How Am I Still Alive?
Chapter 1980: 1974: When the Storm Approaches

Chapter 1980: Chapter 1974: When the Storm Approaches

Another September, the season for starting school.

This time, the students returning to school found their courses had changed.

“A physical education class every day?! The homeroom teacher won’t take it over, right?!”

“Half are practical classes, half are basic sports classes. Uh, since we can all go to the playground, it’s no different, right?”

The surprised children didn’t understand the ins and outs of it. They were just amazed that their workload suddenly seemed lighter.

Although new courses like “Supernatural Knowledge” and “Double Physical Education” have been added, the total number of courses is slightly reduced.

Is it the elective courses like natural sciences being cut? No, it’s the core subjects being reduced, especially foreign languages.

Instantly, this curriculum arrangement caused a huge wave of reactions at the social level.

“This is a crime! This is murder of our children!”

“It’s sheer madness. I’ve already written to the education department! No, we need to appeal to Wanjing!”

“This is a conspiracy by outsiders, poisoning our next generation…”

Even though Wanjing has imposed news restrictions, the current news control still follows the old-era traditional media – TV, radio, newspapers trio. It lacks means to control new media and self-media.

Especially in the era where the flow is just emerging, such explosive news will surely get followed… even if an account is banned, in the era of online anonymity where real-name registration hasn’t been enforced, switching accounts and redirecting traffic will quickly lead to resurgence.

And when a piece of news spreads on the internet to a certain extent, forcibly prohibiting it in the current environment becomes extremely difficult… especially with some forces fanning the flames, fearing the fire isn’t big enough.

“We have scattered forces, civilian educational institutions, and the Proper God Church… Which ones? Dozens of them, they want to see your joke, perhaps they think you are too close to the Eastern Country’s officials.”

Sometimes, when you actually plan to do something, you realize that people and organizations friendly to you suddenly become enemies stabbing you in the back.

In the face of interest, past nodding friendships instantly become worthless.

And even Wanjing is merely watching all this happen… As a supervisor and custodian, they only need to wait for an answer; interfering directly in the past would lose their position and credibility.

“Oh, I’ve heard everyone’s opinions, especially parents’. Quite sharp, they asked how children will cope with life, what if they can’t find work, you bastards guaranteeing jobs… but here, we really do guarantee jobs!”

On TV, live-streamed online, Xue En the Panda-man speaks eloquently.

To push a reform forward, the most important thing is for stakeholders to perceive the benefits… whether in the long-term or short-term, without sufficient benefit as a driving force, why should they change?

Lu Ping’an holds chips, lots of resources and funds, even considering rebuilding a city.

But how to spend money and utilize resources to really “buy off” the citizens is crucial.

Throwing money around? Effective short-term, but dealing with the aftermath would be difficult, planting too many hidden troubles…

“First, the content spread by current self-media mostly has exaggerated parts. We didn’t negate the past educational system; we’re essentially promoting a dual-track system that offers children and parents more choices…”

Originally, when altering the system, they should be given the right to choose… But when one side’s profit overwhelmingly surpasses the other, the choice becomes a mere formality.

Most so-called choices are just self-deception… You get an extra option, but it’s almost impossible for you to choose it.

“We’ve reached collaborative agreements with most enterprises around Development Zone and Trading Land, prioritizing employment of students who underwent special curriculum training. No, this isn’t special treatment, merely market economy-driven. These students trained under special curriculum fit these enterprises’ talent usage better, so they provide additional subsidies, at least 30% of total income.”

Is this fair? Of course not; just like that, salaries increased by 30%, while the bigger “threat” is the prioritization in employment.

It’s not simply “you’re a few steps ahead,” it’s when there are 5 slots but 10 special students and 10 ordinary students, ordinary students won’t get a single slot, graduating means unemployment right away… The same gameplay applies in another world line, where abnormal people naturally squeeze out normal people’s job opportunities.

Lu Ping’an here is actually relatively moderate, providing options so you can completely stay unchanged, working in ordinary enterprises… But when your classmate has over 50% higher income and better career development, can you truly stay unchanged?

Panda-man on TV shares sincerely and amiably that his group merely returned from Exotic Realm, giving back to his hometown… which actually hints at their capability to leave and play their own game if things don’t work out.

The effect of spending a large sum for familiarizing themselves with citizens was achieved, Xue En, the driving force of the reform, was originally meant to be the scapegoat and receive slander, but this honest and sincere posture indeed holds more persuasiveness than usual.

“In middle school, we introduced a variety of minors, music, painting, life forms, metallurgy, some of which are foundational for becoming an Extraordinary… Many of those Ancient City University’s Students start learning from scratch during college; we, who’ve been through it, ponder why not cultivate more suitable talents earlier.”

“Unable to fulfill promises? Well, actually, my superiors like Boss Lu, have a medium-sized city in his Divine Kingdom exceeding 2 million in population with more job and talent needs… Employing a dozen graduates at tens of thousands per year isn’t a big deal, we can arrange ourselves, not to mention Ancient city has so many job opportunities.”

“We do plan to invest in constructing new industries in the Ancient city… In our projected projects, the city’s size should triple, with at least 500 medium-to-large enterprises participating. We will need lots of professional talents in the future, which domestically cannot be satisfied, so we simply cultivate them ourselves.”

Regardless of cause and effect or stated interests, Panda-man paints “pies” as much as possible.

And this is probably a politician’s most important task.

However, if Lu Ping’an here truly develops smoothly, everything can become reality.

Unwilling to change? That’s fine, as long as you can accept your child starting a step behind from the beginning.

Of course, the premise of playing like this is Lu Ping’an’s existence… Without Life-threatening ability to become an Extraordinary, Wanjing wouldn’t witness the birth of the entire Extraordinary World.

The development of events soon proved the judgment of Lu Ping’an and his group.

“The first batch chose the new educational subjects, 37%?”

This result not only didn’t disappoint Lu Ping’an but even brought some joy and surprise.

When it comes to important life choices, most people tend to be conservative. Nearly half of the people accepted change, indicating that their side’s “promotion” and “persuasion” were extremely effective.

“No hurry, this is already the best start, take it slowly…”

Next, the problems and focus are no longer on elementary and secondary schools but on the terminal…

“We need the strength of examples… Quickly set up a short-term training crash course and let it become a successful model.”