“Elite Students” of Chengdu School Have Dinner with Principal

From NetEase, ifeng, & Xinhua:

Chengdu middle school selects 19 “top students” to have dinner with the school principal

November 23rd evening, a high school in Chengdu selected 19 “top students” from around 4000 students to be recognized by the school and enjoy “best treatment”–having dinner with the principal. The “selection criteria” looked at the recent mid-year test scores, and the feast was paid for by the school. Students and parents did not oppose this action by the school, and there was even a student who became so emotional during the dinner that she began crying. Photo source: Chengdu Experimental Foreign Languages School (West Campus) school website.

The school say the dinner is to inspire and motivate the outstanding students who are “elegant in their behavior, and excellent in their accomplishments”.

The school said on its official website that “several teachers in the office spent days preparing the “outstanding student representatives and school principal dinner party”. Finding an elegant dining location, preparing a menu suitable to the students’ tastes, organizing a fancy student reception dinner, they prepared a sumptuous dinner: 8 cold dishes, 21 hot dishes, 1 soup, and 2 small small dishes.”

The school principal said during the dinner, “Organizing this dinner party is to provide the elite students a chance to meet each other, communicate, and relax. What makes a school good or bad is determined by the state of development of its students. At the same time, I trust that in a few years, our school will become amongst the best and most beautiful schools, and you all will have been a decisive force.”

Photo is of the number one [student] in the humanities class sharing her success and experiences at the dinner.

Photo is of a student bursting into tears.

Photo is of the school principal serving food to a student.

Photo is of a school leader viewing the menu.

Students “toasting” the school principal.

Students “toasting” to the school principal.

Student interacting with each other at the dinner.

School leaders and the “elite students” making a toast together.

School leaders taking a group photo with the “elite students”.

Students interacting with each other at the dinner.

Where the dinner was hosted.

Menu for the Top Student Dinner.

Comments from NetEase:

网易广东省深圳市网友:

The school principal really wants to have dinner with third generation officials [the children of the children of government officials]!!!

无聊闲人1 [网易广东省广州市网友]:

If you can become so emotional as to cry just by eating with the school principal, then would seeing a county head or whatever cause you to immediately fall to your knees?

yi表淫才 [网易江西省南昌市网友]:

The school principal is just a SB, him fashioning himself as a high level person. Recommend that he be removed from his position.

春青波秋 [网易辽宁省网友]:

What kind of concept is “Top Students”? Nothing more than a bunch of rote memorizing nerdy boys and girls who stay home, don’t play around too much, who have lost their childhood nature, and who in the future will definitely emigrate abroad and forget even their own mothers.

南薄荷 [网易浙江省金华市网友]:

Like a “domestic [Warren] Buffet”… Not charging people money to have dinner is already not bad, and is giving the students face.

网易广东省江门市网友:

I only remember that before Jesus left, he had the Last Supper with his disciples…and became a legend.

qdxuq [网易山东省手机网友]:

I don’t feel there’s anything bad/wrong about this.

网易新疆乌鲁木齐市手机网友:

Using strength/hard work to win respect. That’s a good thing.

网易澳大利亚手机网友:

Diligently learning is indeed worth promoting, it’s just that China’s current education system results in children not having any childhood innocence, in youth without passion… I’m from the rural countryside and I had tested into the county’s number one high school. At the time, it was something really worth rejoicing over, but it was those years at this magnet high school that I had the most miserable years of my life. Though I got into university, it was all from burying my head in my studies, waking up at 4am in the morning, going to sleep at 12 midnight…Eating at the school’s cafeteria, food without salt or oil… I lost life’s most beautiful youth… And now, even though I am overseas, I have never felt appreciative of my magnet high school’s teachers, and I even hate talking about anything related to it… You can imagine, just how much harm Chinese style education has done to our mental and physical well-being… So children these days, if their grades are good, it is definitely not something to be proud of… Only if their bodies are good, their thinking good, is it truly good… Excessive rote memorization will only ruin people…

spikespigel [网易山东省青岛市网友]:

Even the education system can divide innocent and pure children into different ranks and grades, let alone the legal system…

网易湖北省武汉市网友 [topbest2009]:

Bill Gates didn’t even finish high school, and he’s the richest person in the world. Inferior students [underperforming students], I support you guys!

网易广东省网友: (responding to above)

The SB “drop out of school” notion, without seeing the essential difference between our China’s tens of millions of school dropouts and elites like Bill Gates and the recently departed Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The latter voluntarily dropped out of school in order to realize their ambitious visions, while the former is because they are of low intelligence, have no interest towards school/learning, breaking rules everyday, making trouble everywhere, out and out society’s slackers and dregs who drop out of school after teachers, counselors, school officials, and even their own parents have tried their best to educate them over and over again without result. SBs, think, is the number of dropouts who have become elites in our country high? Or is the number who have become society’s cancer higher?

网易广东省东莞市网友:

How much money did this meal cost????

Woe! Woe to China’s education system! Why not have dinner with to so-called inferior students?! Inspire and motivate them! Crazy! Principal! So sad! Trying too hard to become famous!

网易山东省淄博市网友 [耗子扛枪]: (responding to above)

Why eat with the inferior students? Should military medals be given to cowards? In competitive sports, should the medal be given the last place? What kind of bullshit logic is that?!

网易广东省中山市网友:

Crazy, and making toasts too. How old are they? And like this our adorable next generation is ruined~ Turns out that children not only need to study hard and bring glory to their schools, they also need to learn the skill of making toasts~~

网易浙江省杭州市网友 [我晕哦]:

This method [of recognizing outstanding students] I actually don’t feel there is anything inappropriate. Don’t always think what other people do is unfair, what’s wrong giving students who do well in their studies a bit of motivation like this? I think its great, is it wrong to be recognized for doing well in one’s studies?

qdyaya5 [网易山东省济南市网友]:

Teaching you Chinese banquet/meal culture when you’re young.

dupsya [网易安徽省合肥市网友]:

Hosting meals, formalism, government leaders are the best at these things. Them doing this on their own is no big deal, but why drag students into it? To get them while they’re just babies? I’ve really hated these things ever since I’ve started working.

雪夜红拂 [网易河南省郑州市网友]:

Having a meal with the school principal is a really good motivation/encouragement method. But what needs to be improved is that grades/scores should not be the only evaluation standard. Those children with poor grades, from poor families, who are “inferior students” in the eyes of their teachers, who need concern and help need the attention and care of the school principal even more. Another thing, if the school principal could often go to the students’ cafeteria and dine with the children, would that be even better?

网易江苏省无锡市网友 [wxxjz918]:

I only notice that the girl sitting next to the school principal is the prettiest…

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the school hosting this kind of dinner party for its “top students”?