The southern exam sites are quiet, while the northern ones are crowded with people: the gap in attitudes toward the college entrance exam hides the harshest truths of the era

This year's college entrance exam, a highly contrasting video went viral across the internet, catching the attention of countless people and revealing a very real social phenomenon.
But when the camera shifts to exam sites outside southern cities like Guangdong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, the scene suddenly becomes completely different, surprisingly quiet.
There are no parents crowding and waiting, no elaborate blessing rituals, no waves of crowds. Most students go to the exam alone or walk into the exam hall with classmates. Parents simply give a few instructions, see their children off, then turn around and leave—either to go to work or tend to their business. Almost no one is gathered outside the school waiting anxiously. At the large exam hall entrance, only staff on duty and a few passersby remain, so quiet it’s as if the country’s most important college entrance exam isn’t happening.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the scale of flexible employment in China has crossed a critical turning point, with the number expected to surpass 320 million, accounting for over 40% of the urban employed population nationwide. Flexible employment has shifted from being a “supplementary form” of traditional employment to an “important pillar” of the labor market.
In fact, 40% of people cannot enter companies to work, so the value of formal education is becoming increasingly limited. People in the south encounter new things earlier, and parents have realized this sooner. Now, aside from a few popular majors at top universities, most schools and majors are basically just about learning some knowledge, which has little relation to future employment. Therefore, children just need to attend university and enjoy their four years happily—there’s no need to take it too seriously.
As Zhang Xuefeng said back then, if you’re an ordinary family kid, studying desperately, getting into the Foreign Affairs University to study “Diplomacy,” and then thinking you can work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduation—that’s just a dream that’s unlikely to come true. $ETH