What's wrong with me, a school principal, listening to students' suggestions?

The next morning, Uncle Zhang, the gatekeeper of No. 13 Middle School, started getting busy.

Starting at seven o'clock, seven or eight parents gradually arrived at the school gate.

Some people rode electric bikes, some drove vans, and one old lady even rode a tricycle with half a basket of peaches in the back.

"I'm looking for Principal Lin. My child said the school has installed air conditioning, and I'm here to see if it's true."

"Me too. My daughter called last night and cried for ages, saying she doesn't want to transfer schools. I was worried, so I came to check on her."

"Air conditioning has been installed." Grandpa Zhang chewed on a jianbing (Chinese crepe) and pointed into the campus. "You can see for yourselves; it's in both the teaching buildings and dormitories."

The parents went inside with some skepticism.

After they saw the brand-new air conditioner unit, the clean and tidy cafeteria, and the shower room that was being finished, they all fell silent.

The middle-aged woman who came by tricycle stood at the entrance of the cafeteria for quite a while.

I saw students lining up with their trays to get their meals, and on the tables were steamed pork buns, millet porridge, fried eggs, and cucumber salad.

Her eyes reddened.

"My son has been studying here for two years. He used to come home and say that the food in the cafeteria was bad and asked me to bring him food."

"I sell peaches at the market, how can I have time to go to school every day?"

"I feel bad every time he calls."

"The food here now... is better than what I used to cook."

The woman placed the half-basket of peaches at the entrance of the cafeteria, saying it was for the children's extra meal, and refused to accept any money.

"Big sister, I can't just take this for free!"

Zhou Dahai poked his head out from the back kitchen and looked at the basket of peaches.

"The peaches are quite fresh. I'll make some peach gum stew with rock sugar for the kids tonight."

……

By 10 a.m., even more parents had arrived.

Su Qingyan had no choice but to set up a temporary reception point on the first floor of the administration building to receive everyone one by one.

Most parents came to confirm the information, and left after reading it, expressing their gratitude profusely.

However, some parents came with slightly different intentions.

"Principal Lin, my child is a first-year student at Experimental Middle School, and their grades are below average. Could they transfer to your No. 13 Middle School?"

A middle-aged man in a polo shirt sat opposite Lin Yucai, rubbing his hands together with a serious expression.

Lin Yucai almost choked on his tea.

In the history of No. 13 Middle School, only students have ever desperately tried to transfer out of the school.

No one has ever asked to transfer in.

"Are you sure?" Lin Yucai put down his teacup. "You should know that the college entrance examination pass rate of No. 13 Middle School is the lowest in the city."

"College entrance rate is one thing, but your environment..."

The man glanced out the window.

"To be honest, the classrooms at Experimental Middle School still don't have air conditioning, let alone the cafeteria."

"My child is not in good health and has suffered from heatstroke twice in the summer."

"At least here, I don't have to suffer that pain."

"My family doesn't care about how high his test scores are. We'll arrange for him to study abroad later and then come back to inherit the family business."

Lin Yucai pondered for a moment.

It's certainly good to accept transfer students now, as it can enrich the student body.

However, given the current teaching staff at No. 13 Middle School, there are very few teachers who can truly teach students well.

If you recruit people but can't teach them properly, what's the difference between that and just fooling them?

"Please leave your contact information, and we will contact you again once our teaching facilities are ready."

The man was somewhat disappointed, but he still nodded, left his phone number, and left.

That morning, four similar inquiries came in.

After greeting the last parent, Su Qingyan went to Lin Yucai's office and placed the registration book on the table.

"Four students transferred in through counseling: two in the first year of high school, one in the second year, and one in the final year of high school."

"Unprecedented." Lin Yucai crossed his legs, his tone tinged with smugness.

"Don't be too happy yet." Su Qingyan sat down, her expression not very relaxed. "Take a look at this."

She took out her phone, found a message, and handed it to Lin Yucai.

It is a screenshot of an internal notification group of the Tomato City Education System, posted by the official account of the city's No. 1 Middle School.

The content is a notice.

"In order to further improve teaching quality and in response to the city's call."

"The No. 1 High School of the city has decided to extend the evening self-study time for first- and second-year high school students to 10:30 p.m., effective immediately, and to add supplementary classes on Saturday mornings."

"Please be aware and cooperate with this notice."

Lin Yucai frowned slightly after reading it.

Evening self-study continues until 10:30?

Are there extra classes on Saturdays?

This is not improving teaching quality; it's treating students like donkeys.

"If No. 1 High School takes the lead in doing this, other schools will definitely follow suit."

Su Qingyan put her phone away.

"Experimental Middle School, No. 4 Middle School, and No. 7 Middle School will probably issue similar notices in the next day or two."

"What will happen to No. 13 Middle School then? Will they follow suit or not?"

Lin Yucai did not answer immediately.

He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the students having physical education class on the playground.

The May sun was shining brightly, and the boys were chasing and playing on the playground.

Laughter drifted in through the glass, muffled yet pleasant.

"I won't follow."

Su Qingyan paused, her eyes filled with astonishment.

"Not following? Do you know what that means?"

"What does that mean?"

"This means that, in the eyes of parents, students at other schools are studying hard, while students at No. 13 Middle School are playing."

Su Qingyan lowered her voice.

"Our grades were already at the bottom; if we don't work harder, the gap will only widen."

"By the end of August, when the Education Bureau uses grades to their advantage, what will you have to say in response?"

Lin Yucai turned around and his gaze fell on Su Qingyan's face.

"Vice Principal Su, do you think those students at No. 1 High School did well on their exams because they had extra evening study sessions?"

Su Qingyan opened her mouth.

"They have a good foundation, strong teachers, and high-quality students."

Evening self-study is just icing on the cake.

Lin Yucai put his hands in his pockets and began to analyze the situation seriously.

"The problem at No. 13 Middle School is not that there is not enough study time, but that the students simply do not want to study."

"What's the point of tying them up in the classroom until 10:30? All they do is sleep and stare blankly."

"Moreover, this will only provoke their rebellious mentality and make them seem more like they're just giving up."

Su Qingyan remained silent for a few seconds.

She knew that Lin Yucai was right.

The absenteeism rate of students at No. 13 Middle School once reached as high as 30%, and the rate of sleeping in class was even higher than 60%.

Forced extension of study time?

These students can simply climb out of a window and run away.

But reason is reason, and reality is reality.

The education bureau looks at the data, not the reasoning.

"So what do you plan to do?" Su Qingyan stared at him.

Lin Yucai walked back to the table and emptied the new notes he had received that day from the suggestion box.

A whole bunch.

He flipped through them one by one, and stopped when he got to the third one.

The note was written crookedly...

"I heard that No. 1 Middle School is going to extend evening self-study until 10:30 PM. Please, Principal, don't follow suit!"

"Our No. 13 Middle School has finally seen some hope, let's not do that."

"If possible, I suggest canceling morning and evening self-study sessions!"

"We need sleep! We need freedom! We need human dignity!"

Zhang Yang.

Lin Yucai flipped through a few more pages.

"I suggest canceling morning self-study sessions; getting up at 6:30 in the morning is too inhuman."

"I suggest canceling evening self-study sessions so we can manage our own time."

"I suggest that classes start at 9:00 AM and end at 4:30 PM, so that we can use the extra time as we wish."

There were more than twenty similar suggestions.

Clearly, the news had spread among the students at No. 1 Middle School, causing widespread panic.

Lin Yucai held the slips of paper in his hand, his heart skipping a beat.

[Numerous student suggestions detected (combined): Cancel mandatory morning and evening self-study sessions and adjust daily schedules.]

[Recommended rating: Three stars (High difficulty)!]

[Should we adopt this?]

三星。

This is the highest-rated recommendation so far.

Lin Yucai took a deep breath.

"Accept".

[Ding! Suggestion successfully adopted!]

[A special start-up fund of 300 million RMB has been allocated!]

[Task generated: Within one week, implement the school-wide schedule adjustment plan. The first class will start at 9:00 AM and the last class will end at 4:30 PM. Morning and evening self-study sessions will be voluntary.]

Task completion rate: 0%

[Completion Reward: Green Rare Treasure Chest (quality varies depending on completion level)]

[Warning: This task is highly difficult and may cause controversy within the education system. Please be prepared to respond.]

Lin Yucai raised his head and looked at Su Qingyan opposite him.

"Vice Principal Su, I've made up my mind."

"What should we do?"

"Starting next week, the schedule for No. 13 Middle School will be adjusted as follows."

"The first class starts at nine in the morning and ends at four-thirty in the afternoon."

"Participation in morning and evening self-study sessions will be entirely voluntary; attendance will not be mandatory or subject to roll call."

Su Qingyan dropped the pen from her hand onto the table.