Recently, the “National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Contest” has gone viral. The reason is simple: almost every publicly available winning entry is at the level of a Master’s or even a Doctoral thesis, rivaling articles in well-known journals. Yet, the authors of these works are merely middle school or even primary school students. They have crossed various “insurmountable” chasms to complete research projects that would be “Greek” to many people, and even to many professional graduate students. This list of winners has caused quite a stir online, making us “onlookers” deeply feel the power of the “Houlang” (the younger generation). The situation is still escalating; gradually, investigation teams are being formed, statements are being issued, some are apologizing for “excessive participation,” and others are insisting they “did not participate.” It is a spectacle that netizens are following with great interest.
In my view, to calm this storm, especially the public outcry, we cannot simply handle cases individually as they are exposed. As long as the relevant officials are neither blind nor foolish, they should see that the most effective suggestion from netizens is to organize on-site defenses, preferably live-streamed, so we can appreciate the brilliance of these “Houlang” up close. However, clearly, no such response has been seen yet, perhaps because there are “skeletons in the closet” or other concerns. Furthermore, simply dealing with the projects is not enough. If it is eventually confirmed that most projects are problematic, then all relevant judges should be suspended and investigated, or at least punished for dereliction of duty. After all, it takes two to tango. To put it bluntly, as long as the judges’ minds are functioning, they can judge that most of these works exceed the “scope of capability.” Since they passed the review anyway, it is not excessive for them to pay a price.
Fraud happens every year, but there seems to be an abundance this year. Even so, why do I specifically choose to talk about this? Many might think this is just an ordinary case of fraud, and some might even say “the children are innocent; the fault lies with the parents” to advise against over-circulating this news. But I believe this cannot be treated as a simple fraud case. As we all know, the number of winners is limited. I believe there are contestants who worked honestly on their own. The problem is that projects done honestly within one’s “scope of capability” likely “cannot hold a candle” to the works currently on the winning list. Therefore, the more honest and hands-on you are, the more likely you are to be filtered out. This is never an isolated case; wasn’t it the same for the various mathematical modeling competitions we participated in during university? Thus, when the works of these “Houlang” stand on the podium, the ones truly doing research are forgotten in the corner—this is nothing short of strangulation. Although this so-called “National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Contest” does not affect one’s life trajectory as severely as the Gaokao (College Entrance Exam), I feel this is essentially no different from “identity theft for university admission.”
Therefore, I believe everyone should contribute to the momentum of this issue. Although our idle talk here might not change the overall situation, if enough people talk, change becomes possible. At the very least, it might make certain people restrain themselves when performing similar actions next time. The ultimate victims might still be the children, but we cannot refrain from saying what needs to be said just because children are involved in the whole affair.
Don’t forget the feelings of those children who were rejected for no reason.
(This article represents purely personal views and does not represent the opinions of anyone else.)
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