Those teachers who were present stared doubtfully and anxiously at Zhang Ye who was speaking with fervor and a.s.surance. This was no longer just a simple lesson on elementary math problems anymore.
"Who is this person?"
"What"s his background?"
"Is he really a math teacher?"
"I"ve never before come across these types of questions that Chenchen"s guardian set, nor even heard of such questions coming from other schools or appearing in any textbooks, so could he have come up with them spontaneously?"
"This problem is really quite wonderful!"
"That"s right, there"s a hidden catch!"
"It looks difficult, but is in fact really simple."
"Yes, it looks easy, but is in fact difficult too."
"Why do I feel that he looks really familiar the more I look at him? I can"t see his face clearly when he"s wearing those sungla.s.ses!"
The teachers were discussing the experience Zhang Ye had led them through just now, leaving them with mixed feelings and a sense of reflection.
Li Jiaxing was feeling the most tangled right now as he was not only a mathematics teacher, but also the most qualified teacher among the teachers present. It was still within reason that the others, the fine arts teacher, language teacher or music teacher were not able to answer the questions, but for Li Jiaxing to be unable to answer them, he was even worse than the students he called out and criticized earlier. This made him feel very embarra.s.sed. He would like nothing more than to run away or find a hole to hide. But he knew he could not run away; it was impossible for him to go anywhere!
After Zhang Ye had taught them a lesson, his anger also subsided. He said to Li Jiaxing, "Teacher Li, the meaning behind those questions can be applied to the problem you gave to the children as well. I have seen the steps in solving the question on the whiteboard, and the separation solution you used was in line with an adults" thoughts and problem solving pattern, but very different from what a child has learned from kindergarten and onwards. That is why the children could not understand what you were teaching." He picked up the marker, raised his hand, and wrote something onto the whiteboard. "What if I explained it this way? Chenchen, do you understand it now?"
Chenchen took a look and said, "I understand."
"Ah, I understand!"
"I know how it is calculated now!"
"So that was how it was calculated!"
The other children also chimed in, expressing that it was now clear to them.
Zhang Ye revealed his own opinions and said, "And that is the reason why all of you think that the questions I posed just now were some sort of wondrous questions. That was what I meant. It"s only good for the students if the teaching style is suited to them. At least, I feel that we shouldn"t enforce the mindset of an adult onto the children. Each certain age group has its own thought process, be it primary school students, secondary school students, high school students or university students. Each of them should have a different education plan based on their thought processes. We have to move along with the times and ages of our beneficiaries."
Everyone became speechless at this.
Philosophy was even taught through these elementary math questions?
Hidden reflections about society and education were contained in these elementary math questions?
These types of math questions were literally unheard of before by Li Jiaxing, the teachers, and school leaders, but today they were truly enlightened. At this moment, even if they were fools, they already knew that they had met an expert!
Li Jiaxing breathed in deeply and asked curiously, "Which…age group of students are you teaching? Are you also a teacher teaching primary school students?" In his opinion, if someone could set these questions based on the thought process of primary school students, then it was very likely that he was also a primary school teacher by profession. That must be the reason he could understand the children so well. As for Li Jiaxing, he had only been transferred to teach at a primary school in the last year, which was why he had a different line of thinking when teaching them as he was still more familiar with teaching high school students, thus making Zhang Ye look a little better than him.
The other teachers also thought the same.
However, Chenchen"s guardian gave an unexpected answer. Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Me? I used to teach university students."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"University students?"
"You are a university teacher?"
"Surely not?"
"But you"re so young? How could you be a university teacher!"
"That"s right, how can there be such a young university math teacher?"
The teachers of No. 2 Experimental Primary School were expressing voices of doubt.
Li Jiaxing as a master"s degree holder was also stunned, because he knew what it meant if one could be a math teacher at the university level. Mathematics as a subject was quite different from other subjects, as qualifications were not the only thing needed. Even though he already had master"s degree, if he wanted to teach at a university, he had to first go through an interns.h.i.+p and have worked for some years to gain the necessary experience. Even so, he might not end up being able to teach because the requirements of a university teacher were much higher than high school or junior high!
"Which university did you teach at?" Li Jiaxing knew some people in this field and was unsure whether Chenchen"s guardian was telling the truth, so he wanted to get to the bottom of things.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I taught at Peking University previously."
Li Jiaxing was shocked, "Peking University? Which Peking University?"
Zhang Ye said, "How many Peking Universities does China have?"
When everyone heard that, they were left with their eyes wide and mouths agape. What the f**k! Peking University? The top ranked higher educational inst.i.tute in the country? A globally renowned university"s math teacher?
F**k!
Could he not say something that was so ridiculous!?
How could he be a teacher at Peking University!?
A female music teacher laughed and said, "Chenchen"s guardian is really humorous, hee hee hee."
Li Jiaxing asked again, "Which school do you really teach at?"
Zhang Ye became speechless at this.
The form teacher, Zhao Mei, finally spoke up and said, "Teacher Zhang really is a teacher at Peking University. Not only is he a teacher, he"s even an a.s.sociate professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Peking University."
A Peking University teacher?
And even an a.s.sociate professor??
The school leaders and teachers nearly fainted from shock! Could it get any more exaggerated than that? To be a teacher at Peking University in his twenties was already shocking, he"s even an a.s.sociate professor? How could that be possible!? The number of teachers at a university in China were just a handful, since when was there such a young a.s.sociate professor??
Eh?
That"s not it!
Wait a moment!
Li Jiaxing suddenly remembered something, as his expression suddenly changed into one of fright. It was as though he had been greatly shocked by something. Then he said with a slight loss of his voice, "You! You are Zhang Ye!"
Those words were like a bomb that had exploded in the cla.s.sroom!
The vice-princ.i.p.al of No. 2 Experimental Primary School stared at Chenchen"s guardian and said, "You"re really Zhang Ye!"
The fine arts teacher slapped her thigh and said, "Hai! No wonder I was thinking about why he looked so familiar! So it"s because he is Teacher Zhang Ye! I should have guessed it!"
"What the f**k!"
"…"
"That"s what I thought!"
One by one, the teachers started to recognize Zhang Ye!
They felt that they had really been stupid at this point of time. A guy in his twenties, wearing sungla.s.ses in a cla.s.sroom, with solid foundations in mathematics, and also an a.s.sociate professor at Peking University—other than Zhang Ye, who else could it be! Right, some time ago, there were rumors going around in school that a second grade student"s guardian was a celebrity. At that time, several of the teachers had seen Zhang Ye during the public cla.s.s. It was in this second grade cla.s.s that the famous "Tribute to the White Poplar" originated from. But as some time had pa.s.sed, people had already started to forget about this matter!
But today, Zhang Ye has appeared again!
The person most affected was of course Li Jiaxing. He certainly knew who Zhang Ye was. Not only did he know him, he was also a hardcore fan of Zhang Ye. What Li Jiaxing admired about Zhang Ye was not his programs nor his poetry, but his unfathomable standard of mathematics!
Thinking back, when he found out that the long unsolvable Dale"s conjecture was solved by a Chinese mathematician, Li Jiaxing"s excitement was indescribable and lasted for a long time too. On that day itself, he had posted many messages onto Weibo, highlighting his pride as a fellow Chinese mathematician. At that time, it was the first time he had come to know of Zhang Ye"s legendary name. From then on, he had regarded Zhang Ye as his idol. In Li Jiaxing"s view, Zhang Ye was a new wave of leaders, and also an important pillar in the Chinese mathematics world. Just he alone could hold up and support the entire Chinese mathematics world, allowing it to stand up with its chest out in the global field of mathematics. The scene and excitement at the time when the conjecture was solved, was perhaps only something that a true math pract.i.tioner would be able to understand. It was a feeling of having his heart pumping hard, the hot-blooded pa.s.sion and excitement of a mathematician!
That was why, at this moment, Li Jiaxing felt like he wanted to vomit blood for three straight days and nights!
What was I doing just now? I was arguing over some math questions with Professor Zhang? I was arguing about how math education should be conducted with a world cla.s.s mathematics master?
Your sister!
Argue my a.s.s!
This was something on a whole other level!!
Faced with a living G.o.d of the mathematics world, Li Jiaxing could only stand there in a trance. If he knew earlier that this was the ill.u.s.trious Zhang Ye, he would not have dared to argue over the math question with him, even if it killed him. Not only him, even his mentor in mathematics would not have the right to hold an exchange about math or science with a great mathematician like Zhang Ye. Their level of difference was too great, so there was really nothing they could exchange. At the most, his mentor would be there to "listen"!
This was really Zhang Ye!
This was really the legendary Zhang Ye!
Li Jiaxing was genuflecting, he was thoroughly and sincerely genuflecting!!