School of thought

Following the lives of three students over a decade, from senior middle school to their college graduation, the documentary Dare to Grow Up explores issues of schooling and parenting, and raises questions about the purpose of education.

Directed by Zhang Lin, the documentary consists of four 35-minute episodes and primarily tells the growing-up stories of three people, born in late 1990s, who went to middle school at the same time－Zhou Ziqi, who did well in studies; literature and movie enthusiast Chen Chuqiao; and hardworking town girl Li Wenting.

"A good education should inspire students to find their intrinsic motivation, which will keep driving them to move forward despite setbacks, not only in school but also in life," Zhang says.

In 2011, Beijing National Day School was selected by the Ministry of Education as a pilot site for education reform. The changes in curriculum and teaching methods happened in the prestigious middle school in the capital's Haidian district. It was then that the documentary started recording the lives of the three students.

The documentary has been viewed more than 50 million times on Tencent Video since its premiere on Feb 24, and is rated 9.6 of 10 points on the streaming site.

It won an award at the International Busan Contents Market exhibition in 2019 and the Golden Kapok Award at the 2020 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.

On review platform Douban, a user named Vernalwind comments that the documentary poses questions to viewers: What kind of education do we need and what kind of people we want to become? Another Douban user, Daydreamer, says it has made people realize how different schooling can be.

According to Zhang, the documentary has grabbed more attention than she expected. It has triggered wide discussion and reflection on the current education system among viewers.

New generations

The first episode starts by showing Zhou's argument with his teacher about why students are not allowed to wipe their sweat during military training in the middle school.

The argument is a rare scene in most Chinese schools, where students are usually obedient, but at Beijing National Day School, such argument is common. The students even set up a council to negotiate with teachers and influence the school community.

"When I first met these students, who were born in late 1990s, I was shocked by their confidence and critical thinking," Zhang says, adding that it is a different generation from hers.

Born in 1986, the director graduated from Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication in 2009.

"Understanding them can help us better deal with the generations born in the three decades after, because the questions and difficulties that they may face are likely to be similar," Zhang says.

Take Zhou, for example. During his senior middle school years, the straight-A student couldn't get a girlfriend.

Another thing that bothered him was what major to study in college－although he preferred history, his father insisted on finance. He faced a dilemma as many of his peers did－either to follow his heart or to seek for a stable career path.

The director says: "Every parent hopes his or her child will be a good student and land a well-paid job in a big city. But there are fewer people asking why everyone sets and pursues similar goals or even questioning if the goals are reasonable."

She adds that time is changing so should the education mode, not only in classrooms, but also at home, which is often neglected in public discussions.

Zhou regarded the national college entrance exam as his school life's mission.

But Chen's life took a different turn. She kept thinking about what she was good at and who she wanted to be. During her senior middle school years, Chen wrote a novel and tried to shoot a short film.

Later she furthered her study at the Visual Arts School at the New York Film Academy in 2015. She now works in the movie industry in Beijing.

While some found Zhou and Chen inspiring, Li's story made many viewers, even the director, feel connected. Zhang describes Li and herself as xiaozhen zuotijia ("small-town swots").

Before entering Beijing National Day School in 2012, Li received exam-oriented education in a small town in Shanxi province. She felt isolated and confused at the new school, where students could select courses according to their own interests.

At the school, students did not study in a fixed classroom with the same teachers and classmates. Instead, they could choose the courses they liked among several options, moving from one classroom to another and studying with students from different grades.

Change gradually happened to Li as well.

In the third episode of the documentary, she was no longer the shy girl she once was, but a confident student who tried K-pop dancing in school.

Changing approach

Despite changes in the approach to schooling over time, the effects of education reforms have persisted. New measures, such as the "double reduction" policy to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on students, are being implemented for better management of the education system.

"No matter what kind of reform, we should go back to the purpose of education," Zhang says, adding that the documentary is to seek for a potential solution in the field.

After he graduated from the middle school, Zhou enrolled in Peking University as a history major. In the documentary, he says campus life has made him realize that he is an ordinary person.

Zhang says the education the students received in the school has led them to accept who they are.

"Nowadays, there are many students who get into elite universities, like Peking University and Tsinghua University, but they gradually lose their passion for life. Equipped with lots of knowledge, they don't know why they live," Zhang says.

"Entering a good college and landing a good job is a universal target, but no one tells you what to do about the remaining decades of your life," she says, adding that some people are "stuck" because they cannot find their passion in life.

In Dare to Grow Up, Chen finds that film is "her thing". Li is also happy with her life.

Although changes have happened in their school and some other schools in the country over the past 10 years, the discussion about exam-oriented education and quality-oriented education is still on.