How do "other people's children" grow up?

Excerpt:

This is how "other people's children" grow up

The towering resume makes Peking University students call themselves "scumbags"

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Xu Xiaoyu, a Beijing high school student with delicate features and delicate features, has a reputation as a master among his peers.

In the online community where "competition parties" gather in math competitions and physics competitions, people are inquiring about his whereabouts. He was called "Xu Shen" because he "broke the record of the great gods". Some people joked that out of worship for him, they knelt until their "knees were destroyed."

Out of curiosity, Peking University student Zhao Weijia searched the Internet for information about this middle school student, and then sighed: "Heaven! How can we 'student scum' live?" Among today's Chinese students, "learning "Scumbag" is the latest way to describe poor academic performance.

What makes Zhao Weijia laugh at himself as a "scumbag" is that "his math and physics competition scores have reached the level of the national team."

To be precise, Xu Xiaoyu’s “towering” resume includes that he was first selected for the Chinese national training team for the International Physics Olympiad. During the training period, he insisted on doing mathematics Olympiad problems, and took leave to participate in the domestic mathematics competition. He won the gold medal in the Olympiad and was selected into the national mathematics training team. He might appear in the International Olympiads in both disciplines if the rules do not prevent him from participating at the same time.

Therefore, before the 2014 Olympiad, the "competition parties" have been speculating on his choice.

Finally, the contenders for the math gold medal have one less rival. In July 2014, Xu Xiaoyu and four teammates went to Kazakhstan to participate in the 45th International Physics Olympiad. A Canadian team member met Xu Xiaoyu and immediately asked him politely, "Do you know Xu Xiaoyu?" Knowing that the person involved was right in front of him, this Canadian peer said: "You are very famous in Canada - especially in the Mathematical Olympiad!"

Xu Xiaoyu also defended his reputation in the physics competition: He won the first gold medal among 374 players.

Ever since he was a child, Xu Xiaoyu has been the kind of "other people's child" that Chinese parents often talk about because of his excellent academic performance.

He has never even considered the issue of further education. In the prestigious High School Affiliated to Beijing Renmin University, he was among the best in all subjects. Before he devoted most of his energy to competition, his academic performance was always among the top three in his grade, which meant that he could be selected from either Peking University or Tsinghua University. In his sophomore year of high school, he won the gold medal in the Domestic Mathematics Olympiad, entered the national training team, and was pre-admitted to Peking University.

Before graduating from high school this year, his name appeared on the list of recommended students of Peking University as promised. Starting this year, the Ministry of Education has adjusted its policy on extra points for the college entrance examination. High school students who have won five Olympiad national awards in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and informatics are no longer eligible for recommendation, with the exception of members of the national team's training camp. Many Olympiad winners have been stuck at the door because of this. Xu Xiaoyu is certainly among the "exceptions".

But he "squandered" this opportunity. More than two months before China's college entrance examination, he received an admission notice from Princeton University in the United States, and the school was willing to provide him with an annual scholarship of US$40,000. The day he received the notice was his 18th birthday.

He felt he was "lucky." On the day Princeton interviewed him, he was undergoing training for the national physics team at Nankai University and took a special leave. The examiner happens to be an astrophysicist. As soon as the interview began, the two started chatting directly about physics.

And "luck" is something this young man rarely mentioned. His entire academic career to date has been marked by fierce competition that cannot be circumvented and cannot be overcome by luck alone. He started taking part in the Mathematics Olympiad in the third grade of elementary school and the Physics Olympiad in the second grade of junior high school. He has a long list of domestic and foreign competition awards he has won.

After winning first place in the Moscow Mathematical Olympiad in 2012, he spoke at an awards ceremony and said that this "should be regarded as an achievement", but compared with the International Olympiad gold medal, "maybe not even a fraction" It doesn’t even count.”

The initial motivation for participating in the mathematics competition was vanity, but later it became more about curiosity and fun

He did not choose the Olympiad path by himself. Like many children, he was initially sent to extracurricular training classes by his parents. The difference is that he found happiness.

Now, among the suggestions he was asked to write to other students, he included "it is not recommended to enroll in more than 5 extracurricular classes, and it is not recommended for parents to coerce and induce students for the sake of grades." He also does not advocate staying up late to study after 10 p.m. He heard that some people were still reviewing on New Year's Eve, which he said was "very incomprehensible."

However, in an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily, Xu Xiaoyu emphasized that the Olympiad cannot be beaten to death with a stick and cannot be stopped due to choking.

The Olympiad extra points in college entrance examination admissions have been cancelled, but in many regions’ extra point policies, “ideology and moral character” are still an important one. He found it difficult to understand this: Compared with head-to-head Olympiad results, these bonus points are easier to influence. What's more, competitions are of great benefit to future basic science learning.

He admitted that when he was a child participating in mathematics competitions, he inevitably felt a sense of vanity. But in middle school, especially after high school, the vanity was still there, but it was more curiosity and fun that supported him. Some parents force their children to learn Mathematical Olympiad in order to facilitate their further studies. This phenomenon definitely exists, and perhaps it accounts for the majority. "Most people don't think mathematics is particularly beautiful from the beginning." However, interest does not necessarily come from innateness, but can be acquired. The "satisfaction" of being praised by others becomes the motivation to continue learning, until the understanding of mathematics becomes deeper and deeper. This is a step-by-step process.

During the Mathematical Olympiad, he sometimes experienced "incomparable joy" and had the feeling of "searching for him thousands of times in the crowd, but suddenly looking back, that person is there, in the dim light".

His road to the Mathematical Olympiad also had its setbacks. Because he failed in a high school league exam, he was not even selected for the provincial team. When he was in high school, he once thought that if he entered the national team one day, it would be considered a success. But if you can't get in, "it can't be considered a failure."

"Because when I persist like this, when I can finally face all this bravely, when I face mathematics with perseverance and love mathematics with all my heart, I I feel that I have achieved the greatest success.”

His idea is close to that of Ng Bo Chu, the first Fields Medal winner produced in Vietnam. Wu Baozhu was also a gold medalist in the International Olympiad. He fell in love with mathematics during the Mathematical Olympiad and decided to pursue mathematics as a career after graduating from high school. Maryam Mirzakhani, the first female Fields Medal winner in history, was recently announced and was also a two-time Mathematical Olympiad gold medalist.

Like them, 18-year-old Xu Xiaoyu has already decided that he hopes to engage in mathematics and physics research in the future. He only filled in these two directions on his application form to Princeton University, "he wouldn't let go of either one."

At the same time, for many years, business schools have been the favorite place for many top scorers in the country’s college entrance examinations. Xu Xiaoyu, on the other hand, "has never thought about" going to business school. "To be complacent, it is simply a waste of my talents in mathematics and physics." He said, "I have no interest in that. That's how it looks from now on."

A top student is not a nerd, so don't give up on your hobbies

Winning first place in the Olympiad, Xu Xiaoyu has exceeded his high school goal of "success." But his excitement didn't last long. "Aren't you just living your life how you want to live?"

He believes that one of his shortcomings that "must be admitted" is that he is a little conceited. The advantage is that you have self-awareness, "knowing where you can be conceited, and where you can be conceited, not even confident."

In his opinion, at least in terms of mathematics and physics competitions, he is "extremely confident". However, now he is "still nothing" and there is still a lot of knowledge to learn, not to mention there are still A lot of things beyond knowledge.

Zhang Chunling, one of the national team coaches who has coached Xu Xiaoyu and associate professor at the School of Physics at Nankai University, does not think the student is conceited. She said that Xu Xiaoyu is very strong in mathematics and has a great mutual promotion effect with the study of physics. In the national team, he is thoughtful and good at communicating with others.

This handsome young man, who is 1.8 meters tall and wears fashionable black-rimmed glasses, is not a nerd. His extracurricular life is much richer than that of most middle school students.

He started playing table tennis and basketball in elementary school, and learned to play bridge when he was in the second grade of junior high school. He participated in some bridge competitions in Beijing and considered his bridge skills to be "the best among the second-rate, and the second-rate among the first-rate." ". He likes science fiction and martial arts novels. Like many young people, he is a follower of the novel "The Three-Body Problem" by science fiction writer Liu Cixin. He has read each of Jin Yong's novels more than three times.

"Playing bridge or reading novels can make people use their brains. For example, when playing bridge, you have to calculate the entire playing situation in advance. When doing it, you need to turn your head quickly and think It’s very helpful for learning mathematical physics,” he said.

Even during the national team training, he would take some time to read novels. He also often goes to Peking University to attend classes. In addition to mathematics, he likes the "Ancient Chinese Politics and Culture" class at Peking University.

In his advice to others, he emphasized that you must not read novels, send text messages, play with mobile phones or do homework during class, otherwise it will lead to a weak learning foundation and an impetuous mentality. At the same time, "Don't give up on your hobbies."

Just like he has basically completed junior high school courses in the first grade of junior high school and has basically completed high school courses in the second grade of junior high school, Xu Xiaoyu used the training time at Nankai University to completely self-study the basic college physics course, and felt that "it shouldn't be particularly difficult." . He hopes to complete his undergraduate courses in the first two years of college.

In Jin Yong's novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Jin Lun Dharma King made a comment to Yang Guo, which he deeply believed in: "Brother Yang, you have many tricks in martial arts. I am not just relying on my old skills to say that you can learn from them." Although all schools are wonderful, they are also mixed and impure. What kind of kung fu are you best at? ”

He believes that he participated in mathematics and physics competitions at the same time, maintained his academic performance, and applied. When going abroad, you rely on four words: dedicated time.

After winning the Olympiad, Xu Xiaoyu spent his last summer vacation before studying abroad on tutoring middle school students, teaching Mathematical Olympiad classes to the students at his alma mater, the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China.

He likes to "help others." His study notes are regarded as a "study guide" by many people, and even people from other places ask for them. He copied and mailed it to many people.

Due to insufficient supply, he scanned the assignments for this year’s National Mathematics Training Team into electronic versions and stored them in a network disk for netizens to download. He also announced a math problem. Whoever solves the answer will know the password to extract the network disk.

"Getting something for nothing is not a good habit." "Xu Shen" said half-jokingly.