I know I was given a nickname “Qi Pa” (loosely translates to “a geeky weirdo”) when I was in high school. At first, I could not accept it. What is a Qi Pa anyway? According to the Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese, Qi Pa is a “unique and beautiful flower”， although Baidu would return Gao Xiaosong when you run a search (Laughter as the photo of Gao appears on screen). All joking aside, Gao Xiaosong as a famous alumnus of Beijing No. 4 High School a versatile genius in our hearts, and he is, indeed, “unique and beautiful”. 

Later, I started to feel misunderstood on top of dismissal. To be honest, I was the most normal student in my “monster class” and the most common kind in this class of geniuses. Perhaps in order to let me feel better, Headmaster Liu and my teachers said I was the most “comprehensive and well-rounded” of the students. 

Talking of the Day Yuan Experimental Class, which was introduced by the President just now, I would like to share my personal experience as a student. I joined the first batch of Dao Yuan Class in 2010. According to the call for applications announcement, future students must have a compulsive enthusiasm for a certain field. They must exhibit top-notch cognitive and reasoning abilities, creativity and an extraordinary level of motivation. The aim was to develop “outstanding innovative human resources for different fields”. It was not common to see these keywords to associate with a high school, so the Dao Yuan Class itself got the same nickname, Qi Pa, or weirdo class. The class was so legendary to the point that there were rumors around that someone in our class can cut 20 tomatoes with a bare hand in one minute... Having heard this, we really started to ask around for the best tomato cutter in our class. We came to realize that all these bizarre images are built on top of rumors. 

Non-typical education is personalized education

Dao Yuan Class is an experimental effort for new education models. It is an “exception” in high-school education, it provides non-typical education.

Of the 17 students in my class, one is obsessed with buses and my school invited a mentor from the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) to support him. BIT even arranged a space for his research. Another classmate was so absorbed in writing a novel that, with the permission of the school, she went backpacking around. The school even extended her school term. There were a couple of students who were very interested in history and politics. Our history teacher would hold round-table sessions an encouraged them to debate. We had a mathematics genius who took additional lessons in a science-oriented class, mentored by a top-level teacher in China. And the list goes on. We have an open-ended research class, in which our teachers would give us broad research topics to choose from. Examinations include many open-ended questions too. 

Even myself, the “well-rounded” one, was able to dive deep into what I was interested in. I participated actively in charity and community work, organized forums and clubs, which gave me a deeper understanding and more training on leadership and cooperation. Particularly, I had high expectations for myself in humanities, and I was able to receive wonderful guidance from the Dao Yuan Class. My Chinese language teacher once took me to the Summer Garden where we watched the sunset and talked about life’s values. It felt like a new level of initiation to me. In my second year at high school, once I published my first book “Ge Wai” (Out of the ordinary), my book appeared in many bookshelves across the campus. These little gestures of encouragement mattered a lot to me. 

To me, Dao Yuan represents a shared vision, or Dao, among teachers and students, and Yuan means origin or the very core elements of education. The class environment for the first batch might not be the most developed of all, but we all tried to find our own ways in terms of learning. Dao Yuan provided us with unique spaces and time, and taught us how to appreciate and develop ourselves as individuals. Dao Yuan’s non-typical education is a kind of individualized education. The more individualized it is, the more vitality it has. It is about courage, determination, passion and happiness. When developing our unique selves in a calm and peaceful way, we take charge of defining success. In English, exception means exclusion or non-conformance. Exceptional means excellence and remarkable. 

Non-typical education is about opportunities

Non-typical education is also about opportunities. 

The experience I cherished the most is organizing the 8th International Pierre de Coubertin Youth Forum as the Program Director. I was responsible for the overall planning and coordination of the forum, managing a team of 94 volunteers. It was the first time the forum was hosted in Asia, and was organized by Beijing No. 4 High School. To commemorate and promote the Olympic spirit, the Forum invited over 200 students from 19 countries to compete and exchange in areas such as art and culture, sports and academics. 

Mr. Shi Guopeng who was in charge of the event approached me and asked if I would like to act as the lead volunteer and do the planning and coordination. The school trust us so much to the point close to indulgence, giving us the absolute freedom to try. When setting up the team, I went up to a few classmates and invited to join as coordinators or persons in charge of sub-components. In the summer of 2011, I was leading my team to keep track of goals and plans, assign work, rehearse and much more. The forum was a complete success, but my biggest take-home message was the new understanding of opportunities and their creation. All team members were absolutely brilliant. They contributed their own talents, provided support to each other, never let go of opportunities. Everyone said we were the most powerful team ever in the history of Beijing No. 4 High School. I still remember Mr. Shi calling me a “general” in his email. I am truly grateful for the opportunity given by my school, and equally appreciative of the help given by my team members. 

At Beijing No. 4 High School, I feel all students are “weirdos” in a positive way. Some are extremely vocal; some are more sure-footed and attentive, but all were brilliant students. In addition to the Pierre de Coubertin Youth Forum, what impressed me most was the personal exhibitions of calligraphy, photography and inventions by some classmates; the active engagement in the science and technology festival and charity campaigns by others. They even published their own independent magazine and wrote their own operas. Everyone has their own strengths and hobbies. 

People always say since high schools like ours have more educational resources, which means more opportunities. However, having been a student there for three years, I have my own observations. Firstly, I believe the amount of resources and opportunities are just skin-deep, and is not what matters most. What is important is the quality of opportunities given to individual students. This is the core value of a school because what matters and what is most tangible is the healthy and contented development of each individual student, rather than the growth of reputation or strength of the school as a whole. 

Secondly, a school should not just allocate opportunities, it should create opportunities for their students. For a young person, opportunities are much more than awards, titles, scores and funding. An exceptional and unique opportunity, as well as the innovation of opportunity itself would not only lead to new innovative achievements but will also influence how a person understands and be thankful for opportunities. It inspired me to create opportunities and encourage others to accomplish. 

Non-typical education is about tolerance

Thirdly, Non-typical education is about tolerance. 

Moderating and facilitating events has always been one of my passion since almost ten years ago until now. As the facilitator, I participated in many lectures by world-class scholars and businessperson. I used to moderate events at the Great Hall of the People and Beijing National Stadium, and have learned a lot from senior experts in facilitating events. The most memorable experience was back in September 2010, which was the first event I facilitated after I join Beijing No. 4 High School. It was an important donation ceremony. The more I care about it and the more I wanted to prove myself, the more nervous I became. That’s why when I started to announce the opening, the word “conclusion” almost slipped out of my tongue. The event would have well been “concluded” right at the start, had I not managed to realize my oncoming mistake. Fortunately, the event went on quite well. But I could not help but cry after its completion. I still remembered my classmates and friends came and congratulated me. The headmaster said I was very professional as a master of ceremony. At the school gate, my mentor came up to me and said I did a great job, citing minute details of my performance. 

This is just a small example that happened to me, and there are many other similar hiccups happened to many of my classmates. Students in my school are known for their academic excellence, perseverance and discipline, but all these are built on the tolerance of the school. If a student or their family members have a hard time, it might be a burden and distraction for the student. In response, a bit of special care and expectation is enough for them to pull themselves together and move on. 

I remembered my headmaster used to mention that “education is a slow and elegant process”. He also said, “tolerance makes a great mind.” I was wondering, however colorful or difficult a person’s high school life is, it is just an ephemeral, dormant stage of one’s life. What is a dormant stage? It is somewhere between active and inactive, between sleep and hibernation. It is a kind of dormancy and latency. When you receive education, you are in a dormant stage, which might last a lifetime. We are fortunate to be accepted, tolerated and even exceptionally commended at this dormant, pupal stage. I believe non-typical education looks at success and development through the lens of an entire life. It allows and tolerates dormancy.  

This brings me to the Chinese solar term Jingzhe in the Chinese lunar calendar. According to Proceedings of government in the different months of the Book of Rites (Liji - Yueling), “All things derive from zhen, which suggests the idea of thunder. Hence Jingzhe, or the awakening of hibernating insects. Such a period of dormancy will always appear in our lifetime. And only with sufficient amount of dormancy can we break through and transform ourselves out of the pupal stage. Perhaps as a rule in education, sufficient tolerance translates into sufficient support. 

Non-typical education is about equity

Finally, I would like to share my experience about the entrance exam for Dao Yuan. It was also the most unconventional exam I have ever taken. In the morning of the exam day, we received a thick stack of exam material. Dozens of pages long, the exam material contained more than 10 articles covering a variety of topics and fields. The requirement was to pick an article and write an essay about it. After we had submitted our work at noon, we were surprised to know that we could continue to work on the article from home and submit any supplementary work by email. What I chose was an article written by Zhu Guangqian, entitled “Three attitudes towards an old pine tree”. I could not recall what exactly I wrote, but it was mostly on aesthetics, on truth, goodness and beauty, and on life. 

I still remember how happy I was when sitting at the exam, and words just so naturally flowed. Later in the interview, I was the first to be asked into the conference room, where a Chinese teacher asked me to explain what “universal compassion” meant to me. Many other questions were asked but none of them was a multiple-choice question, none of them has a standard, correct answer.  

I realized later that the interview was designed in such a way to examine my interests, academic potentials, learning ability and psychological fitness. The exam activated my mind and gave me inspiration. It made me wonder how lovely it would be if every exam is taken as an opportunity for learning and adventure. An exam then, should not always be merely an assessment, but it should involve anticipation. If you are looking for genius, ask a brilliant question; if you are looking for innovation, innovate your exam first. An examination is an occasion that links the examiner and examinee.  

This is indeed a non-typical exam, but I believe it redefines equity. An individualized selection process is not at a higher level than equal and fair selection; rather, it extends equity and fairness, achieving equity by going beyond it. This kind of selection is based on an assumption that everyone is unique and beautiful. Only by providing matching education can the flower of “weirdo” have the fullest bloom. 

Later, I went on to study at a world-class innovative university. For many, I might be carrying on the spirit of “weirdo”. In fact, my take on education has already taken root when I was still in high school. I insisted on finding the niche education that fits me, and I believe every stage in life will bear fruit in the future, therefore I believe in lifelong learning. 

August 18th is the birthday of my Dao Yuan classmate and friend “Ms Appetite”, and I take this opportunity to wish her a happy birthday. Recently I met a few classmates and had a lot of conversations with them. We felt closer after graduating from universities. We understood each other well, and as classmates, we have a special trust and respect towards each other. This will probably be the most genuine and rare relationship we will have in our lifetime. So far, we might not be examples of success, but we are definitely happy. Seven years have passed, and Ms Appetite, who has watched thousands of movies, has founded her own film production company. Sister Jiang, aka boss of all exams, just finished her theatrical arts studies at Berlin and is moving to New York for work. Jiahan, my artsy classmate born and raised in Beijing is busy disseminating literary classics. The guy obsessed with buses is still passionate about his research. And my new book is about to release next month. Our high school education continues to brew in our life, and it continues to shape us into what we wanted ourselves to be when we enter the high school. That interest, attention and passion have not changed a bit, and continue to nurture our development.  

I know, everyone’s memory of their high school experience is extremely personal. It may be unforgettable, it may be disappointing, nostalgic, or even remorseful. I am not here to review the education of my high school, nor am I here to judge the Dao Yuan model. I am just here to share my remembrance and gratitude. I believe that if you have ever felt indebted to your education experience, you must have been given an exceptional treatment. In this kind of non-typical education, you come to understand the meaning of personality, opportunity, tolerance and equity. These keywords are not so much about the substance of our education, but rather, they will be the core elements of our life and value creation. 

Three days ago, after the chat with my Dao Yuan classmates, I decided to use “Weirdo” as the title of my talk today. I would like to thank my weirdo teachers and friends, as well as Beijing No. 4 High School, the spiritual harbor of us weirdos.