Wildfire Collection: Thirty Years Anniversary Edition

Chapter 18 After "2" ([-])
"Tom's off to a buffalo race and he won't be back today."

"Teacher, I will help my family drive the harvester the day after tomorrow; the harvest season is here. Can the report be postponed for a few days?"

Yes, this is Kansas, America's Golden Barn.Surrounding the school are endless wheat fields and grasslands where cows and horses roam. There are farm children who are very close to the soil and grass in the school.

When John, with shiny black skin and tight jeans, said to me: "Professor, please forgive me for not coming yesterday; I was beaten by two people on the bus for no reason yesterday, and I passed out and was sent to the hospital. Hospital……"

I know, I'm in New York City.

Blonde Julie said: "I could have missed the class, but while I was waiting for the train at 120 Fifth Street, someone put a knife to my waist and took my purse - can I make it up?"

Then Heidi, who immigrated from Venezuela, hung her head and said: "I can't come to class tomorrow. Tomorrow is my brother's funeral; my brother was jogging in Central Park last week, and his throat was cut with a razor..."

I listened carefully, nodded, but didn't know whether to open my eyes wide in shock and sympathy, or to remain calm—this Heidi, didn't she just say last month that her toothless grandmother had been shot?Last semester, didn't she say that her sister who was a nun was raped?How many people are there in their family?How many times can she miss class?

When the black-haired student said "Lin Xiumei is not here, it's a public holiday!", I thought: Ah, I'm back in Taiwan!

The word "public holiday" has neither the rustic flavor of cattle, sheep, pigs, nor horses, nor the sensational stimulation of killing, rape and robbery; it is just a small note that lacks creativity and imagination, with seven or eight chapters stamped on it, But the meaning of the note is very clear: I have something more important and higher priority than your class for this student to do!
What could be more important than a professor's lecture discussion?

Tomorrow night at the school celebration party, the General Affairs Office asked me to decorate the venue.

We're going to be waiters for the festival.

The South African Boxers Association visited, and the county government asked us to entertain for seven days.

The Youth League has an ABC seminar, and I'm going to train.

A representative from the Republic of Nauru is visiting and we have to act as interpreters.

A member of parliament came to give a speech, and the department asked us to suspend class to listen. There are too few people and it is not good for face...

This kind of "public holiday" keeps coming in an endless stream throughout the semester. Fortunately, each class and everyone's missing class will generally not exceed a few hours.As far as students are concerned, borrowing notes from classmates and discussing with professors after class can make up for it.For the professor, the continuous public holidays are a big trouble: I have already given the whole class an exam, but because this student "arranged the venue", I have to work hard to create a different one. In order to solve the exam questions, extra time must be arranged for him to make up the exam; in other words, the General Affairs Office has to "arrange the venue", which indirectly takes up the professor's private research time.

This is still a trivial matter, right?But one day, a strange face suddenly appeared: "Teacher, I have been absent from school for two months because the government sent me on a friendly visit, and I just came back—"

I couldn't help but be surprised: a semester is less than four months in total, and more than half of the classes are missing, what else can he learn?This "public holiday" is a bit too magical.

Therefore, a professor is faced with a big problem. Should he set aside time to read books, drink tea, and listen to music at night to make up lessons for this student?It's not fair to the professor.So, since this is a "public holiday", can the teacher lower the requirements of the student and let him pass the exam at the end of the semester?It's not fair to other students who have worked hard all semester.Ok!To be fair, no matter how much class is missed, the student must make up all the homework and pass all the exams, big and small, without any discount on the grading standards. I can roughly confirm that this student must retake, Because most of the things taught in the classroom cannot be covered in black and white in one or two textbooks, if he does not hear it, he cannot learn it.However, is this fair to students?Originally, he was honored to go abroad for a "friendly visit" because of his special skills, but the price of honor was the punishment of rebuilding.

What is the plan of the institution that takes up the regular class time and sends students out?Should the professor "sacrifice the ego" to make up lessons?Want the professor to "put water" on the score?Or is it decided that the student should retake the course?

"Which institution arranged it?" I asked curiously, thinking that it was probably a department that didn't know much about teaching——

"Ministry of Education!" said the student.

In the United States, the "official holidays" that are often "overwhelming" with teaching are usually not political obligations, but star football games that fascinate Americans.Every semester, a football coach will call: "Jimmy in your class will miss a week of class, because the team will go to Philadelphia to play." Can't pass? Did he miss too many classes? He has to pass English, but he can't be on the school team. Without him, the school team is over..."

Once, a coach wrote an official letter to the head of the English department, asking the department to approve a football star named Ike to take a one-hour English class a week for "official leave".There are very good reasons: first, Ike is the soul of the school team; second, the school team is the soul of the school, and every game wins glory and makes money for the school; third, practice is very time-consuming and has to occupy regular class time.

The dean of the English Department also replied with an official letter, the content of which is roughly as follows:

Coach Smith:
Thank you for your letter.

It should be no problem for you to ask Ike to practice golf on business leave, but the department also has a relative request.William, a top student in our department, has academic and creative talents. The department intends to recommend him as the winner of the Rhodes Writing Scholarship, but the scholarship also requires sports performance. Unfortunately, Mr. William has limbs and has sudden heart attacks, which often occur.

In order for William to receive this honor, the department would like to invite you to use William as the center of the school team. However, due to the heavy and time-consuming homework of the English Department, he will not be able to participate in all your court practice. Please allow him to take a "official leave" once a week ", so that he can concentrate on writing.

William is the soul of the department. If he cooperates, it will be no problem for Ike players to ask for "office leave".

English Department

Professor Adam
Our middle school and high school students are often transferred to do "shows": parades, typesetting, standing at attention in the sun to listen to lectures, dancing general dances, doing general exercises and so on.College students seldom do this kind of large-scale "show", but they continue to do individual performances: reception, translation, training, tour guide, "civilian diplomacy", and justifiably cancel the regular class.And the so-called "office holiday" clause is not a letter asking the professor if the student can miss that class, but a notice telling the teacher: I want this student, and he is not free to attend your class.

I think it's time for someone to write a letter like this:
So-and-so length:
There were ten students in my class who were absent from the exam this morning. Your signature was on the "public holiday" note. It turns out that the school will award an honorary degree to Bishop Tutu tomorrow. You need students to prepare for the venue and rehearse the ceremony.

Although for these ten students I probably have to explain the homework again after class, create another test question, and find a make-up test time suitable for ten people, I feel it is worth it, because the award to Bishop Tutu is of course more important than teaching.

Here I also have a small request.My drama class is rehearsing French Sartre's "The Fly". Dozens of people are needed to play the fly. Due to the lack of students, I would like to borrow ten staff members from your office to play the red-headed and green-headed ones in the English Department during working hours. fly.The rehearsal time is about two hours each time, I wonder if you can give your staff this little "official holiday"?
Tianluodi
Originally published in "Zi Li Evening News" on May [-], [-]

Someone else is using their brains.

The Taipei County Government plans to spend 530 million yuan to build a park and a stone sculpture park on Guanyin Mountain and the mouth of the Tamsui River.

Building parks is always a good thing, right?The life of modern people is so tense, and the space for activities is so cramped. A park is like a comma that you can hardly hope for after reading a sentence that is too long to catch your breath.

However, the Taipei County Government has high expectations for the planned park, which must "combine traditional arts and modern features, and also have the functions of culture, education, leisure, and entertainment."In addition, it also needs to use "the progress of modern society and fine traditional ethics as the theme, to express the traditional stone carving art, and to play the function of aesthetic education." (local edition of China Times, April [-])

This park has a long way to go.The stone carvings inside must not only express traditional craftsmanship, but also promote the progress of modern Taiwanese society.To whom is it preached?Of course, most of them are residents of Taipei County.Why should it be advertised?Obviously to let the public understand "what the government has done for you".How to promote it?The so-called social progress, in Taiwan, roughly refers to things that are hard, big, and made of cement: highways, airports, dams, oh, don’t forget the nuclear power plants, all of which are our proudest achievements .In Bali Township and Wugu Township, there are probably a lot of Caodilang who have never seen the world. They have never seen any highways or nuclear power plants, and they don’t know the progress of our society. Therefore, the Taipei County Government believes that this stone sculpture park can take on the task of publicity. .Take a big stone and manually carve out a model of a nuclear power plant with one knife at a time, then you can fully "combine traditional art and modern style".

But wait a minute, this park has to carry forward "excellent traditional ethics". Our "excellent traditional ethics" has accumulated for 5000 years, which is too much. The most important thing is perhaps loyalty, filial piety, love, loyalty and peace?How to express such an abstract idea?As an artist, I can only think of two ways.One is to imitate, for example, to carve a stone into a saluting gesture of a soldier, representing "loyalty"; to carve two stones, one standing and one kneeling, representing "filial piety" and so on.The other method is relatively simple. Simply carve eight stones with the characters "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faith, justice and peace" and line them up so that everyone who enters or exits the park can see them as soon as they look up.This kind of direct enlightenment is more effective for Cao Dilang in Wugu Township, but it has a disadvantage. Taipei citizens who visit will think that these stones are engraved with road names.

It is the progress of modern society and the excellent traditional ethics and morality. This two-pronged approach ("two-pronged approach" means that both tubes are filled with ideological feed and poured down one throat at the same time), the park at the foot of Guanyin Mountain It may achieve the planned multiple functions of culture, education, leisure, entertainment, aesthetics, etc. These functions are translated into the slogan "Moral, Intellectual, Physical Education and Entertainment" written everywhere on the walls of elementary schools.The Taipei County Government really covers everything. A park is also a classroom, an art gallery, a playground, and a museum, waiting to educate everyone who walks into the park.

This kind of park is really chilling.Take a look at the world outside our park: roads are for people to walk on, but some people think that roads should also play a role in publicizing and enlightening.So when we walk, our eyes have to be busy absorbing knowledge; straight slogans and horizontal slogans are whipped on our eyes like a whip: respecting teachers, eliminating mess, two children just happen to be... the train is for people Take the bus from A to B, but as soon as you sit down, your eyes are closed, and your ears start to be trained: We must unite and cooperate, be self-reliant, strive hard, and make progress from scratch. We must... Envelopes are used to hold letters When I turned it over by post, it caught my eye and said "preserve our national culture and return our national freedom" and "China must be strong". I don't know what the relationship between sending Zhang Pingxin and China must be strong.A restaurant is a place for people to enjoy food, but while drinking soup, they can't escape the stickers on the red pillars: "Pay attention to food safety and pay attention to hygiene habits", "Loud noise disturbs people's peace".

Or, go to Tamsui to see the historical sites!Entering Hongmao City, a first-class historic site in Taiwan, you can see signs everywhere, not to introduce the explanation of the historic site, but "It is forbidden to urinate here"!Forbid peeing here?In Red Hair City?This brand may be for dogs to see immediately, but the human eye has to see it, and it is hard to forget after seeing it.

Well, then take a walk in the green countryside!There is no "writing" pollution in the suburbs.Look at the distant mountains, ah, there are several huge characters on the distant mountains, which are cut and arranged from vegetation, either the name of the school or the name of a great man.Looking at mountains is not mountains, looking at water is not water.Then look at the near tree!It is close to a tree, cut into a fish, a bird, a rabbit, a tortoise, it is not a tree anyway.Then go to the edge of the rock and look out!There is a gazebo made of cement by the rock. On the bright red pillars of the pavilion, there are words: All evil and adultery are the first, and all good and filial piety are the first.Go to the open sea, where there should be only water and sky.No, there is a beautiful small temple by the sea, and the words on the temple pillars tell people to wake up early, turn around and be right.

Word by word, word by word, why no one protests the pollution of words, mountains are not mountains, water is not water, trees are not trees.Mountains, water, and trees, to some people, seem to be just tools to propagate moral thoughts.Our process of "education" begins very early.When I went to kindergarten, I had to sing to my teacher "Brother and Dad are so great... I am a soldier and laugh haha"; when I became a primary school student, the meaning of celebrating Children's Day was to stand under the hot sun and listen to the principal's speech "How to be filial to your parents", in exchange for a Wrap candy, and the cellophane that wraps the candy is printed with "Save the Compatriots in Mainland China"; after middle school, you have to read the twelve rules of youth in front of the portrait of the "Father of the Nation"; serve the country".Leaving school, I thought that my "educated" mind could take a break, but unexpectedly, walking, taking the train, buying envelopes, and going to restaurants, there are dogmas everywhere, and words are everywhere, domineeringly stabbing meaning into tired eyes , planted in the brain that has no space left.Even the mountains, forests, and vegetation that originally only had cosmic significance have been deliberately arranged, with artificial consciousness added, as props for propaganda.

No room for comfort is left, and the dogmatic living environment is like a huge net that covers the sky and the sky, and there is nowhere to hide.

So there is another stone sculpture park.This row of stones reminds you of loyalty, filial piety, love, faith, righteousness and peace.Go forward and turn a corner, and a large stone tablet is engraved with words, telling you that the row of stones you just passed explains the progress of modern society, and the other row of stones reminds you of fine traditional ethics.Oh, you also missed the stone in front of the toilet, engraved with "Do not defecate here", the row of stone carvings behind the toilet tells you that this park cost 530 million yuan, provided by taxpayers, and its purpose is to provide you with moral, intellectual and physical Group entertainment; this stone sculpture park is educating you, beautifying you, awakening you, promoting you, cultivating you, transforming you...

A future I am afraid of: the rhododendrons outside the window emit the word "Struggle", and a large stone tablet appears on the Guanyin Mountain in the distance, with the words "Revival of Chinese Culture" written on it.The white clouds in the sky are blown into words: see the virtuous and think of the same.On the Guandu Bridge in Danshui, there are four signs: "Drinking Water Thinks of the Source".A large balloon floated over the emerging construction area, with the words "Strive Upward" written on the balloon.The lawn on the campus, looking down from the top, forms a "loyalty" character.Then, add another loudspeaker, broadcasting a hard female voice every hour: We're going to make... great...

Ah, who is creating such an environment where there is no comma, no blank space, no space, no freedom of thought, so tight and dense that you can't break free, and the eyes, ears and mind are exhausted, and the net is so overwhelming?
Give us a park, a park with no words, no meaning, no enlightenment, only green grass!

A weak country, would you say "no"?

Originally published in "China Times" on June [-], [-]

The corpse collection truck was already full, densely packed with flies clinging to the naked corpses, which were basking in the sun.The worker grabbed Rajiv's body, found a gap in the corpse cart, and pushed Rajiv's head down, his feet still outside the cart; the cart started again.

Little Rajiv was only six years old, with dark hair, bright eyes, and thin legs.The permanent chemical factory in the United States was discouraged. The six-year-old Rajiv was just a child in the so-called third world country. There were thousands of Indians, old and young, men and women, who were exposed to the streets with him.Rajiv's pregnant mother, who is about to give birth to a child, will no longer have thick black hair and bright eyes.

(End of this chapter)