New Observation on Education丨How did Jiang Ping get into the “finals”? How did “Jiang Pings” break through?
In five days, on June 22, Jiang Ping will participate in the finals of the "Ali Mathematics Competition" and compete with masters from all over the world. Jiang Ping's teacher Wang Runqiu said that the difficulty of the finals is much greater than that of the preliminary rounds, "I hope Jiang Ping can enjoy the competition."
On June 13, 17-year-old technical secondary school student Jiang Ping defeated many contestants from world-renowned universities and entered the finals of the 2024 Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition with a global ranking of 12th. She is the only girl in the top 30 on the shortlist. In fact, no matter what Jiang Ping's final result is, she has successfully been "seen" with her enduring love and focus on mathematics.
At a time when people generally value academic qualifications and experience, Jiang Ping's case brings inspiration to the reform of contemporary education and teaching evaluation and the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents.
From Jiang Ping, we can see that "interest is the lasting self-driving force, and only with enough passion and concentration can one go further." said Fan Xiudi, director of the Education Evaluation Center of Tongji University. For a long time, Jiang Ping and her math teacher have been groping forward without a clear math goal and an unpredictable future. This pure academic enthusiasm is touching.
She studied fashion design at a technical secondary school. With her love for mathematics, she taught herself mathematics textbooks with the help of a small English dictionary under the guidance of her mathematics teacher. If she couldn't think of a problem, she would keep working on it; she would use different ideas to solve the problem, and indulge in the problem-solving process like playing. Jiang Ping was able to achieve such outstanding results under the condition of relatively weak resources. Her excellence far surpasses those highly educated students from famous schools. This is why almost everyone is impressed by Jiang Ping.
"From a certain perspective, true genius is not cultivated, but grows naturally," said Zhao Juming, a professor at the Institute of Educational Sciences of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Jiang Ping's experience also shows that we cannot use a single yardstick to select talents, nor can we use stereotypes to set limits. In the past, there may have been some visible and invisible rules and regulations that cut off many flowers that could have exuded fragrance; and people selected through unified standards inevitably appear to be stereotyped, lacking some personality and creativity. The old saying "There are 360 professions, and every profession has its top talent" means that talents are not objects mass-produced on factory assembly lines, and do not need to be of the same thickness, so we cannot expect to use the same "sieve" to select talents.
"We can't use the same yardstick to measure everything." In the final analysis, it is about the "breaking" and "establishing" of the reform of the talent development system and mechanism. Fan Xiudi believes that "breaking" means breaking the mechanical and formulaic evaluation standards and diluting the inherent labels. "Establishing" means respecting scientific laws and the laws of talent growth, establishing a classified evaluation system, and establishing an evaluation mechanism that reflects the characteristics of talents in different fields, positions, and levels. "It doesn't matter where a hero comes from, whoever has the ability will take the lead." Tolerating "ten years of silence" and waiting for "a blockbuster", opening a green channel for special talents, "Jiang Pings" will have the opportunity to "break through."
Jiang Ping's experience also shows that students should be treated fairly and justly, which requires an inclusive and relaxed social ecology. We cannot use fixed views to evaluate teachers and students in a certain school or a certain type of school just because of stereotypes about their grades. The hierarchical nature of education is itself the biggest problem in education, which will dampen the enthusiasm and initiative of some "hidden champions". Jiang Ping's success also shows that it is unfair to characterize secondary vocational school students as people who fail the exam. Sometimes "late-blooming flowers bloom redder and longer."
