The growth system comes at the age of 30

Chapter 279 The current student competitions are all about the "Tongtian Dai" (a term referring to exceptionally talented individuals)! (4.2K)

Chen Jingle took the workbook and looked at her essay.

Chen Qiyun's Chinese language score is outstanding among all the subjects.

After all, with Chen Jingle tutoring her at home and Li Beixing keeping an eye on her at school, it would be hard not to improve. Plus, she's quite talented; she's just a bit lazy.

This time, it was Li Beixing who asked her to participate in the competition.

It is said that their family has always been biased towards humanities since the previous generation. In Chen Jingle's generation, both he and Chen Xiuyun were humanities students. Even Chen Jinghao, who did not pass the high school entrance exam and only attended vocational school, also had relatively good humanities grades.

Although he hoped that Chen Qiyun would develop in the direction of science in the future, it seems that humanities still have more advantages at present.

Back to topic.

Chen Qiyun's article, titled "A Map of the Soul," is a narrative piece that recounts her connection with libraries through three stages: childhood, primary school, and secondary school. Libraries became an indispensable part of her growth, serving as a primary source of cultural knowledge and moral cultivation, thus constructing a map of her soul.

For a second-year junior high school student, the content is actually not bad.

This type of essay, which reflects on personal growth, is quite common in middle school students' compositions.

Middle school students are at the age of blossoming growth; if they don't write about growth, what should they write about?
In addition, there are family ties, friendships, and teacher-student relationships.

However, in Chen Jingle's opinion, Chen Qiyun's essay was somewhat lacking in both writing style and content, and it was a bit fake and lacked genuine feelings. He immediately judged it to be fabricated.

There are many areas for improvement.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What were the original requirements for the essay topic?"

Chen Qiyun pulled a piece of paper out of her schoolbag: "Here!"

Chen Jingle took it and looked at it—

"You can draw a map on paper or in your mind. It can be a specific place, such as a neighborhood, a park, a museum... or it can be an imaginary place that has appeared in books or dreams. This map may connect your memories and fantasies, or it may connect your ideals and wishes. Please write an essay of 600-800 words with this map as the center. You may choose your own title and style."

map?

On paper? In the mind? In reality? In imagination?
The library, a map of the soul, a repository of insights into growth...

Chen Jingle took a deep breath, realizing where the problem lay.

First of all, Chen Qiyun's approach to the question wasn't particularly advanced; it was merely average. She might score well in regular exams, but it wouldn't be as impressive in a national competition.

Because most middle school students' essays don't have high themes and can't connect the topic with the country, society, and the development of the times like high school students, essays with high themes are more likely to get high scores.

What kind of theme can be considered high-level?

First, consider whether you can write something praising the country in various aspects, or use a small example to illustrate the dialectical relationship between the individual and the collective. Then, focus on outstanding abilities or qualities.

This approach is applicable even to college entrance examination essays.

In short, we need to find a way to stand out!

Back in middle school, Chen Jingle's writing skills were not high, only above average. He often struggled with breaking down the topic, which resulted in him scoring only 121 points in the college entrance examination in Chinese.

This score was severely dragged down by the essay.

However, now that he's this age, when he looks back at Chen Qiyun's essay topics and materials, he can immediately think of many angles to approach them.

It can only be said that with experience and maturity, one can easily unleash a devastating attack.

……

After pondering it, Chen Jingle gradually understood.

The key is still to solve the problem first.

So he said to Chen Qiyun, "It's not a big problem, but I feel it could be written better. It depends on whether you're willing to rewrite it. What's the deadline?"

"My sister-in-law said the preliminary round is this Friday, and the semi-finals and finals are at the end of the month."

"Would you be willing to rewrite it?"

"Uh..." Chen Qiyun's eyes darted around as she secretly observed Chen Jingle's expression: "What do you think I should write?"

Chen Jingle didn't answer, but asked instead, "Are you better at argumentative essays or narrative essays?"

Chen Qiyun thought for a moment and said, "I'll write a narrative essay; argumentative essays seem too difficult to write."

Is it difficult to write?
Chen Jingle touched his chin, but couldn't feel anything.

Well, he's written a lot of papers, often tens of thousands of words long, so naturally he thinks argumentative essays are easier.

As for narrative writing...

The last time I wrote a narrative essay was back in high school.

Of course, writing less doesn't mean not being able to write. For writers, the two paths lead to the same goal, and one can overcome all obstacles with a single stroke.

The core is to clearly express what you want to say.

When writing a narrative, try to be as detailed as possible, creating vivid imagery and expressing genuine feelings, rather than simply recounting events.

This way you can naturally get a high score.

You have to write your own story. Some fictional things can be made up by people with enough experience, and they can make them look plausible. But many middle school students can't even make up a story. They often go off-topic and end up writing something that doesn't make sense at all.

Therefore, Chen Jingle felt that Chen Qiyun was obviously fake.

When did she start liking to go to the library?

How funny!

Therefore, don't force yourself to write about things you're not good at or don't understand; you won't write good articles that way.

"You don't have to rewrite it, just change the perspective and elevate the theme."

Chen Jingle thought for a moment and said, "You can write it like this, elevating the theme of the essay to praising the country's support for quality education in primary and secondary schools in remote areas."

what?
Chen Qiyun listened, stunned. She could understand praising the motherland, but the support for quality education in primary and secondary schools in remote areas... she couldn't quite grasp it for a while.

The main problem is that I've never encountered this concept before.

"Can you understand?" Chen Jingle asked.

"Uh-huh."

She nodded hesitantly, probably understanding.

"It's okay, this concept is indeed a bit difficult for a second-year junior high student like you to understand."

Chen Jingle grinned: "Let me put it this way, you usually see so many foreigners traveling here, and all sorts of amazing vlogs, what are your thoughts?"

Chen Qiyun thought for a moment and said, "It feels like their country is very backward and they've never seen the world. They're shocked by this and shocked by that. It's clearly said that foreign countries are developed countries and we are developing countries, but it's as if the roles are reversed."

Chen Jingle smiled and said, "It's not that they're lagging behind, but that we've become stronger. This strengthening is reflected in every aspect. The country's investment in compulsory education is one aspect, and a very important one at that. Among them, the construction of libraries is a manifestation of quality education. Do you understand what I mean?"

As a member of the post-90s generation, he is acutely aware of the changes that have taken place in the country over the years.

When I was a child, the desks, chairs and blackboards in the small classrooms of the school were all dilapidated. There was no library, not even a reading room.

Multimedia teaching is now being used in rural areas.

The extent of the government's investment in this area is obvious.

Chen Qiyun suddenly realized: "I understand!"

Chen Jingle smiled slightly: "Good that you understand. Let's discuss how to make the specific changes."

The two huddled together and began to study it in hushed tones.

The key is to elevate the central idea of ​​your essay based on what you want to express. Master this, and your essays will be quite good.

However, as I kept revising it, it felt almost like a complete rewrite.

In order to win the award, Chen Qiyun gritted her teeth and overturned most of her original content.

...At lunchtime, it was just Chen Jingle and Chen Qiyun.

Li Beixing had a lot of work to do today, so busy that he didn't even go to Chen Jingle's house for lunch, and just ate quickly at the school cafeteria.

There are always a few such situations throughout the semester.

Chen Jingle wanted to bring her food, but she refused.

After lunch, Chen Qiyun went into her room to revise her essay.

Chen Jingle ignored her and simply told her that she was going upstairs to sleep and asked her to remember to close the door when she left.

After receiving guidance, Chen Qiyun perfectly demonstrated what it means to write with divine inspiration, finishing her essay in half an hour. Once she was satisfied with the result, she carefully copied it over.

in the afternoon.

When she arrived at the school, she saw Li Beixing in the office and quickly went in: "Teacher, I've finished my essay."

There are other people in the office, so I wouldn't dare call her "sister-in-law."

"Okay, give it to me." Li Beixing, who was wearing glasses today, turned around.

Chen Qiyun handed over the manuscript, her eyes lowered, and said meekly, "Then I'll go back to the classroom first."

"Mm." Li Beixing waved his hand.

After Chen Qiyun left, she looked down and was a little surprised.

The level of this opening statement is somewhat inconsistent with Chen Qiyun's usual writing level.

She guessed that Chen Jingle had helped.

So I asked on WeChat: "Did you write Chen Qiyun's essay?"

Chen Jingle just got up at that moment.

Upon seeing the message, I replied, "I can't say I helped write it; I only gave some guidance. What? Does it not meet the competition requirements? Or is the quality substandard?"

Li Beixing smiled and said, "No, it's not that. It's just that it's much better than what she usually writes. If it were in the monthly exam, she would probably get full marks, or at most lose one or two points. For a middle school student, that's already very impressive, and she'll most likely win an award."

Although she is not a professional essay competition instructor, she is aware of the general level of essay writing among middle school students.

"That's for sure," Chen Jingle said confidently.

If, after receiving his guidance, one still cannot win even a middle school essay competition, it would be too embarrassing.

His Chinese language skills are at least at the master's level.

Although he did not major in Chinese Language and Literature like Li Beixing, his writing skills have steadily improved thanks to the production of numerous high-quality papers.

Now, like many other subjects, it has successfully reached the master's level, a significant improvement over its initial state.

After exchanging only a few words, Li Beixing ended the conversation and went back to work.

Poor Chen Jingle, just two days ago she was having a great time with Teacher Li and they couldn't bear to part, but today she has to spend the whole day alone in her room.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and started busying himself with his own things.

Teacher Li is busy, and he has a lot to do. A primary and secondary school essay competition is not worth spending too much of his time on.

It's not difficult at all; at least winning an award isn't difficult.

It would be great if I could win a first prize. Many universities use this in their independent admissions process, either through comprehensive evaluation or the Strong Foundation Program.

However, many students and parents are unaware of this.

This is the information gap.

……

The days passed slowly.

After things calmed down a bit, Li Beixing took some time to revise Chen Qiyun's essay. There weren't many things to change, just some minor adjustments to word choice and sentence structure. He then helped her submit the essay before the deadline.

Next, I need to take care of the monthly exams.

She was getting more and more fed up with her job and really wanted to quit and go home to be with Chen Jingle every day.

But reason told her that this might not be a good thing, so she had to suppress the idea for the time being.

Teacher Li, who was in a bad mood, naturally needed to vent, so Chen Jingle became the target of her venting, having to serve her every night and do mud work every night.

Of course, he didn't stay at Chen Jingle's house every day. Even if his parents didn't say anything, Li Beixing would feel embarrassed. Three or four days a week would be enough.

No more, I have to save face.

Just like that, a few more days passed.

Chen Qiyun returned from school excitedly and said, "Brother Le, the preliminary results of the essay competition are out! I won the second prize at the provincial level!"

Today was the day of the monthly exam. She came back after finishing one exam, while Li Beixing was still at school grading papers and would not be back for dinner until later.

"Not bad."

Chen Jingle, who was cooking in the kitchen, smiled slightly, but was also a little surprised. How come he only won the second prize at the provincial level?

Logically speaking, Chen Qiyun's submitted work was beyond the level of an average middle school student. If not a top prize, it should at least be a first prize, right?

What the heck is a second prize?

Am I really that bad at the game?

Chen Jingle was annoyed, but he didn't want to dampen Chen Qiyun's enthusiasm, so he could only smile and offer a few words of encouragement, while casually asking, "What level did the other students in your class who participated get?"

Chen Qiyun didn't feel anything was wrong and said smugly, "I'm the only one in second class, while there's a third class in the class next door."

Well, both the educational level and the quality of students at No. 8 Middle School are indeed only so-so.

Chen Jingle was actually mistaken about this.

Keep in mind that this is a national competition, while the preliminary rounds are held across the entire province. There are four to five million junior high school students in Nandong Province. Even if only 1% of the students participate, that's still forty to fifty thousand.

Not to mention that the number is far more than that.

Very few students in the entire Jiangbei area can win awards, and for a school like No. 8 Middle School to have two students win awards is already quite good.

Chen Jingle asked, "What did your sister-in-law say?"

"My sister-in-law said that the judges might not like it because the writing style is too plain." Chen Qiyun tilted her head.

"simple?"

Chen Jingle raised an eyebrow: "Do you have any sample essays that won first prize or special prize that I can take a look at?"

"No, why don't you ask your sister-in-law?"

"Okay, I'll ask her."

Chen Jingle told Li Beixing on WeChat.

Li Beixing, who was grading exam papers, sent over a document.

When Chen Jingle clicked on it, the first few articles were all provincial-level top prize-winning exemplary essays.

However, after reading three or four articles in a row, he got angry.

"Alright, alright, so you're asking Tongtian Dai for help? Fine, then don't blame me for being impolite!"

I saw a news report before that said that the current science and technology innovation competitions are all about the master's and doctoral students behind the scenes competing for power. What should be a fair competition has turned into a competition of who has the best connections and resources. He was just watching for fun at the time.

I didn't expect the essay competition to be the same!
Tian Wenjing, I'll f*** your mother.jpg
Chen Jingle still had some sense of shame, only offering guidance from the sidelines. Some people, however, didn't even bother acting and simply had the writing done by someone else.

This word choice, this flowery language—you're telling me this was written by a middle school student?
The problem is that if it were truly well-written, that would be one thing, but it's written with such flowery language yet contains nothing of substance; it's all show and no substance.

If you can't even clearly express what you want to say, you're no grand prize winner!
Is this the level of judges these days?
Chilling!
We can't stand it anymore, we have to fight back!
(End of this chapter)