Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He wanted the Little Star learning machine to participate in the nation-wide Senior High School Entrance Examination. But he could not achieve that simply by getting his staff to go to the capital and submit the application to the Department of Education. He would only be booted out as a loony. Chen Jin used his connections with the top officials in the country. He got his retired grandfather, He Chang Hou, to help. His grandfather had held the position of Deputy Mayor of Shang Hai City. He would bring the Little Star learning machine with him all over the country as he sought an audience with old colleagues and senior leaders with greater power. He would demonstrate Little Star’s function and elaborate on its huge significance.
The old man was nearly 80 years old. Chen Jin felt terrible that he had to travel all over the country at his age. But, the old fellow was willing and filled with energy! For the following two months, he had used nearly all the connections that could be used. He even astonished a few of the highly influential politicians. Thus, he had gathered a tremendous force behind him.
It was child’s play to make use of this force to seek an audience with some people and attract a high level of attention from the Department of Education. After a proper greeting with the relevant officials, Xing Hai Technologies was able to send their technicians with the Little Star learning machine to the officials at the Department of Education without any trouble.
However, all the educational officials held a meeting prior in order to discuss this matter in-depth.
“Did the old party leaders listen to this nonsense by some random person? They said that a particular learning machine can change the fate of the nation and speed up the rise of our nation, so we have prioritized it and provided all the assistance it needs… They make it sound like the Dali pill that claims to be a panacea. What nonsense.”
“Watch what you say!” The man beside him glared harshly, “Don’t think that you’re the smartest. Out of all your predecessors, there is none who is dumber than you; and none who can be easily taken in by nonsense. There could really be something extraordinary about that learning machine.”
“But it’s impossible for it to be that amazing! A learning machine with the capabilities of a high schooler, that can complete all the questions in the exam and get a perfect grade. What would that mean? That would mean that our educational system is about to experience an upheaval of changes!”
“Impossible. I refuse to believe that such a technological product exists!”
“Haven’t you heard of the Little Star learning machine that recently became the national sensation? This learning machine is wildly popular; its functions are extremely powerful!”
An official smiled chillingly. “That… that just means that it has above-average functions. It’s definitely not at a level where it can participate in the Senior High School Entrance Examination. The junior high school syllabus is very complex! There are Language, English, and other humanities subjects which require a stronger reading and comprehension ability. Moreover, does it dare to carelessly touch upon topics like history and governance? If it gives the wrong answers with regards to those topics or mentions sensitive issues, we’ll just seal the product from the market and kill it off!”
“There are no benefits to further discussions. We can only believe it when we see it!”
…
On the 18th of May, at the Department of Education, the technicians from Xing Hai Technologies faced the top officials from the department, including Department Chief Yuan, Department Deputy Chief Liu, and other officials. The technicians took out the Little Star learning machine. According to the agreed arrangements, the department’s civil officers gave out more than 10 sets of fresh exam papers.
There were papers on Language, Arithmetic, English, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, History, Governance… A total of nine subjects.
Before the test began, team leader Song Bojun raised his hand and said to the officials, “Party leaders, the functions of the Little Star learning machines are limited. It is unable to learn history and governance. Please remove the papers for these two topics. Little Star does not have the ability to do these two subjects.”
All the officials in attendance were stunned. The official who was wearing a cold smile felt his expression slipping away. He could not help but silently admire, A smart company; it actually knows how to avoid sensitive issues.
Department Chief Yuan asked, “You will only do seven subjects?”
Song Bojun nodded. “We are only able to solve questions that adhere to science and logic. They must be objective and definite. We cannot solve questions that are too subjective and have no one standard answer.”
“Ok, exclude the papers on history and governance.” Seeming as if he was in profound thought, Department Chief Yuan nodded.
Preparations were completed. The test began! Seven Little Star learning machines faced off with test papers on seven subjects. They started scanning and answering. Twenty sets of test papers were prepared for each individual subject. An ordinary student would take at least one day to finish these twenty papers! However, the Little Star learning machine used less than two hours to complete all the questions in each collection of papers! It used an average of five to six minutes to complete one paper.
It was able to answer at a faster speed for certain memory-based questions on Language, English, and Geography. Hence, it used an average of four minutes to complete each of those paper. When it came to answering questions that required memorization and logic, such as Chemistry and Biology, its answering speed was moderate. It used an average of five minutes to complete each of those paper. It answered the slowest for questions that were more logic-based, such as Arithmetic and Physics, with an average of more than six minutes taken to complete each of those paper.
Following which, the staff in the Department of Education proceeded to check the answers given with the correct answers. Results were quickly announced. The total number of points one could get for each of the test papers was 100. The results of the Little Star learning machine was:
“Average score for Language is 55 points; 78 for English; and 100 for Geography.”
“Average score for Chemistry is 100; and 100 for Biology too!”
“The average scores for Arithmetic and Physics are also 100!”
“The sum total of the combined averages from the seven subjects is 633!”
“For an overwhelming majority of junior high schoolers across the provinces, they can totally gain admittance into a top senior high school with this result!” The statistician said with a trembling voice, “Now, this is achieved by a learning machine. And the results were achieved with the exclusion of two subjects, language composition, and English composition.”
“This…This learning machine…” The statistician was speechless, he had no idea how to evaluate this! The officials present had sunk into a state of collective shock. Their brains were whirring at crazy speeds! They were all hypothesizing about the significance and consequences that this learning machine would bring to the junior high schoolers in Z country.
Various thoughts resounded in their minds:
“Market the product. We should support market distribution. This learning machine can greatly raise the grades of high schoolers. In turn, it will greatly raise the standard and quality of our country’s basic education. It will ascend to a whole new league! In the future, huge numbers of genius students will appear in Z country. We will be able to cultivate the growth of more big talents!”
“This learning machine is too powerful. Countless training institutes will collapse. Countless schemes of supplementary lessons will be canceled. Students’ burdens will be significantly lightened, but the average earnings of educational professionals will decrease. Many businesses in the education sector will soon face a cold winter and be sunk into difficult circumstances. The unemployment rate will increase significantly. Hence, the distribution of this learning machine will definitely suffer setbacks from all sides. It will face all sorts of obstacles.”
“We must seal it off and kill it! It will turn the current education structure upside-down. It will be the dominant player in the educational market that is worth trillions. The Little Star learning machine intends to take this entire pie for itself. This cannot be allowed. The national treasury would receive much less revenue from taxes. Economic vitality will be significantly reduced!”
“We should support this learning machine. But, it has to be regulated by the government. The profits that it can intercept from incumbent players are too great. Xing Hai Technologies wants to devour this meal by itself. Nobody will allow this! This type of learning machine might even cause an increase in the rate of dropouts as some students would refuse to finish their compulsory education in school. This would disrupt national planning.”
The imagination of the officials’ was running amok. Their expressions reflected the ups and downs of their thoughts.
At this point, an official mumbled something in a low voice. Like a stone shattering a glass wall, he voiced the one fact that nobody dared to say: “Since this learning machine is able to achieve such good results, will there be a need for students to study so diligently in the future?”