2023, the first keyword

Focusing on education inevitably means focusing on children.

I think many friends are parents themselves.

So I'd like to ask everyone to first set aside external labels and return to your identity as parents.

Recall the moment when you first became a parent, the first time you saw that crying little life. My moment was in the deep, thick of the night.

The arrival of a new life is like a beam of light piercing through the darkness in the crisp chill of early spring.

All the anticipation, imagination, and everything experienced to nurture this life,

When I saw him, I was completely speechless, with only tears streaming down uncontrollably.

Behind these silent tears lies an emotion too profound to dissolve, a reverence for the power of life, and an awe for the miracle that life itself represents.

I believe it is this emotion, this reverence, this admiration, that drives every ordinary parent to move forward day by day in the ordinary moments of life.

If we were to return to that moment and describe our hopes and expectations for this new life, I believe each of us would have the words.

If we were to describe the direction we anticipate for this new life, it would certainly not be backward or downward, but upward and forward.

If we were to describe the state of this new life we anticipate, it would certainly not be one of confinement or restriction, but rather one of freedom and expansiveness.

Now, let's bring everyone from the earliest memories of life to the present moment, at the end of 2022, and take a look around.

I wonder if what you see now is the happiness, beauty, and peace you once hoped for?

Is it upward, forward?

Is it free and unrestrained?

If not, do we dare to ask further,

Why?

What happened?

Who is it? What did they do?

Who gave them the authority to act this way?

Why do we see,

It is the rampant spread of "evil," while "good" is treated like a rat scurrying across the street.

Why is what we hear,

The liar is clamoring loudly, while the truth-teller is fleeing.

There is peace, but it is not ours.

Ordinary people have the kind of pain that cannot be explained even by the loss of a loved one.

There is beauty, but it does not belong to us.

What ordinary people have are the shackles and purges of the past, and the despair and numbness of the present.

Once we envisioned the state of life,

It is a free-flying eagle.

Looking around, I wonder if you've noticed that most people are just like wild grass struggling to survive on barren, salty land.

You all couldn't possibly be wild grass too, could you?

I once thought that I was certainly not a wild grass.

Time rewinds to 2016, when our entire family moved from the United States to Beijing due to a new job. The child born in early spring was six years old at the time. Back then, discussions and practices around innovative education in the U.S. were at their peak, with project-based learning and small class sizes in small schools. It wasn't just talk—it was already a reality. My son's first year in the U.S. was spent in such a small school.

While visiting schools in Beijing, I realized that education has been reduced to a choice of paths: either the "Gaokao" or "studying abroad." And it's best to decide by the age of three, because once you set foot on either path, you enter a 15-year-long arena with no room to catch your breath. If you choose the wrong path and try to change your mind, the only thing waiting for you is a fate of utter ruin.

At that time, I had no educational philosophy or ideals. I was just an ordinary mother who felt that something was wrong. Is education merely about paths and pressure? If so, wouldn’t childhood be utterly destroyed? When did our expectations for our children turn into a competitive arena for trapped beasts?

If education is like this, children can't even feel happiness, so what's the point of talking about innovation? If an entire generation grows up this way, what hope can society possibly have?

So on April Fool's Day in 2016, I published an article titled "Are You Also Worried About Your Child's Schooling?" It asked some questions and shared some thoughts. Unexpectedly, the article garnered over a hundred thousand views in a single day and received more than 800 emails. It was through that article and those emails that we started Yitu, finding the first 30-plus families for Yitu School, the earliest teachers, and many fellow travelers who joined us later.

Back then, I carried many accolades—a graduate of Tsinghua University, a Ph.D. from the United States, and a former partner at McKinsey & Company. Naturally, I saw myself as an eagle, soaring across the world with my education, skills, and experience. I thought that venturing into education would surely earn me widespread support and recognition.

But I soon realized that wasn't the case.

There are indeed many supporters, but it's still difficult to get things done.

There are indeed many people who want to help you, but often, after their efforts, they let out a sigh of helplessness.

We do charge tuition fees, but they are significantly lower than those of international schools, and we have consistently operated at a deficit.

Watching investment institutions racing frantically in the education sector and witnessing education companies ringing the bell at their IPOs with great fanfare, it’s hard not to fall into deep self-doubt. Is it that we lack the capability, or have we simply not found the right path?

I remember six years ago, while searching for a venue, I rode around Beijing in a taxi, watching the endless rows of high-rise buildings recede through the window. I thought to myself: in this vast city of Beijing, there was actually no place to provide a home for a small school.

Finally, we found a place, and we were overjoyed. But no one could have predicted that over the next six years, we would move nine times. The hardship, embarrassment, and exhaustion of it all could only be understood by those who experienced it firsthand.

In the film "Forever Young," there is a thought-provoking question: If you knew in advance the life you were about to face, would you still have the courage to come?

My answer at the time was: No!

Before the pandemic, we also opened a small school in Silicon Valley. When the pandemic hit, all small organizations could apply for a government loan of $800,000. As long as more than 75% of it was used for payroll, the loan didn’t need to be repaid at all.

At the same time, on the other side of the Pacific, notifications were received: no wage reductions allowed, no delays in rent payments allowed, and no tuition fees to be collected.

Understood, they are responsible for correctness, and you are responsible for implementation.

In 2017, in preparation for a speech at the LIFE Forum, Teacher Liang Xiaoyan came to learn about what Yitu was doing.

After I finished speaking with her, she said slowly:

What you're doing may appear to the outsiders as social elites engaging in innovative education, but in reality, it's nothing more than a grassroots effort for educational self-rescue.

This sentence struck me like lightning, instantly it seemed as if everything was explained.

From the bottom up, self-rescue.

Since 2020, another layer has come into view.

Not only education relies on self-help, but what doesn't depend on self-help?

To avoid starvation, save yourself.

Need fever-reducing medicine, self-help.

Trapped in a tunnel during a flood, self-rescue.

Trapped in a high-rise fire, self-rescue.

If I help you, you should be extremely grateful.

If misfortune occurs, it is because one's ability to save oneself is not strong enough.

So, when the most basic guarantees in life depend on self-reliance, we are all just wild grass.

The survival of wild grass is undoubtedly fraught with difficulties, as the salinization of the land presents a surface of barrenness, while its essence lies in chaos and disorder at every level.

Because of the disorder,

There is absurdity as far as the eye can see,

We have so many scientists and produce so many papers, yet we fail to make our scientific voice heard.

Basic resources must be competed for.

Basic dignity must be begged for on one's knees.

Disorder is a problem ten thousand times more terrifying than scarcity.

And we are right at the center of this disorder.

But there is no choice.

Since it's a wild grass, it can only grow like one.

When dark clouds block the sunlight, become your own sun.

This sun of one's own is a treasure of three kinds.

First is common sense.

Black is black, white is white—that's common sense.

Calling black white and white black is going against common sense.

Common sense in education doesn't require studying education to understand.

For example,

What makes a good school? A good school is one that children enjoy attending.

What makes a good teacher? A teacher that children like is a good teacher.

How can one study well? Only when a child feels secure and confident can they possibly study well.

How to have a sense of security? Children can only feel secure when they are accepted, seen, and heard.

How to cultivate a sense of security? To make a child feel secure, adults must first have a sense of security themselves.

Adults living in fear cannot raise children with a sense of security.

It's that simple!

If we have such a string of common sense, we understand that many problems in education stem not from the children, but from the fears that adults dare not confront.

Out of fear, we obey.

Out of fear, we comply.

Because of fear, we remain silent.

Because of fear, we sing praises.

The most terrifying thing is that, out of fear, we begin to doubt common sense, feeling as though the emperor truly is wearing colorful clothes.

On land that defies common sense, how can children see the sunlight?

The second is the community.

A wild grass is difficult to survive.

When connected into a continuous expanse, it not only survives but may even sprout new shoots.

Education is not merely an act of the mind, but also a social behavior.

Education is not simply about providing teaching services; it is about creating an organic community experience.

And the community, for most people, is a concept that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

Familiar, because it seems we are surrounded by people, all kinds of people.

Unfamiliarity arises because most people are strangers to us, and we have never learned how to build healthy, lasting relationships with strangers to form a vibrant community.

But if you realize it, you can begin.

The essence of education is a school-centered community, which is a community of all adults—from teachers to parents—learning, playing, and growing together.

The more important value of a community lies in its ability to combat loneliness. We may appear vastly different, strangers to one another, but at our core, where we come from and where we are headed are fundamentally the same. Our imaginations of happiness, peace, and beauty are quite similar, and so are our fears. When we can listen and express ourselves at the deepest level, we are no longer alone. And when we are no longer alone, wisdom naturally arises.

Third is confronting fear.

Those seemingly formidable enemies are actually given the illusion of strength by our own fear of them.

When we are no longer afraid, it will vanish instantly like a deflated balloon.

Like boundless darkness, it is not a real existence, but merely the absence of light.

In the darkest room, as soon as you turn on the light, the darkness vanishes completely.

The switch for this light is in the hands of each and every one of us.

Every time we ask a question, every time we raise our voice, we are lighting up this light.

What is it?

What is the truth?

What is data?

Why?

Why is that?

Why is that?

Who is it?

Why do we have rights?

Who granted the authority?

Every time it opens, even if it's just the light of a firefly, the darkness will fade away.

This is certainly not easy.

When you cannot face your fears, perhaps it's time to return to the moment when new life was born.

To me, it is the light that pierces the darkness in the cold, early spring night.

It is the anticipation and hope brought by the light, which is what we long for.

Forward, upward, free, expansive, and soaring.

If asked once more:

If you knew the life that lay ahead of you, would you still have the courage to come?

I have it.

The root of suffering lies in the unwillingness to accept the truth.

And when we realize that we must grow like wild grass, we are filled with the wisdom and strength of life.

Hope never falls from the sky,

An ordinary person moving forward day by day, with a light in their heart.

The full version of this article is a New Year's Eve speech prepared for the China Education 30 Forum. You can listen to the complete, unedited version on my YouTube channel.