A while back, Erika commented whether I can write a bit about post-Tiananmen China. But am afraid I find writing about China to be utterly debilitating; because I am not any better informed about China, fact-wise, than anyone here who reads the major newspaper, and also because writing about China as an expatriate of long and far remove feels even more futile than it normally is.

I do read Chinese newspapers, not for information particularly, because most of them are either salacious rags or mouth-pieces, often both. But from what is and is not reported and discussed, reading between the lines, I can obtain an oblique view of what is happening. And there are a few conscientious papers in China, even though they must be circumspect in many ways. 《南方周末》 (Southern Weekend), from which the following article is taken, is a good example.

"是个人管社会，还是社会管个人？"

"Should society regulate the individual, or should individuals regulate society?"

今年高考，某省一考生因迟到一分钟被取消考试资格，引来各方议论纷纷。抗议者说，考生为了准备这一终身大考，苦读数年，仅因为这一分钟而毁了前程，实在太残酷。辩护者则说，社会有社会的规矩。只有个人服从社会的法则，社会才能运转。

A controversy went up when, during this year's national college entrance exams, a student was disqualified because he was a minute late. The critics argue: a student spend years of hard work to prepare for such an important exam, to disqualify him because of a minute's tardiness is simply cruel. The defenders counter: a society has rules; only when individuals obey the rules can the society function correctly.

但是，如果社会的法则错了怎么办？

But what if the society's rules were incorrect?

笔者实在想不明白，迟到一分钟，赶快走进考场开始做题就是了，为什么要取消考试资格？更何况，我们的公交系统并不牢靠，堵车到处都是。这些问题，本来是我们这个社会中成年人的责任。我们的成年人管不好城市，理不顺交通，对因此受害的孩子不但没有负疚感，反而要孩子们为大人的无能和失职来负责，并且还振振有辞：你们从小要学会遵守社会的规矩呀！这真是岂有此理！

Arriving a minute late - well, hurry up and get started; I simply cannot understand why it is necessary to disqualify the student? Our public transportation is far from reliable, delays and congestion are everywhere; taking care of these problems are the responsibilities of we adults. We can't manage the city, can't manage the traffic, but not only do we not feel guilty towards the young people who suffer thereby, we have them take the fall for our own incompetence. Meanwhile we intone pompously: you young people must learn to obey the society's rules! What nonsense!

不错，那个考生明年还有一次机会。但是，每一个考过大学的人(包括笔者这种在高考系统中的成功者)心里都清楚：准备高考、被迫长期死记硬背，严重压抑个人心智和学识的发展。如果今年能考上，却因为这一分钟而不得不再考一年，等于浪费了一年的生命。而高考对孩子的心理压力之大，即使是我们这些当年轻松过关的“过来人”也会终身不忘。20 多年前自己参加高考时，头一天晚上就没有睡着。第一门考试，开场才 5 分钟，坐在前面的女生就晕倒被抬了出去。如今我们还要怎么折腾下一代？这样因迟到一分钟而取消考试资格，以后考试前还有人能睡得着觉吗？

True enough, that student will get another chance next year. But anyone who has gone through the examination process (including people, such as myself, who were successful in that system) knows well: to prepare for the exam means years of hard learning by rote, seriously stunting an individual's intellectual and mental growth. If it was possible to pass this year, but because of this one minute, to be forced to wait until the next, this is nothing less than having a year's life wasted. The mental stresses associated with the exam are so enormous that even those of us who passed will never be able to forget. Twenty years ago, I spent a sleepless night before the exam, and five minutes into it, a girl in front passed out and had to be carried out of the room. And why are we are still torturing the next generations this way? If a minute's delay is enough for disqualification, will anyone ever be able to go to sleep the night before the exam?

这一事例，充分显示了如今中国虽然已经走向市场经济了，但计划经济时代的权威主义文化还是盘根错节。不错，个人必须服从社会的基本规则，社会才能正常运行。但是，社会毕竟是由个人组成的，社会的规则，是具体的个人制定的、为众多的个人服务的，同时也是得到这些个人的认可才成立的。没有这种认可，任何社会的规则都不具有合法性。因此，我们社会中的个人，不应该被动地服从社会的规则，而必须积极参与制定、改造这些规则，创造这些规则生成的程序。也只有这样，一个社会才能够逐渐学会如何自己管理自己。

This incident fully demonstrates that although China is stepping towards a market economy, the authoritarianism from state-planning days are still ever pervasive. Yes, individuals must conform to the fundamental rules of society, if the society if to function. But society is made up of individuals, society's rules are created by individual persons, to serve the broad public, with the consent of the public. Any rule, imposed without such consent, cannot be legal. Thus, the individuals in our society must not passively obey society's rules, but take an active participation to create and reform such rules, and to establish the frameworks for creating rules. This is the only way a society can learn to manage and regulate itself.

考生来考试，是为了寻求受教育的机会。我们的教育目标，不是教学生如何守别人为自己制定的规范，而是帮助他们理解规范应该如何形成，自己如何参与创造合理的社会规范。换句话说，我们不应该教他们如何“听话”，而是要他们学会如何自己管理自己，如何挑战不合理的社会规范，创造新的制度。因为我们的社会需要的是积极、负责的公民，而不是一天到晚战战兢兢、生怕自己犯错误的臣仆。　

Students participate in the examinations in order to seek opportunities for education. Our educational goal should not be teaching students to obey rules made for them by other people, but to help them to understand how rules are to be made, and how to participate in the creation and regulation of a reasonable society. In other words: we should not teach them to "listen and obey", but to regulate themselves, to challenge unfair societal rules, to create new social frameworks. What our society needs are active, responsible citizens, not fearful underlings and servants afraid of making mistakes.