliographies related to the college entrance examination that I wrote down in these two bookstores were not finished on a single piece of paper.There are several kinds of reference books such as "Haidian Kao Wang", "Haidian Famous Teachers", and "Haidian College Entrance Exam Sprint", and each of them is a set of several "books". Before the college entrance examination in 1999, I went into these two bookstores again, re-excerpted a batch of bibliographies, and found two strange phenomena, one is the good title of the book that I thought I could never think of in 1998, and this year it appeared again A large number, such as "99 college entrance examination must win new questions and analysis", "Tsinghua Peking University college entrance examination ladder training" and such attractive new titles as "Waiting for you at Tsinghua University", "Waiting for you at Peking University" and so on.Another phenomenon is that some college entrance examination review materials from the previous year only changed the year of "98" to "99" this year. Except for the addition of the test questions of the college entrance examination in 1999, the content is still from 1998. I think those old books.Its variety is much more than the previous year. On New Year's Day in 2000, I went to Xidan Book Building in Beijing to observe the "College Entrance Examination Reference" book fair again. After a cursory look, the momentum was unabated compared to the previous two years.Here are some of the titles of the books: they are "Haidian Exam Preparation", "Haidian Famous Questions", "Haidian Exam King", "Golden List of Exams", "Hundred Practices and One Victory", "The Way of Tianjiao", "Leading the Way in the College Entrance Examination" Guide: Crazy Sprints, Scores of Difficult Problems in the College Entrance Examination, Short and Fast for the College Entrance Examination, Ability Questions for the 2000 College Entrance Examination, Red Book for the 2000 College Entrance Examination, General Review for the 2000 College Entrance Examination, Newest 2000 College Entrance Examination Questions, and 2000 College Entrance Examination Great Exercise", "2000 Peking University Tsinghua University Entrance Examination Top Scholar Questions Error-prone Questions", "Haidian College Entrance Examination Internal Test Paper", "Beijing Famous Key Middle School Simulation Test Paper Selection", "National Top Ten Famous Teacher Middle School Test Questions Selection", "The Latest College Entrance Examination Countermeasures and Simulation Test Papers" I really can't pick it up, because the ones published in other places, such as "Huanggang Textual Research", "Shanghai Zhuangyuan Title Dictionary", etc., seem to be new editions of old books that I have seen two years ago. "What's the relationship between old books and new ones? As long as the children can be admitted to college!" The waiter at the bookstore said when chatting with me that old books are still popular. After the "champions" who were admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua University were introduced in newspapers, more people wanted to buy them. Then why did the title of the book change for the same content?I asked. Hahaha, it is not in vain to say that you writers are nerds!The waiter made fun of me.She told me that the titles of old books are worthless, because parents and candidates know that the contents of the college entrance examination are changing every year. Book makers and publishers are very sophisticated. They change the title of the book every year, adjust the content of the title, and sell a new set of books to consumers.And there is another secret: if the book sold well the previous year, the price can be increased by one or two yuan after changing the title, which is another huge income! I see. It makes me feel a little suffocated, why so many reference materials with similar or duplicate content are so popular?And our students, especially the parents, are so enthusiastic about the "college entrance examination reference garbage" with the same content? "Is there any way? This is called going to the doctor when you are sick." A parent expressed his difficulties: his daughter's grades are very good, and she is among the top three in her class.The child gave his father an important task, that is, he must go to the bookstore every week, and buy new books about college entrance examination references when he sees them.The daughter said to him, Dad, don't you want me to go to college?To tell you the truth, my grades in school were obtained through hard work, my daughter's brain was not smarter than others when your father gave it to me, so I can only catch up by working harder than others Three, others do one problem, I have to do two or three problems; others do one problem, I have to do two to three problems.Dad, do you understand?I asked you to buy new books from the bookstore so that I can do more questions that others may not have done.Alas, it doesn't matter if you repeat yourself, the college entrance examination is just to deal with it!The teachers at the school have said that the only way to succeed in the university entrance examination in China is to learn how to swim in the sea of ​​questions. The parent of the student looked at the titles of the books I copied in the bookstore and said with a smile, "You still haven't copied more than half of them." "So you bought at least a hundred reference books for the college entrance examination for your daughter?" "One hundred fifty or sixty!" "God! Your daughter has read and done the questions in those books?" "I read it all and did most of the questions." After I said "Oh my god" again, I shouted to the sky: "Will my child have to do so many questions when he is admitted to college? It's really terrible!" He shook his head with a wry smile: "Chinese children and parents probably have to endure such torture!" In order not to let our children suffer such torture tomorrow, I decided to reprimand those culprits who created the sea of ​​problems!Because they are indeed too hateful - in order to achieve their own purpose of making money and making money, regardless of the burdens that students and parents have to bear, they keep repeating, rough, and irresponsible attitudes, year after year, they manufacture those who only have a small part It is a large amount of "college entrance examination garbage" of scientific and necessary reference materials and reference materials.It is these "gaokao garbage" that make the sea of ​​exam questions that are already unprecedentedly intense, burdensome, and repetitive become even more disastrous. I want to point out that there are two kinds of people who are the most hateful.First of all, those publishers who sit at home and only care about making money, they never think about how to reduce the burden on some students and parents, but only think about how to pocket more money for themselves, so they keep getting famous one after another It is "high-quality goods" and "guidance", but it is actually a low-level printed matter that misleads students and wastes students' precious time.The second kind of hateful people are those so-called "experts and scholars" who are called famous teachers of "Peking University" and "Tsinghua University". What are they doing?I'm afraid they don't even know it themselves.It's not too much to call him a "shit famous teacher" in an ugly way!What is the reason?Because if they are really famous teachers, they should not rely on the sea of ​​questions tactics to guide the majority of students to repeat the questions countless times. Secondly, if they are not famous teachers at all, they are deceiving under the name of "Peking University" and "Tsinghua University". Then it should be punished by law.From this, I think that if a "famous teacher" does something wrong, the consequences will be even worse.In which year will there be no more "Haidian Famous Teachers" and other college entrance examination guidance series on the market, maybe China's education reform will really start to have hope.Especially when those "college entrance examination reference" books with famous teachers from "Peking University" and "Tsinghua University" no longer appear, it is undoubtedly the sunny day of Chinese education.Smart people can understand my point of view at a glance: everyone is talking about changing exam-oriented education, but some teachers, especially the so-called famous teachers, are taking the lead in what they call "guidance" Isn't the matter of "picking extra money" fueling the already turbulent college entrance examination? Scientists who engage in pseudoscience are the most abominable scum, and educators who mislead students should also be the most abominable scum—the kind of scum that affects generations and the overall quality of the nation! The current situation of the flood of textbooks and college entrance examination review publications in China should be strictly managed and restricted, especially those “gaokao garbage” reference and review materials that are aimed at profiteering, repetitive, and of low quality.One student, when talking about the prevalence of these "college entrance exam rubbish", said: From the second year of high school, in addition to requiring us to complete the course textbooks and reference books, the teachers of the school have sent out a batch of "reference books" from nowhere every week. Information" or what "college entrance examination question bank".The teacher said, you are now participating in the national college entrance examination. The quality of education here is not good. The hardware and software of the school are not as good as other big cities and prestigious schools, so it is much more difficult to get the same results as others in the unified examination Do all kinds of reference materials from various places, especially the reference materials in Beijing. Among the reference materials in Beijing, you should also choose reference books such as question banks written by "famous Haidian teachers".Learning is always better than not learning.Don't your parents want you to go to college?Don't you always want to go out of small places, go to big cities, and go abroad to pursue your ideals?Then don't be afraid of doing too many questions, and don't be afraid of temporarily spending more money at home.What is money?In the future, you will be admitted to prestigious universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, and you will be able to get high-paying jobs after graduation in a few years. Why is it uneconomical to get a chance to go to college with a loan now?It is a matter of life whether you are admitted to university or not. You have to think about it. Anyone who is not willing can also pay the money for buying books. We will not force you.The teacher said so, who else does not buy these "reference materials and question banks for college entrance examinations" purchased by the school organization?Almost no one dares not to pay.There was a classmate in the class whose family couldn’t afford money, so he copied his classmates’ books. Every day, when the tired classmates went to bed, he had to copy three or four hours of “reference materials”.It made people feel that the student had pretty good eyesight, but he became the one with the highest degree of myopia in the class when he took the college entrance examination.There is another classmate who is even more miserable. Her family has no money to buy two batches of "reference materials" arranged by the school because her sister is going to get married. Secretly hide other people's books in your schoolbag.Later, the classmate who lost the book made a fuss, and after a search, she was found.Because of this, this female classmate couldn't hold her head up all the time. Naturally, she failed the college entrance examination. Later, she became mentally ill, and her family had no choice but to marry her to a disabled older man from a foreign country.It's miserable!After our classmates learned about it, they felt that the school shouldn't have dealt with her because of a few "reference materials". Didn't this harm a good girl? It is not only the students who have suffered so much, but also our parents have endless sufferings.During an interview in Yiwu, Zhejiang, a local friend told me that there was a parent in Jinhua whose child was admitted to a university the year before last.But because of several "reference materials", the father and son have not spoken to each other so far.The owner of a small commodity business in Beijing said that after the Spring Festival that year, he had just rented two stalls in Beijing's "Tianyi" small commodity wholesale market, and his business had just started, so he had to stay every day.Time passed day by day like this, and the business was still going well, but when I left home, my son, who was preparing to take the university entrance exam, gave me a task to buy a set of reference textbooks compiled by "Haidian Famous Teachers" in 1997 in Haidian Book City, and It must be sent home by March. "We are a poor place, and the school doesn't even have half a phonetic device. How can we get into a good university?" My son is usually full of complaints. He wants to be admitted to the Institute of Foreign Languages, and he pins all his hopes on his father to buy back the set." Haidian Famous Teacher" reference materials are up.But Lao Tzu, who was caught up in business, hadn't sent back the reference materials by the time of "May Day".The results of the college entrance examination came down, and my son failed to pass the entrance examination to Shanghai Foreign Studies University because of a difference of 7 points, and instead accepted a financial college in Hubei as his second choice.For this, the son hated Lao Tzu and vowed to break with the family.In the two years since I entered university, I have never returned home once, and I have never asked for a penny from my family. My son said: Isn’t it because of money that you ruined my ideals?Well, I'll never ask any more help from you, I'll be on my own for the rest of my life.This attitude of the son caused the whole family to fall into a serious state of discord for more than two years.The boss's daughter-in-law scolded her man all the time for not sending back the "college entrance examination materials" in time because he only cared about his own business.As the boss, he got angry when he heard his wife yelling, saying that it is easy for you to talk at home!Is doing business that simple?Yes, I missed some things by not sending back the "College Entrance Examination Materials", but you shouldn't understand the pain of me staying outside alone?Besides, even if the "reference materials" are sent back, is it guaranteed to be admitted to a prestigious university?The mother passed the words to the son's ears, and the son became even angrier when he heard it, and said, "It doesn't make sense, so what?" A difference of 7 points, isn't it just a question?The only difference is that there is a question that I have never seen before, and the set of "reference materials" I asked to buy has such a question type!Neither the father nor the son can convince anyone. This conflict caused by "reference materials for the college entrance examination" has torn apart a good family.I quit my business in Beijing this summer, and asked him why he stopped doing good business?What does he mean by still doing it?Isn't working hard for a lifetime just for the next generation?Alas, it's useless, now I think about it, people have the ability, we don't need us poor country people, and I don't dare to delay them anymore.When he said the above words, his heart was full of guilt and sadness.As for the son, he still refuses to forgive Lao Tzu. His reasoning is: don't underestimate the difference of 7 points.Now his fate of entering this university may be very different from his fate of entering Shanghai International Studies University, because after studying at Shanghai International Studies University, he will not have to worry about his future job assignments, and he can enter Greater Shanghai with dignity.The School of Finance and Economics in Hubei is completely different now. One is that there are too many such majors. Another important reason is that you have to find a unit by yourself when you graduate. It is better to find a job in a city-level unit in a certain area. If it's worse, I'm afraid even a job will be a problem. "I'm right. A little accidental loss may cause lifelong regret." What the son said was not unreasonable. Who do you hate?I wish there were a flood of "reference materials for the college entrance examination" that were mostly deceptive or considered inseparable by the majority of candidates.What is dumbfounding is that bookstores specializing in college entrance examination textbooks and other audio-visual teaching materials have appeared in more than a dozen cities across the country, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Wuhan. Several "exam bookstore" chain stores.An owner of an "examination bookstore" said: Nowadays, no books are easy to sell, but "examination" reference books are enduring, and the more they sell, the better they are.He said that a 30-square-meter "examination bookstore" opened the year before last had been expanded four times in the past two years, and the business was booming. "In the past few years, the overall economic situation has been sluggish, but my exam bookstore is getting better and better, thanks to China's exam system." The boss's face is half proud and half mocking, because although the boss only has a junior high school education,可每天都有那么多“文化人”在疯狂地为了一个不知是不是真有价值的目标而给他源源不断地给他送钱来。 “走穴”这个名词，在我们的概念里只有那些演艺界的明星们才用得着，想不到在高考大战中，我们的那些一直被人们捧至圣人神坛的教师们，也干着“走穴”的勾当，多少叫人感觉不是滋味。 老师的称号是神圣的，就是官做得再大，在老师面前你也得屈膝有礼。历代历朝的皇帝和达官显贵都是这样，不管是真是假，都这么做着给人看的。 就在并不太久前，我们一提到“老师”这个职业，大多数人对它不仅不敬，反而斥之为“一个只有傻瓜才愿意干的行当”。不是吗，“臭老九”的骂名首先使人想起“教书匠”的低工资，又使人想起这些只能整天在教室里写粉笔字，而不可能走出校门搞“第二职业”的先生们；其次是教师永远不可能有分房、得奖金什么的好事，清贫似乎成了“教书匠”的代名词。然而仅仅是转眼间的今天，我们再也听不到有关“老师穷得要造反”、“师范生分配不出去”的消息了。相反，老师成了社会上比较受人尊敬和羡慕的职业，因为他们的待遇他们的奖金他们的房子，全都比别的社会职业要高、要得的容易，而且最重要的是这几乎是个没有任何风险的职业——只要你安心干下去，就等于坐上了“终身平安”的列车，不像社会上其它职业充满了竞争的危机。 教师的被重视与地位的提高，直接原因来自于高考。高考使全国人民都在一种刹不住的“望子成龙”、“望女成凤”的狂热巨澜中——不上大学找不到工作，不上好大学找不到好工作已是今天社会的最明显的特征，不管你承认不承认，它已经严峻地摆在了我们每一位家长与学生面前。教师因此而成了全社会不可看轻并且必须看重的“香饽饽”。 教师吃香是从被人尊重开始的。那些要求自己的子女成龙成风的家长们，先是对自己喜欢和认为可以把自己的孩子管好、培养好的老师来点小恩小惠什么的。别小看了家长和孩子给老师的这份小恩小惠，实际上这是使老师这个职业从被人瞧不起到成为今天的“香饽饽”这一过程中最重要的转折。初次给老师的这种小恩小惠，可能是女人间的一个发夹，一块头巾，男人间的一包好烟一瓶酒什么的。后来就越来越变得“高层次”了。先是有人流行送几十块钱一本的挂历，再就是在神圣的“教师节”时给老师们每人送些鲜花、甚至北京人说的“盒子”（食品之类），再到后来，这些东西已经不在话下了。有一年报纸上说过这样一件事：一位班主任在元旦前总收到各种精美的挂历共计一百多件，最后她不得不动员全家人把这些挂历送亲朋好友。可这也送不了多少呀！还是儿子聪明，说干脆把它“批发”给书商吧。嗨，轻轻松松就这么一倒手，共赚了两千多元呀！尝到甜头后，第二年这位老师公开暗示学生和学生家长必须给她送挂历，而且谁送的多，谁的孩子将与学校评选的“三好学生”挂钩。结果“哗”地学生和家长们给她送了两百多件挂历，“挂历换三好生”因此被新闻媒体上电视曝了光。到现在再玩挂历已经是不行了，而那些花呀食品呀也见鬼去吧。背着学生和家长的面，几位老师常常把嘴巴往上一抬，说：谁稀罕那些东西！当然，学生家长们明白得很，现在是要钱了，要现钱了。给吧——于是在学校每年的开学前、开学时、分班前、考试时，还有平时不定时的许多机会里，家长们又“自觉自愿”地把一个个包装得十分精致的红包以十分体面的方式送到了自己孩子的老师手中……这已经并不是什么秘密了。在北京、上海、广州，还有甘肃、西安、湖南等等富城市与穷省份，我都从学生家长与某些认为“分配不平”的老师口中知道了上面的这类“交易”。这还不算什么，有些家长为了让老师（特别是班主任和任课老师）给自己的孩子一些“偏食”，便不惜塞起“红包”来，数字嘛当然有多有少，一二百是拿不出手的，千儿八百也不算多。家长说了，现在在任课的老师那儿花掉一两干元，总比以后因为找个重点中学每差一分要交一万元省许多吧！因为如果参加高考少了几分，那就是害了孩子一辈子的大事，那时可就不是几万元十几万元的事了！家长们心里是这样想的。老师们后来也知道了家长们的心态，于是自己收上一两千元也觉得心里找到了平衡，不再感到有失体面。再说体面值几个钱？全社会都进入市场经济了，我们当老师的出卖自己的时间和劳动，也应当有回报嘛！一切都似乎显得合情合理，惟有中国传统的师生情与神圣的教育性质与内涵在发生巨变，开始出现臭铜味…… 一位老师说：存在就有它的合理性。既然是合理的存在，我们通过劳动得到那部分收入自然就是合理的了，如果硬要说还有什么不合理的，充其量也只是没有交税而已。 说对了，尊敬的老师先生。作为一个公民，我想说的不仅仅是交不交税的问题（其实这也是非常重要的问题，我们作家写稿，出版社已经无需商量就把该纳税的那部分扣掉了；小商小贩不交税就会每天都要像过街老鼠那样被工商和警察追来赶去；公务员的每一块辛苦得来或加班加点得来的奖金的税，也毫不含糊地早被会计在工资单上扣走了，难道只有老师这样的“劳动”可以不扣税吗？据测算，仅北京市全年老师的灰色收入这一块，国家至少少收税收千万元以上！）而且更为严重的是，全国性的办教学辅导班之风如今愈演愈烈，成了中国实行五天工作制后的大量时间里最为激烈、最为严重的内战。看一看北京的那些学校大门口壮观的自行车队伍，你就会知道中国的办班大战已经早已到了白热化状态。而在这全国性的办班大战中，名城名校周围是最严重的“战争策源地”。我的家紧挨着北京著名中学四中，每逢星期六和星期天，以及每天的晚上，你有空去那儿看一看，你一定会惊叹：简直太火爆！太那个了！ 四中素有“全国第一中学”之称，据说能进这个中学就等于是提前进了北大、清华，在北京市民心目中四中的教学质量的含金量之高由此可见。四中在1999年的招生中，对外称是600分，其实录取时高达609分以上。现在的百姓都很精明也很讲究实际，你四中好就好在教学质量不是？教学好不好具体还不是指的教师嘛。那好，我孩子上不了你四中，我还不可以请你四中的老师？四中是所名牌中学，学校没有初中，只有高中。学校对社会上那么多家长和学生期望请他们的老师当家教，一是喜二是忧，喜当然是为名校效应，忧便是不能分散老师的精力呀！想来想去，还是最好让老师集中时间、集中场所进行些课外的教学。再说那样学校也可以为大家谋些“三产福利”。good idea.对外办班的事就这么定了下来。好嘛，打80年代开始，四中的业余辅导班历经十几年，一年比一年人，如今几乎每天晚上和每个星期天都被各种辅导班安排得满满当当。以一个班四十人计算，全校一班约算它共开十个班（注意，一天中他们常常安排上下午或者还有晚班三班倒），每个学生收费每学期在六百元至八百元不等，一年下来全校能收多少钱？恐怕得用计算器才能算出。不仅如此，四中的班仍满足不了全市百姓对它的敬仰之情，于是他们又把以四中名义的辅导班办到了附近的三十一中和对面的黄城根小学，那儿的班仍在不断地往外延伸……每逢下课时，接孩子的家长与车辆时常把整条西黄城根大街堵得水泄不通——身为附近居民的我和很多人已经饱尝了这样的苦处许多年，然而这又有什么办法？我自己上初中的孩子不也照样送进了这样的“战场”？ 不知什么时候，在老师中流传着这样几句顺口溜：“正经课程马马虎虎，办班走穴勤勤快快。工资单上稀里糊涂，额外收入分分清楚……”有位资深老教师说，现在在社会上可以看到的丑恶现象，在教育战线几乎都能看到。比如说到讲课吧，按照教学大纲，学校必须要求任课老师完成一定的工作量。但一些学校为了提高老师的待遇，就以各种理由在学生身上“刮油”：明明是教学时间内的课程，一次家长会就把广大家长和学生们给蒙了。名义非常好听：我们是办的提高班，或者叫强化班，不勉强，自愿参加，交费也是自愿的。什么丑恶的事丑恶的勾当，一从老师的嘴里说出来就变得神圣了，学生和家长便老老实实、高高兴兴地把大把的钱交到了老师手中。这是很实惠的呀，平时上一天课不可能有额外的进账，除非到了加工资。这办班情况就不一样了，一次同学们每人交五元，一个四十人的班就是二百元，学校收走一百元，上课的教师还可以拿到一百元，算它一个月上十节课，不就是一倍的工资又出来了？哎呀依呀，这样的好事，那钱不出校门不多干活就轻轻松松放进了口袋，校长和老师们皆大欢喜，个个抿着嘴儿偷偷乐。 当然情况不全是这样。为了参加高考，一般的高中三年的课程必须在前两年就得完成，这样才有可能让孩子们在高三时集中一年，进行不断的强化复习和不间断的试卷大演习。三年的教学大纲两年就要教完和学完，这任务显然需要向时间伸手了。那么好吧，只有一个办法：就是利用节假日和晚上时间补课——补习班最早就这么着滋生出来的。后来补习班就在全国产生了，几乎有中学的地方就有补习班出现。补者，多余的劳动与教学。既然是多余的教学，就该有收费一说。家长们又不得不快快掏钱。应该说这是比较普遍的，一年下来，每位学生的额外费用少说也得二三百元吧！于是全年下来，一个学校就是几十万元的“三产收入”，老师的奖金和福利自然也很丰厚。 既然社会上有那么多学生为考试升学着急，我们何不也来办个“特色班”？办个“名师班”？办个“专家辅导班”？那些本来退休在家无事可做的老师们，突然跃跃欲试，精神抖擞起来。 同意同意，你们用晚年的余热为国家教育事业作贡献，应当大力鼓励。不用说，有关机构大开绿灯。于是由一群退休老教师开办的特色辅导培训班在某某学校或者单位开张了！哇，来的学生与家长打破了头，挤破了衣服，那白花花的银子呵，比储蓄所柜台前的场景还叫人激动！ 某老女教师早在1987年就退休在家，那时她的退休金一个月才五六百元钱。由于她的收入少，跟着儿媳妇住在一起，成了儿媳妇每天的出气筒，并不得不靠给儿媳妇当长年保姆来换取不被赶出家门的待遇。那年她参加凤事们组织的培训实习班后，一个月就拿回一两千元。老太太这下腰杆硬了。第二年就从家里搬了出去，自己另租了一间房子享清福。不想一直掉脸色和拿她当出气筒的儿媳妇的单位不景气，下了岗。儿媳妇无奈之中求到了婆婆，请已经变成富婆的老太太帮帮忙。老太太用鄙视的目光瞅了一眼儿媳妇，心头得意地一笑，说可以呀，我现在每天都兼着很多课，家里的事忙不过来，你可以当我的小时工什么的，愿不愿意呀？儿媳妇呆在家里已经有日子了，早已苦不堪言，羞着脸说愿意愿意。那好，当婆婆的眼睛朝天一白，说：工钱可不多啊！不多也行，您老能收留我就是对我的恩赐，现在能在自己家里吃口饭，总比在外面受人气要好多了吧！儿媳妇低贱的话叫老太太听了真是心花怒放。就这样，老太太每天白天精力充沛地在外当“名师教员”，拿丰厚的收入回家。进屋后则有意摆出一副富婆的架式，让那个曾经令她咬牙切齿的儿媳妇，跪在自己跟前干活伺侯。这位老太太哪里知道，她在心满意足地无限享受别人的卑贱时，却没有看出那个表面上诚心诚意显露卑贱的人，早已心底埋下了复仇的种子。三年后的一个夜晚，当依靠外出当“名师”的老太太存足五万元储蓄时，等待她的便是一个死亡之夜…… 然而像这位老教师的命运毕竟是极少数。很多有声望、有“特级教师”称号和曾在某某名校任教的名师们，以其不菲的身价，比那些正式上班的老师还要忙几倍地东奔西跑着。不是发生了这样一件事吗，某几位退休教师组成的“北京海淀名师团”到贵州某地“走穴”——别以为只有刘欢、韦唯才能“走穴”。结果一路走了两个月，每到一地便被那些梦想考上北大、清华的学子和家长们团团围住，一上讲台就下不了台。开始“名师团”是由某某中学特邀的，后来实在看到家长们太急切的期望，“名师团”便另辟蹊径，自己租那么一个临时的地方开课。当然要收费。不知是每小时的收费标准令当地的学生家长感到太贵了，还是让当地的那些教育部门的官员或当地老师生了气，当晚，“名师们”便被一帮穿制服的人从梦中拉起来，并押到一个非常灰暗的地方审了半夜。结果全团罚款七千多元才放了人——就“无照经营”这一条便足够“名师们”享用的了。 在江西与浙江交界的某山城小县，一位中学校长告诉我说，你们北京的名师值钱呀，到我们这儿走一个星期，就可以拿走我们几个月工资的报酬。我说那你们当地的名校老师不也可以利用自己的优势弄点“外快”嘛！他说当然有呀，就他们学校有位几年来一直教高三毕业班的老师，每每有额外家教收入，比上班的至少多拿二三倍。那校长说，现在的家长对教育质量的意识比任何时候都高，他们知道出一笔钱让孩子上个名牌学校，比出不多的钱而上一个水平普通的学校要合算得多。同样，出一笔并不太可观的钱请一个有经验的教师到家辅导，比让孩子上所名校还要划得来。 办班大战和“名师走穴”，就是在这样的情景下愈演愈烈，到了今天，已经几乎没有哪个学校不是主要靠办班增加收入的了。 中学老师超过大学教授的收入在全国很普遍。家有名校老师，赛过门前开个小铺——这也是北京海淀一带百姓对那些常年靠办班发财的老师们的真实描述。其实，在北京，一位稍稍有些名望的学校老师，每年靠随便编些大路货“高考参考资料”书，其所获超过大作家王蒙等人的稿费收入，已不是什么新鲜事儿。 写到这儿，我正好看到某文摘报1999年12月6日刊登的一则消息说，上海金山区张堰第二中学出现了这样一件事：一百四十六名学生家长多则两千元少则一千元，共捐出十六万多元，给自己的孩子挑选理想的班主任。为什么要这样做，据该校副校长介绍，是因为每年新生入学后，写条子走后门择班的风气让校长们实在招架不住，于是在一些家长的提议下，干脆来了个“自捐款”聘班主任。此事一经公开，在当地引起一场不小的风波。学校赶紧退款，不想很多家长不愿退，说他们捐款是自愿的，他们拿自己的钱选择班主任并不违反什么。这正是：中国高考轰轰烈烈，天下怪事无奇不有。 中国的天底下总是有很多让人难以想像的可笑事。比如法轮功，一个李洪志的胡言乱语，竟然能让那么多人上当，而且有数以千计的人听了他的歪理邪说后，就去自残或打死亲人！人类都发展到什么时候了，为什么会出现这种现象，太值得我们深思了。 无奇不有。自上大学成为中国人民一大梦想以来，有人便专门以制作假文凭为生，这又是今古一大奇闻。因为奇就奇在这样荒唐的事，竟然是某些人常年进行的一种职业；奇就奇在这样荒唐的事，还是某些村寨某些地方十分时兴的一个“可以致富”的产业！ 我感到有些惭愧的是，在北京的假文凭制作“大军”中，有一支队伍来自我曾经为之写下一篇题为《东方神话》文章的江苏东海县。地处东海之滨的东海人确实创造过值得称道的东方神话，在那块大禹出生的土地上，自然界为东海人留下了遍地流光的世间珍宝——天然水晶。1994年，我曾应当地县委之邀采访过这块盛产水晶并在改革开放后利用自然资源，建起的中国最大的水晶市场。东海的水晶可以有两桩实物来证实：一是现今仍放在中国地质博物馆的那块高约两米、重达三点五吨的“水晶之王”；二是我们的伟大领袖毛主席安卧的水晶棺，用的也是东海水晶之材。可见东海的水晶之迷人绝伦。我那次撰文所颂扬的是东海人依靠自然资源，建设经济市场了不起的精神与成功之举，故而誉之为“东方神话”。哪想到六年后，我在北京的大街上，遇到的这些几年前还在家乡土地上实心实意做水晶生意的东海人，竟然在首都成群结队干起了制作假文凭的大买卖，并且闻名北京城！ 开始在《北京晚报》上见此新闻披露的事儿，我还有些不相信，因为一篇《东方神话》使我常常把东海人与通体润丽、赏心悦目的水晶连在一起，无论如何我不可能想像生在有“水晶之乡”的东海人会成为最令知识界感到憎愤的制假文凭魁首，且还是成帮结队具有家庭性、团体性甚至村村乡乡一同“战京城”的制假“东海军”！ “你们什么时候想起干这买卖来？”在公安警察朋友的帮助下，我在海淀分局的一个看守所里见到了拘留在那儿的五个刚刚抓获的制作假文凭的东海人。于是便进行了又一次意想不到的采访东海人的活动。 “我们也不是开始就做这事的……”一位看上去也只有二十来岁的女孩子低着头说，“前些年我也是在家磨水晶项链的。可后来生意越来越不好做了，假水晶项链大多了，辛辛苦苦磨一条项链还卖不到二十元。后来村上有在北京打工的人说，北京城里人多，好赚钱的事很多，做一个假文凭，除去成本就能赚一二百块。所以我们就跟着到北京来了……” “你们怎么就知道做假文凭卖钱？” “这还用问嘛！谁不知道现在大学生吃香，城里的单位招工第一条就得有文凭。” “哪你是什么文凭？” “我哪有啥文凭？初中毕业后大人就让磨水晶了……”女孩子拨弄着自己的手，使我想起了当年在东海采访时看到的一双双在飞旋的磨床前的灵巧之手。正是这些灵巧之手，使东海县一下走上了脱贫之路。然而今天，同样是这样的灵巧之手却在于着肮脏的勾当…… “你知道做假文凭会造成什么社会后果吗？” 她摇摇头，显得茫然。“我们以前做的水晶项链大多是假的，也有人要，没有人找我们算账的……” “这跟做假水晶项链一样吗？” “不都是假的嘛！有人喜欢用就成。” 想不到制售假文凭者竟然有这等意识！ “你们来北京除了制作假文凭外，还做什么呢？” 她又摇摇头：“不干其它的。这已经够忙乎的了。” “咋个忙法？” “很紧张的呐！”女孩子的两只眼顿时露出职业般的亢奋：“我们靠白天收活，晚上才能制作。每人都有分工，不能搞乱的嘛。” “那你在街上收活？” “不。我们女的一般只负责帮男的放风。因为老板说我们女的木呆得很，人家一看你呆头呆脑的，就不太相信你会做出看不出假的文凭来，所以只让我们负责放风。” 听听，她们也有老板！而且“专业”得