"Don't let kids lose at the starting line."
We hear this phrase a lot, especially from parents. In this era, almost all parents understand the truth, that is, in addition to family background, parents' education level, and talent, there is another important factor that determines the gap between people - education.
All parents are trying to do the same thing, which is to sharpen their heads and send their children to better schools and education. Exams are a war between children, and competition for educational resources is a war between parents. In order to keep their children from losing on the starting line of life, parents are simply heartbroken, spending money where they can spend money, trusting relationships with relationships, and playing unspoken rules with unspoken rules.
Not only in China, but also abroad.
The Indian movie "Starting Line" tells a heart-wrenching story about the pain and hardships experienced by a wealthy couple in order to send their children to the best schools. Even, they once unscrupulously gave up the bottom line of being a human being.
The male protagonist, Raj, is the son of a tailor. He fell in love with the beautiful female customer Mita at first sight. He quietly pursued the pursuit, moved the goddess with sincerity and love, and finally brought the beauty back.
A few years later, the financially minded Raj became a well-known local clothing boss, while Mitta became a full-time wife and gave birth to his daughter Pia. On the surface, they live a prosperous life, with a harmonious husband and wife, and a happy family. It can be said that they live an enviable and happy life! But the rich have the troubles of the rich. Before the couple, there is a headache: the education of their daughters.
Mita's concept is that she and her husband have not suffered too much cultural loss. Now that they are finally rich, they must not let their daughter repeat the same mistakes, so she must use all resources to give her the best education. Her goal is to send her daughter to the best school in the area.
This school has a history of hundreds of years, and has trained many world-famous politicians, stars, economists... In short, it is the cradle of the elite. Your own daughter had better go into the cradle and shake it.
However, Mita found out after inquiring that this school is a cow, but not everyone can enter. If you want to enter, you must meet at least one rigid condition, that is, your residence must be within three kilometers of the school. This concept is similar to when you want to send your child to a certain school in Beijing, you must have a school district room.
When Raj heard that he wanted to buy a house in the school district, he was immediately stunned, not because he couldn't afford it, but because he was used to living in the old house and didn't want to move. But Mita said, "If you don't move, don't you? If you don't move, your daughter won't be able to go to a good school. If she doesn't go to a good school, she'll go bad with the gangsters. If she doesn't study with the gangsters, she may take drugs, take drugs... I won't talk nonsense with you. , In short, if you don't move, you won't want to have sex from now on, hum!"
Seeing that the goddess was mad, Rake Ear Raj immediately gave in, and went to the school the next day to buy a large villa.
Although he moved into a high-end residential area, wore big-name clothes, drank expensive wine, and held high-end parties, he still could not integrate into the circle of high society. No matter how rich you are, the elite parents around this school still look down on you. Because essentially, in their view, you are not of the same class as them.
Mita thought about it, if you can't integrate into the upper class, you won't integrate. We moved here for our children to go to the best school, not to integrate into the upper class. Love whoever you want.
In order to pass the school's interview, they also signed up for a training class and let their daughter receive special training, and the couple also received interview training.
But in the school interview, they were eventually rejected. It's not that the children are not good enough, but it is because, although they are rich, they open clothing stores after all. Even if the annual salary is one million, the school still looks down on them. In contrast, the parents of other children have a higher social status. higher. Yes, the school recruits students not only based on whether the parents have money, but also whether the parents have reputation.
It's really frustrating.
"Starting Line" satirizes education in India in a poignant way. It reveals the reality that the best schools are not for ordinary people, but for nobles!
This reminds me of what the top liberal arts scholar in Beijing's college entrance examination said last year. He said: "It's getting harder and harder for children in rural areas to get into a good school. Now the top winners are from such families who are good and powerful."
Why are the champions all good and powerful at home? Because they can receive better edification, get better educational resources, and get better training since childhood, they have opened a big distance from the starting line.
For example, in "Starting Line", the threshold for education is set up, which makes the gap between education even wider. This exacerbates the solidification of class. Children of nobles can receive better education, and with better education, they have more opportunities to obtain better jobs and better social status, while children of ordinary people receive worse education. In the end, if you don't have extraordinary talent, most of them will only become ordinary people. This is a terrible endless loop.
However, compared with the poor, the rich without social status can break this seemingly unbreakable cycle in various ways. Just like Raj in "Starting Line", although he failed the interview, he can still ask politicians to help write testimonials, and he can also bribe the principal with a large bag of money.
Even if neither of these two plans worked, he still ushered in a turning point. He and his wife were at a loss when an employee of his company came to bring him a wedding cake and told him that his son had actually entered the best school. In an aristocratic school, the daughters of rich people who earn tens of millions a year can't get in, but the sons of those who are poorer than themselves and have a lower status than themselves get in. You can imagine the expressions of the Raj couple who have eaten shit. .
This is the most ironic part of the movie. It turns out that in order to be politically correct and to reflect the equality of education, the school will reserve some places for poor children every year. This is actually a very thief approach. In fact, many poor children will drop out of school within a year because their academic performance cannot keep up with the rhythm and other reasons.
But for the Raj couple, this is a good opportunity. In order for their daughter to enter the school, they moved to a poor settlement and pretended to be a poor household.
Here, you have to sigh at the huge gap between the rich and the poor in India. In the slums, there are flies that spread diseases everywhere, and everyone's rations are collectively supplied, with a fixed share every day. That is, living in the same country, there are two very different modes of resource allocation.
With the help of his poor neighbor Shyam, Raj finally passed the exam, and his daughter, along with Shyam's son, qualified for the best school.
However, in the final stage of drawing lots, Raj's daughter got the chance to enroll, while Shyam's son did not. Shiam's son even felt that he was not caught, not because of the injustice of the system, not because of bad luck, but because of his own bad luck.
This scene once again brought the irony to a high point. The children of the pretended poor were given the opportunity to go to school, but the real poor were not.
Just like at the end of the film, Shiam complained after learning the truth that Raj was actually a rich man, "You rich people have mastered power, occupied land, and now, come to steal resources for our children to go to school."
In fact, what is even scarier than the rich people stealing the opportunities for poor children to go to school is that the principal of that school has been cooperating with the rich people to operate this kind of thing.
Therefore, in the end, Raj broke the truth of the whole incident, exposed the corruption of the principal in front of all the parents, and denounced: "Education has lost its essence, and now education is a business."
The ending of "Starting Line" is somewhat idealized. Although Shyam knew that Raj stole his son's chance to enter the school, he did not choose to report it. Raj finally found out in conscience, went to the principal to explain the truth, and asked his daughter to drop out of school. , went to public school.
People of both classes, whether it is the rich Raj or the poor Shiam, are very kind in their bones. In the beginning, when Raj's daughter was admitted to school, Shiam was worried that they could not afford the high school fees for the poor, and even risked her life on the road to bump a car. , extorted a sum of money to Raj.
And Raj's final choice was even more idealistic. After all, he did everything possible to get his daughter into a prestigious school. Would he really choose to drop out?
However, in the film, the irrationality of the distribution of educational resources is exposed very boldly. The establishment of the famous school is magnificent, like a palace.
Public schools, on the other hand, lack funds. Children don’t even have desks and chairs in class, and the toilets are so rudimentary.
When I saw this terribly different facility, I suddenly understood why Raj and Mita were desperate to send their daughter to a private school.
In order to give their daughter a good education, Raj and Mita did everything possible, and even stole the opportunity of the poor. In order not to let their daughter lose at the starting line, they once gave up the bottom line of being human. But is it their fault? No, it's the system's fault, it's the meat-eaters' fault.
When society starts to get out of balance, human nature gets out of hand. "Starting Line" is not only for Indians, but also for Chinese. It's not just for parents, but for those who really have the right and the ability to change the system.
There are a lot of injustices in this world, but I hope that education can be fairer anyway. Only when education becomes more and more equal, the high class wall will not become higher and higher, and it will become more and more unbreakable.
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