Feng Yiping's homeroom teacher, Chen, has also been very anxious these past two days. Although the college entrance exam results have not yet been announced, the marking of the exam papers has already finished, and the teachers at No. 1 Middle School who participated in marking the papers have already found out the results of the top students in the arts and sciences subjects.
The three science finalists performed only averagely. They got no right answers to the questions that others got wrong. The math questions in last year's exam were easy, so their scores were lower than last year's provincial science champion. There is no doubt that they will go to a top university in China, but they are unlikely to win the provincial championship.
Feng Yiping's total score exceeded last year's provincial arts champion by nearly 50 points. If there were no other prodigies in the province, the crown of the provincial arts champion would definitely be worn on Feng Yiping's head.
Teacher Chen has been strutting around the last two days. Some of the teachers who are still at school congratulate him as soon as they meet, still somewhat envious. To the teachers at the school, there are really Boles everywhere, but talented horses like Feng Yiping are not common.
After Mr Chen had passed by with a spring in his step, one teacher said with a smile, 'I'm afraid the one who's most disappointed now is probably Mr Li!'
By "Mr Li", he meant Feng Yiping's homeroom teacher in his senior year, Mr Li. If he hadn't taken a year off, he would have taken the college entrance exam last year as a student of Mr Li's. He was able to achieve such good results this year despite the difficulty of the exam, so wouldn't he have an even greater advantage given the difficulty of last year's exam?
Their envy is understandable. Schools have always been generous with rewards for teachers in the graduating class with outstanding results. For prestigious schools, in addition to examining the overall percentage of students who pass, the number of top scorers is also a very important indicator.
No matter how many of your recent graduates have been admitted to top universities in the country, if for two consecutive years not even one of them is the top scorer in the province, then how can you call it a prestigious school?
So this year's Feng Yiping has done the school a big favour, but the school can't possibly reward him. Feng Yiping's homeroom teacher, Chen, not only gets a large sum of money, but he is also guaranteed a place in the new staff and faculty apartment building that is being built this year. And when it comes to the next round of merit and title reviews, the explicit and implicit rewards combined are enough to make these teachers, who are also living the same life as everyone else, envious.
In schools before universities, teaching and learning complement each other, which means not only that both teaching and learning mutually promote and improve each other, but also that good grades on the part of the student will in turn bring material benefits to the teacher. Therefore, for students, or to extend this, for those who teach, the people who are most willing to teach without reservation are elementary, middle and high school teachers. No matter how well the students learn, it will not only not threaten their status, but will also bring them various benefits. So why not do it!
For example, Feng Yiping's junior high school homeroom teacher, Wang Yumin, was able to be awarded a title and jump from Liangjiahe to become a teacher at the County Experimental Middle School because, in addition to publishing several papers, she also had a lot to do with producing Feng Yiping, the top student in the county.
Therefore, Feng Yiping tried to replicate this model in his company as much as possible. Those senior employees who achieved outstanding results in training new employees received generous performance pay and year-end bonuses, while those who held back during the training process not only did not receive rewards, but also had their overall evaluation of the company lowered by one level. Those who were not dedicated to training new employees were not dedicated to the company.
If you were to describe Mr Chen's feelings towards Feng Yiping over the past two days, they would be a mixture of love and anger. As soon as he heard the news, he was eager to inform Feng Yiping, but after calling for a long time, no one answered the phone at his home. Later, following the address in the file, he found Feng Yiping's home, but the door was closed. He asked the neighbour next door, who said that no one had been seen for more than ten days. When they left, it seemed like they were going on a long trip, possibly for a holiday.
Travel? Teacher Chen didn't know what to say at the time. These days, all the other candidates were anxiously waiting at home, and even their teachers were constantly concerned about the progress of marking.
He, on the other hand, had gone travelling. Was the boy overconfident or just carefree? The person involved was more relaxed than anyone else, and Teacher Chen even came up with the inappropriate analogy of an emperor not being anxious while an eunuch is.
On the 23rd, the results of the college entrance examination for the 99th cohort of high school students were officially announced, and Mr Chen was also relieved. As expected, Feng Yiping ranked first in the liberal arts subject rankings in the province with a total score of 686, which is commonly known as the liberal arts champion.
From 8:30 in the morning, the campus of No. 1 Middle School, which had already started summer vacation, was bustling with activity again. Many parents took leave from work to accompany their children to come and see the results. In front of the bulletin board by the school playground, there were many different scenes playing out: some people were elated, some were despondent, and some were dumbstruck. Some were elated, some were sad, and some were dumbstruck. Feng Yiping, who was accompanied by his parents, happened to see a girl who was sobbing and sniffling leaning against her mother's shoulder walking away. His mother was wiping her tears and consoling her, 'It's okay, it's okay, these results are not bad.' His father, who looked a bit dull, followed behind them with an umbrella, shielding them from the sun and his face full of concern.
Feng Yiping and the others let them pass to the side, and Feng Zhenchang sighed, 'It's not easy for these kids nowadays.'
When they saw Feng Yiping approaching, the students who had been looking at the results spontaneously made way for him. The three of them went to the front of the list and looked at it. Feng Yiping's name was prominently listed in the first row, with a total score of 686. There was a small note at the bottom, saying that he had ranked first in the province in the arts.
His scores were 144 in Chinese, 114 in mathematics, 142 in English, 146 in politics, 140 in history, which was one point more than Feng Yiping and Teacher Chen had first estimated.
Feng Zhenchang was already taking notes with a pen, and although Mei Qiuping had thought that her son might be the top scorer, when it actually came to it, she was so happy that she could not speak, and just kept looking at Feng Yiping, who was grinning from ear to ear.
'Okay, go out, there are other students waiting!' Feng Yiping reminded his parents, saying that it was not true that he was not happy and excited, that everyone was vain, even if his psychological age was already in his thirties, and that was no exception.
Knowing that this was the first place this year, some of the parents next to them, some very generous, said to Feng Zhenchang and his parents, 'Congratulations!'
'Thank you!' The parents thanked them all the way, both smiling from ear to ear.
Teacher Chen was also very busy today, receiving many parents who came to thank them and invite them to the next party. Seeing Feng Zhenchang and his parents walk into the office with a smile on their faces, she got up to greet them and shake their hands, 'Congratulations to both of you!'
'We have to thank Teacher Chen. Yiping told us that in the last few months, you have been tutoring him in your spare time. If it wasn't for people like you, he wouldn't have achieved such great results today. To show our gratitude, we're going to invite you to dinner tomorrow. We don't usually get the chance to do this, so please don't decline this time.' This was only natural. After getting first place in the province, of course they had to have a thank-you banquet.
Teacher Chen didn't decline either. 'No problem, we'll definitely go and soak up the joy.'
Feng Yiping followed his parents and went with Teacher Chen to meet the subject teachers one by one to extend the invitations. While they were chatting, Feng Yiping took the opportunity to send a text message to Huang Jingping: '686, first in the province.'
A few seconds later, he received a text message from Huang Jingping: 'Fantastic! You're my pride! I admire you so much!'
This girl really knows how to speak, and her words hit the right note every time.