The Last Schoolkeeper

In 1985, sixteen-year-old Chen Shouzheng ranked third in the county to enter the county normal school, becoming the first in his village to "eat public grain." In 2024, at fifty-six, he guards a village school with zero students, becoming the last "schoolkeeper." Over forty years, twelve education reform policies—like "Universal Six-Year Education," "Universal Nine-Year Education," "Last-Place Elimination," "County-Managed School Recruitment," "Double Reduction," "After-School Services"—have been like twelve tightening spells precisely on his head. He faked accounts for "Universal Six-Year Education," persuaded a dropout girl to return only to watch her marry, witnessed his master, who taught for thirty-six years, being dismissed and later killed while scavenging, ranked last in "Last-Place Elimination" for refusing to rank students, divorced his wife to protect his job, and received only 200 yuan for after-school services after retirement. His political enemy Zhao Deming, a former deputy director of the education bureau, was detained for corruption; his daughter, a Peking University PhD, vowed never to become a teacher. He clings to his father's words, "Don't lose your conscience," and in the empty classroom, turns on every light, waiting for an answer: Is education worth it? This is a testimony of the 4 million middle-normal-school graduate group, a policy decryption archive of China's basic education over forty years. When a young special-post teacher asks, "What is a middle-normal-school graduate?" he smiles: "Your previous generation."