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The end of school is getting closer. Will Tang Shangjun, who has taken the college entrance examination 16 times, register at South China Normal University as scheduled next month, or will he choose to repeat his studies?

Tang Shangjun still said in his latest live broadcast that it was "difficult to choose". On one side is reality, on the other side is ideal. How to balance them? Is it difficult or unsolvable?

Tang Shangjun asked himself this question, and seemed to be asking netizens as well.

"Part-time work is temporary, the most important thing is to think about the future." Tang Shangjun said that he is at a crossroads in life and has never been so entangled and conflicted. "On one hand, there is reality, and on the other hand, there is ideal. How to balance them, or only choose one and leave regrets? This question is difficult to answer..."

■ Tang Shangjun works part-time as a photographer

Last July, after learning that he was rejected by Central China Normal University for "refusing to accept professional adjustment", Tang Shangjun also used the phrase "crossroads of life" to describe his distress and confusion.

The choice he faced at that time was whether to repeat his studies. And now, Tang Shangjun is still struggling with the same question - whether to repeat his studies.

The difference is that last year the question was whether to repeat the year after failing the exam, while this year the question is whether to give up the admission and repeat the year.

The reality Tang Shangjun refers to is that he was admitted to South China Normal University to study a major he was not interested in. Of course, the reality Tang Shangjun must face also includes his age of 35 and his gray-haired mother who needs to be supported at home.

And his ideal is still to “study at Tsinghua University”?

Is "going to Tsinghua University" really the dream that Tang Shangjun has been pursuing for 16 years? Only Tang Shangjun himself knows the true answer.

But "going to Tsinghua" does give Tang Shangjun a more reasonable explanation for repeating a grade for 16 consecutive years, at least it is logically self-consistent. This also gives Tang Shangjun a distinct and unique label - a label that attracts a lot of traffic on social media.

■ Tang Shangjun's Weibo authentication information

Tang Shangjun seems to be getting better at mastering the traffic password. In addition to posting dynamic videos at important nodes that netizens pay attention to, such as checking scores, announcing college entrance examination results, filling out applications, and checking admission results, Tang Shangjun also broadcasts live from time to time.

Tang Shangjun was struggling over whether to go to college this year, and even launched a vote among netizens in the live broadcast room. His performance was simply incredible to some netizens. Some netizens even thought that Tang Shangjun was "pretending to be entangled, but really playing tricks": he actually had the answer in his mind, but was just deliberately setting up suspense to continue the popularity in order to gain more traffic.

■ Netizens' messages to Tang Shangjun

In a live broadcast started by Tang Shangjun after the admission result was confirmed, a university teacher advised him bluntly: Don't repeat the year this year, "Even if you repeat the year for another 10 years, you will not be able to get into Tsinghua University or Peking University. It is actually meaningless for you to spend more than ten years taking this set of college entrance examination papers. There is more than one path in life, there are thousands of paths in life."

The teacher even bluntly told Tang Shangjun, "As for your traffic problem, I don't think it's important."

"Ideals are based on reality. You have been thinking about the question of whether to go to college or not for more than ten years. Isn't that enough? How many decades do you have to waste in your life? You are in your 30s, don't think about problems with the mind of a 10-year-old!" A netizen gave Tang Shangjun this advice>

■ Netizens' messages to Tang Shangjun

An indisputable fact is that reality has long shattered Tang Shangjun’s “Tsinghua dream”.

However, after breaking away from the "obsession with famous schools", Tang Shangjun seems to have fallen into the "obsession with professionalism".

Since last year, Tang Shangjun has adjusted his goal of further study to a teacher training program at a well-known teacher training college. This year, he continued his thinking when filling out his application. However, because his score did not meet the admission score for the major, he was transferred to the information engineering major at South China Normal University.

In the opinion of Xiong Bingqi, the president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, Tang Shangjun's repeated re-enrollment due to his obsession with "not studying at any university other than Tsinghua" was extremely irrational. Similarly, the obsession with "not studying any other major" is also irrational.

Xiong Bingqi pointed out that majors are only a vehicle for cultivating abilities. In the era of universal higher education, there are more and more cross-disciplinary employment, especially at the undergraduate level, where professional studies emphasize the cultivation of general abilities. "This also requires students not to place too much emphasis on majors, especially to downplay the concept of whether majors are popular or not, and to focus on cultivating and exercising abilities."

Dr. Lu Xiao, an education expert and founder of the Law of Energy of Family Education, pointed out incisively that Tang Shangjun’s 16-year college entrance examination journey is not an inspirational story, but actually another kind of lying flat.

Lu Xiao believes that after failing to realize his dream of entering Tsinghua University in the previous college entrance examinations, Tang Shangjun should have realized that he was "not up to the task" and did not have the ability to be admitted to Tsinghua University. But why did he "go to the mountain of tigers despite knowing there were tigers there"? In Lu Xiao's opinion, the negative energy brought about by the disappointment in his heart has lowered Tang Shangjun's expectations for life. He has no motivation to go to college and would rather try the college entrance examination again and again and refuse to enroll again and again. In his subconscious, whether he is qualified for the identity of a college student and whether he is qualified for the social role after graduating from college are big question marks. "So, it is better to 'lie down' and numb myself year after year in my familiar 'college entrance examination comfort zone'."

As far as the college entrance examination policy is concerned, if Tang Shangjun repeats his senior year, it is his right and his personal choice.

However, life should always be about moving forward, not standing still, let alone being stuck in the college entrance examination for 16 years and not being able to get out.

Tang Shangjun’s college entrance examination journey should be over, and the public’s attention on him should also be over.

I hope that Tang Shangjun, who answered the college entrance examination questions in 2016, can answer the life choice question he faces this year.