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Zhang Yiwen, a prodigy who was once in the limelight, is now in an indescribable predicament. In September 2020, the government suddenly seized the "Shengtong Private School" founded by Zhang Yiwen's father in Shangqiu, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to him.
Originally, as a father, Zhang Mintao has always regarded this private school as his daughter's future stage, expecting her to shine here, but now, this good wish has come to naught.
Since graduating from university, Zhang Yiwen's situation has been quite bumpy. At the age of thirteen, she could only serve as a temporary teaching assistant in a private school, and her monthly salary was only about 1,000 yuan.
Due to the undesirable phenomena such as late arrival and early departure, her salary has been deducted many times, and her living situation has become more and more embarrassing.
Faced with the current situation that the private school was closed and the future was bleak, Zhang Yiwen felt unprecedented confusion and confusion. Her eyes were lowered, and her brows were filled with melancholy, as if she was asking herself what to do, and as a thirteen-year-old girl, she was facing the most important decision of her life.
To understand Zhang Yiwen's current predicament, we must trace the journey of how she was shaped into a "child prodigy" step by step. It all stems from the ambitions of her father, Zhang Mintao.
When Zhang Yiwen landed, her father planned an amazing life blueprint for her. He hoped that his daughter could take the college entrance examination at the age of nine, be admitted to the university at the age of ten, and obtain a doctorate at the age of nineteen, and then enter the palace of high society.
In order to achieve this goal, Zhang Mintao implemented a strict "pulling out seedlings to help grow" education for his daughter. While other children were still in kindergarten without worry, four-year-old Zhang Yiwen was forced to bid farewell to immaturity and start a heavy learning career.
She lost almost all of her time for games and entertainment, and could only bury her head in hard work day after day.
As expected, under the careful cultivation of his father, ten-year-old Zhang Yiwen was admitted to Henan Shangqiu Institute of Technology with an excellent score of 352 points and became a veritable "prodigy".
Zhang Mintao was ecstatic and convinced that his educational philosophy had achieved brilliant results, and he took his daughter to show off the honor in clothes printed with advertisements for private schools.
However, at this moment full of pride and glory, Zhang Yiwen's lonely college career quietly kicked off. As the youngest student, she was out of place with her peers who started at the age of 18 and struggled to fit in with the group atmosphere.
In just three years of college, she not only lost her friends, but also made her increasingly introverted and withdrawn. Zhang Yiwen's experience is really suffocating, and it also triggers us to think deeply about his father Zhang Mintao's educational philosophy.
Zhang Mintao completely denied the value of life and play as a child, and regarded his daughter as a pure learning machine. Since the age of four, he began to indoctrinate Zhang Yiwen with a high degree of knowledge, leaving her almost no room for entertainment and rest.
This is undoubtedly a serious distortion and suppression of children's physical and mental health development!
The more thought-provoking question is whether Zhang Mintao's excessively extreme pursuit of academic achievements is worthy of praise? Is it reasonable for him to expect his daughter to enter a university campus at the age of 10 and receive a doctorate at the age of 19? Shouldn't we pay more attention to the all-round and balanced development of our children? Cover many aspects such as moral character, intellectual ability, physical fitness, aesthetic taste, and labor skills, rather than just pinning all expectations on excellent academic performance.
Zhang Yiwen's personal experience is truly heartbreaking. As parents, we should deeply reflect on how to guide our children to thrive in a scientific and correct way.
Excessive squeezing of the intellect and depriving children of the joys of childhood will only bring endless psychological trauma to children.
On the contrary, we should give children enough freedom to grow up naturally under all-round care, which is the highest state of education.
Faced with the reality of the failure of his daughter's education, Zhang Mintao did not waver in the slightest. Instead, he set his sights on his son and orchestrated a more rigorous education program for him.
Zhang Mintao firmly believes that the reason why Zhang Yiwen failed to achieve the brilliant achievements he hoped for was only due to a brief period of rebellion during adolescence and failure to fully follow his teachings.
He is convinced that as long as he gets through this difficult time, his daughter will be able to get back on track.
So, Zhang Mintao made up his mind to practice his "prodigy training plan" on his son. He expects his son to pass the college entrance examination before the age of 14 and be successfully admitted to the juvenile class of Xi'an University, surpassing his daughter's achievements.
All indications clearly point to Zhang Mintao's unwavering persistence in his own views on such an extremely radical educational concept that promotes seedlings.
Although her daughter's difficult experience did not teach her any life lessons, it pushed this behavior pattern to a new peak.
In the midst of this catastrophe of her father's education concept, Zhang Yiwen, a 13-year-old girl, is currently suffering from a tragic test of life choices. Trapped in the abyss of strict control from an early age, she lacks not only the basic skills of independent living and socializing, but also a deep concern for the future.
Without adequate financial support, her future will undoubtedly be plunged into endless darkness.
The key to everything lies in Zhang Yiwen's own choice. Will this former high-profile "prodigy" be able to reinvent himself and find new opportunities for development? Or will he sink forever and achieve nothing? This once proud girl is now full of melancholy in her eyes, and her eyebrows are full of confusion.
We sincerely hope that she will be able to regain her courage and hope, listen to her inner voice, and open up a new world for herself. After all, everyone should have the power to choose their own path in life, and not be manipulated by others.
Although Zhang Yiwen's story is deplorable, it is also a wake-up call to remind us of the serious consequences that parents can have when they expect too much from their children.
Every child is unique, and they have their own unique pace of growth and development. As parents, we owe it to them the fullest respect, rather than imposing our own ideals and ambitions on them.
The "prodigy road" that Zhang Mintao carefully built for his daughter is destined to be a road full of thorns and high costs.
At the same time, education is supposed to be comprehensive. Intellectual development is crucial, but life skills, social skills and independence should not be neglected.
We should strive to create a balanced environment for our children, leading them to grow up with love and patience, rather than betting all on academic excellence.
From Zhang Yiwen's case, we have a deeper understanding of a cruel reality: the so-called "child prodigies" are often more the product of their parents' ambitions than the children's own choices.
They have never been endowed with true subjectivity, lack an independent personality, and can only passively follow their parents' arrangements.
We must overturn this situation! We should cherish the precious subjective will of children, listen to their innermost hearts, and then lead them to master the ability to think and make decisions independently.
Only in this way can they have true freedom on the vast path of life, achieve all-round growth, and thus develop a unique and independent personality!
This is undoubtedly the highest level of education, and it is also the core value that our society should uphold.