School of thought

Documentary that follows the lives of three students over a decade has triggered discussion on education, Wang Qian reports.

Following the lives of three students over a decade, from senior middle school to their college graduation, the documentary Dare to Grow Up explores issues of schooling and parenting, and raises questions about the purpose of education.

Directed by Zhang Lin, the documentary consists of four 35-minute episodes and primarily tells the growing-up stories of three people, born in late 1990s, who went to middle school at the same time－Zhou Ziqi, who did well in studies; literature and movie enthusiast Chen Chuqiao; and hardworking town girl Li Wenting.

"A good education should inspire students to find their intrinsic motivation, which will keep driving them to move forward despite setbacks, not only in school but also in life," Zhang says.

In 2011, Beijing National Day School was selected by the Ministry of Education as a pilot site for education reform. The changes in curriculum and teaching methods happened in the prestigious middle school in the capital's Haidian district. It was then that the documentary started recording the lives of the three students.

The documentary has been viewed more than 50 million times on Tencent Video since its premiere on Feb 24, and is rated 9.6 of 10 points on the streaming site.

It won an award at the International Busan Contents Market exhibition in 2019 and the Golden Kapok Award at the 2020 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.

On review platform Douban, a user named Vernalwind comments that the documentary poses questions to viewers: What kind of education do we need and what kind of people we want to become? Another Douban user, Daydreamer, says it has made people realize how different schooling can be.

According to Zhang, the documentary has grabbed more attention than she expected. It has triggered wide discussion and reflection on the current education system among viewers.