Awaken the Giant – Enlightenment of Successful Education

Author: Sun Yunxiao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: The core of education is to cultivate healthy personalities, and the core of healthy personalities is self-confidence and self-esteem. Success education is an art of awakening, awakening the self-confidence and self-esteem that lie dormant in children. Behind every "underachiever" is a history of injustice. Repeated failures make children worse, while repeated successes make them better. Education is to let children constantly experience the joy of success. This is another powerful work by Sun Yunxiao, the author of The Battle in the Summer Camp, and the first documentary work in China describing success education. Written for parents, teachers, and children who long for success, Awakening Giants: The Enlightenment of Success Education is 200,000 words long and divided into three parts—The Development Section, The Choice Section, and The Harmony Section, with 16 chapters. The book focuses on the success education practices at Shanghai No. 8 Middle School, known as the "jail for underachievers," combining the tragic death of Qiu'er and the different life paths of two teenage girls, Ma Yue and Qiu'er, as educational case studies. It explores the successful model of shifting from exam-oriented education to quality education, documenting and reflecting on the decade-long journey of China's quality education in a literary and historical manner.
The Development Section includes five chapters: "Facing a Pair of Eyes That Won't Turn" "Cheering for 37 Points" "First, Stand Up with Your Chest Out" "Underachievers Are Our Troops" "Is Your Engine Running?" These chapters vividly interpret the new educational philosophy of "success is development." At No. 8 Middle School, underachievers are viewed through the lens of development, allowing those who have never experienced the joy of success to relish repeated successes, thus awakening the giants—self-confidence and self-esteem—long dormant within them. The book proposes the core proposition of success education: "Success is development." Students succeed when they grow on their own foundation, which is success. Therefore, as Sun Yunxiao says, every person is a success. From a physiological perspective, every person is the successful combination of healthy sperm and egg cells within their parents, making their birth a success in the biological sense. Thus, every individual is a success in the sense of life.
Therefore, when the class monitor, Teacher Lou, told Zhang Aihua, who lacked confidence, "As long as you score one more point than last time, that's progress! That's success!" In the second physics exam, Zhang Aihua scored 37 points—30 points higher than her previous 7 points, becoming the fastest-improving student in the class. The entire class gave her a sincere and warm round of applause for her progress. The new success education philosophy saved Zhang Aihua, and the 37-point miracle miraculously changed her life. In later regional exams, she scored an excellent 74 points. More importantly, "Cheering for 37 Points" restored her self-confidence and self-esteem, allowing her to see an evolving self and a bright future.
The Choice Section includes five chapters: "The Inquiry of Life" "The Mystery of Success" "Success Breeds Success" "Confidence Wins" "Education Is an Awakening." It begins with the "bold" choice of Li Jinhai, the principal of Beijing Guangqumen Middle School, to support his only daughter in attending a vocational high school. This introduces another important proposition of success education: "Success is choice," meaning choosing the right path for one's own development. Li Jinhai is not only the principal of a key school but also a national representative, a recipient of the National May Day Labor Medal, and an advanced individual in the national education system. He is renowned for founding the "Hongzhi Class." Unlike many parents who force their children to attend key high schools or universities, Li Jinhai respects his daughter's choice and supports her in selecting a path suited to her talents. Li Jinhai says: "To truly love a child, parents should let them do what they love, not force them to fulfill the parents' wishes."
The tragic death of the 14-year-old Qiu'er is a heart-wrenching indictment of the twisted school exam-oriented education that treats scores as the sole measure of success! The author reflects: "Compulsory education is quality education for the masses, a qualified and successful education. How can it be twisted into a selection-oriented education?" Education should give children the opportunity to choose. A single-minded selection-oriented education struggles to discover and develop students' individuality and talents, yet geniuses often succeed by choosing the right path for their own development, thereby unlocking the mystery of success education: "Success breeds success." At its core, education is an awakening—awakening children's self-confidence and self-esteem, and choosing success means choosing a path suited to one's own development.
The Harmony Section includes six chapters: "Mom, I'm Not a Fool" "Daughter, What's Wrong with You?" "The Success Therapy" "Living Is Like a Tree" "Where Does Happiness Come From?" "The Fate of Three Generations." It primarily focuses on the typical case study of Ma Yue, Qiu'er's cousin, who achieves success, combined with the success education practices at No. 8 Middle School. It proposes another important proposition of success education: "Success is harmony." On the surface, 16-year-old Ma Yue is smart and beautiful, with the charming allure of a teenage girl. Yet she contemplated suicide multiple times! She was out of harmony with her surroundings, and her inner world was disordered. Why? Twisted education had stifled her self-confidence and self-esteem, leaving her feeling as if life was not worth living—without understanding, without true love, without hope.
Even in kindergarten, Ma Yue learned piano. Because her finger technique didn't meet the teacher's requirements—a normal occurrence for a child aged three or four—she was scolded and beaten by a strict teacher. This made her terrified whenever she saw a piano teacher. In the first grade of primary school, she missed classes due to illness, and two subjects received failing grades. This was also a normal situation, yet the teacher harshly criticized her, labeling her an "underachiever" and depriving her of participation in class activities and playtime with classmates, dealing a fatal blow to her tender heart. She struggled and rebelled, but the child was too weak, and the adults too powerful. Those outdated educational concepts were too deeply rooted in societal consciousness. Ma Yue had no choice but to choose suicide!
It was Sun Yunxiao, Li Shengzhen, and other education experts who saved Ma Yue. Using the philosophy of success education, they reawakened the self-confidence and self-esteem that lay dormant within her, helping her overcome her psychological and spiritual inferiority and self-negation, and granting her a new life.