Strange Cards

Chapter 261 Life is a Wilderness

The three of them quickly arrived at the classroom door and sat down after finding their child's seat.

Shi Yu was surprised to find that the three of them were actually in the same group, right in front of and behind each other.

At this moment, the homeroom teacher, dressed in a suit, walked up to the podium and gently tapped it.

"Welcome to today's parent-teacher meeting."

"I am Jiang Ling, the children's homeroom teacher."

……

Listening to the long and boring official speech, Shi Yu was already starting to doze off, and even Qi Wu, who could stay up all night fighting ghosts, was starting to doze off.

Liu An is slightly better, but only slightly better.

At this moment, Jiang Ling also saw the drowsy crowd below. She gently tapped the podium to make a sound, drawing all the parents' attention to herself.

Looking at the parents who had regained some consciousness, Jiang Ling spoke slowly.

"I know everyone is tired of these polite words, so let's talk about something practical."

"Xie Nian achieved the highest overall score in this midterm exam..."

"..."

"Thirty-fifth place, Qi Nannan."

"..."

"Ranked 49th, Liu Yu."

"Fiftieth place, Shi Yanlan."

"And the parent of Shi Yanlan, who ranked last in our class, is Shi Yu, the top scorer in this year's college entrance examination."

"I would like to ask this parent, since you were able to produce a top scorer in the national exam, why would you let your child be ranked last?"

"Now, please come up and share your thoughts with everyone."

Shi Yu put away the beads in her hand and walked to the podium.

"To be honest, it was within my expectations that Yanlan came in last place."

"No two leaves in this world are exactly alike, and even the patterns inside alloy parts manufactured in a factory will be different."

"Being the top scorer in the country doesn't mean that Yanlan's academic performance is any better."

"I am the top scorer in the country, and my name is Shi Yu, but Yan Lan's name is Shi Yan Lan."

"She is not me, and she doesn't need to become me."

Jiang Ling, however, was somewhat aggressive, looking at Shi Yu and saying...

"But he's only in first grade, isn't it a bit inappropriate for him to be last in his class?"

"After all, if you can't even learn the first grade well, it will be quite difficult to learn the later grades."

"After all, first grade is arguably the easiest time in the entire learning process; it only gets harder and harder after that."

Shi Yu knew that Jiang Ling was actually worried about Shi Yanlan's grades, but she still remained calm and composed.

"There are only fifty students in the whole class. Unless you, the homeroom teacher, create a few more empty spots, there will always be students at the bottom."

"And now is the time when children are in their childhood, and first grade is the very beginning."

"It's perfectly normal for someone to love playing and not study. I was even more of a wild child when I was young."

"I don't think learning bad habits is a bad thing; everything has two sides."

"And as a teacher, you must have heard of the idioms 'teaching according to aptitude' and 'education for all,' right?"

"but...."

"Every age group has its own challenges, and you can't look at children's things from an adult's perspective."

"Just like you still feel the pressure of life now, but people in the past would have thought it was very simple."

"This is a very simple and easy-to-understand principle. As a teacher, and even a homeroom teacher, I don't believe you don't know it."

"But if she doesn't endure hardship at such a young age, she will suffer much more in the future than she does now."

"Does that mean if she doesn't endure hardship now, she won't have to work 996 hours in the future?"

"This is no longer the era when everything was in ruins and needed to be rebuilt; now the entire economy has reached a point of saturation."

"Therefore, it is extremely difficult to achieve upward social mobility without enduring hardship. In this day and age, it is really too difficult to break free from poverty with just your own fists."

"I don't deny the importance of education, because it is because I studied well that I was able to live a slightly better life."

"I am someone who has achieved a leap in social class. I am well aware that if I didn't possess something special, I would at most be a national champion, and would soon disappear among the national champions who appear every year."

"I can leave so much for Yanlan. Right now, I can just grab a bank card and prepare dozens of different dowry items for this girl's wedding."

"But those painful days will still come. Even if you have everything now, those days will not leave you; they will only stick to you like maggots."

"Instead of doing that, why not let her have a childhood filled with wonderful memories?"

"Rather than spending my whole life healing from her childhood, I'd rather let her childhood heal her for the rest of her life, at least she's happy now."

"If she's willing to learn, I can provide methods or even study with her. If she's not willing to learn but prefers to pursue her interests, I will also support her."

"She should have the right to choose her own life; the child did nothing wrong."

"Furthermore, I would like to ask all parents to realize one thing: children are not a byproduct of your one-night stand of sexual madness; they are human beings too."

"They have the most basic human rights under the law, and there is even a special law to protect them as minors."

"They are not tools for you to show off in front of your relatives. They are living, breathing human beings just like you, and they are equal to you."

"They are not the successors to your unfulfilled dreams. Forcing things they don't like onto them will not do them any good. It will only tighten like a soft noose until one day it will take their lives."

"I acknowledge the importance of learning, but we should also recognize that children's wishes are important."

"If it's a poor family like mine, then education is indeed the only way out, because it's the only way to make their lives a little more comfortable."

"But if I have the ability, I would rather provide her with an environment where she can grow up happily, rather than having her wear thick glasses like many junior high school students or even many elementary school students today, and have no vitality at all."

"Life is always a wilderness, not a track that can only be followed step by step."

"She can pursue everything she likes, the stars and the sea, or the past and the future."

"After saying all this, I only have one thought."

"I won't interfere with Yanlan's thoughts, but I will have a good talk with her about her studies."

"It's good if she's willing to learn, and it's not too bad if she's not willing to learn."

"Her personal wishes always come first, and as her older brother, I can only offer her suggestions."