By reporter ZHU Liudi
Beijing News: Surely, there have been people who told you that the language in this book is rather intense?
Zhong Daoran: One afternoon during my first semester of sophomore year, I skipped class and went to the square, suddenly asking myself, what have I done with the past 20 years? The final answer was: nothing. Later, I began to consider doing something interesting, gradually writing out my true thoughts about Chinese education.
Zhong Daoran was born in 1990 and is currently a third-year student at the School of Economics of Renmin University of China.
He is passionate about playing soccer but ended up having an "incident" — his leg broke.
Zhong Daoran: The publisher said it, classmates also mentioned it, there's a great disparity between the style of the book and myself. In reality, I am relatively calm and quiet, the emotions in the book are more intense, which is just another side of me.
Beijing News: What are your real thoughts on Chinese education?
"Rescue my lost time"
Beijing News: What role do you usually play at school?
Zhong Daoran: From childhood till now, my grades were pretty good, I've held various class positions, my essays were often used as model pieces, so I guess I'm a "good kid". In the eyes of teachers and classmates, I should be considered a strange person.
"Soccer incident"
Zhong Daoran: In middle school, I had already thought about educational issues, but back then I had to take the college entrance exam, so I didn't have time for deep reflection. Half a year after entering university, I realized that university life is not at all the "ideal sanctuary", it's even more monotonous than primary and secondary school.
"I am a strange person"
Zhong Daoran: During the writing process, I read a lot of materials, almost all the books I could find about foreign education systems, I also kept track of the latest papers on educational systems in databases, I've read at least a thousand of them.
Zhong Daoran: If it's about criticizing China's education system, I feel it doesn't need much time to experience, everyone knows it, I'm just saying it out loud.
Beijing News: Do you have any plans? What do you plan to do?
Beijing News: What do you want to achieve through this book?
Zhong Daoran: Rather than making everyone agree, it's more about using this method to rescue my lost time. Also, I hope young people can wake up mentally, realizing they should follow their inner desires to live, instead of being constrained by schools' and society's standards. As long as it draws attention, thought, and discussion, it's enough.
In "I Do Not Forgive", Zhong Daoran first criticizes the lack of independent spirit in Chinese education, then conducts an industry analysis of Chinese education, calling its essence "talent" manufacturing. He subsequently contrasts Chinese and foreign education, advocating for students' rights.
Zhong Daoran: Some classmates praised it after reading, two school teachers also gave encouragement and suggestions, I also checked online reviews, most of them are supportive.
Beijing News: What touched you to write such a book?
Zhong Daoran: This is like all students being thrown into a prison cell, only the bars at others' places are made of iron, while mine are made of gold, should I be grateful?
● First, the purpose of education - if there is one - is to make people become who they should be. Everyone has their own unique talents, and education should help each student find what they are best suited for, then assist them in moving towards that direction. Second, education should cultivate students' imagination, creativity, and critical thinking, its function is to bring out the unique value of human brains. Lastly, teachers and parents must treat students equally, giving them sufficient rights and freedom.
Beijing News: In the preface, it says a moment suddenly inspired you to write the book?
Beijing News: Currently, what feedback have you received from outsiders regarding your book?
Zhong Daoran: I prefer to walk and see things according to my inner desires, rather than external pressures.
Beijing News: What events make you seem peculiar?
Zhong Daoran: Such as leading the entire class to oppose the "tyranny" of the class president in junior high school, making him step down; in high school, I wrote a letter to the principal because I was dissatisfied with the teacher making late students stand as punishment.
― Excerpt from "I Do Not Forgive"
Zhong Daoran appeared with crutches.
■ Dialogue Motive
Beijing News: Someone might question, a third-year student, without fully experiencing Chinese university education, begins to criticize, it may not be objective.
Zhong Daoran: In some aspects, it breaks people's imagination, makes them lose their ideas, unable to be themselves.
Zhong Daoran recently published the book "I Do Not Forgive", criticizing and reflecting on some problems in China's education system. Yi Zhongtian, the main speaker of the Hundred Schools Forum, wrote a preface for this book, stating "The field that needs 'people-oriented' the most, yet treats people the least like people, this truly is a miracle!"