粉笔 CEO 在人大骂学生，第二天道歉

Today we're going to talk about something that happened recently.

The boss of a company cursed students at a university.

The next day, he wrote a letter to apologize.

As soon as this came out, all of China was talking about it.

Let's go through it slowly today.

First, the company.

What is this company called?

This company is called "Fenbi."

Fenbi's full name is "Fenbi Technology."

What do these two characters "Fen Bi" mean?

"Fenbi" is the thing teachers use to write at school.

What fenbi writes comes out white.

But the "fenbi" we're talking about here isn't the chalk you write with.

It's the name of a company.

This company is a big company in China.

So what does this company do?

This company specifically teaches students to take exams.

What exam?

The civil service exam.

What is a civil servant?

A civil servant is someone who does work for the government.

People who are civil servants don't have very high salaries.

But this kind of work is extremely stable.

What does "stable" mean?

"Stable" means: this year you have a job, and next year you also have a job.

The job won't suddenly disappear.

There are other good things too.

People who are civil servants don't have to spend much money on doctor visits.

After they get old, the government gives them money.

So in China, being a civil servant is a very good job.

But to become a civil servant, you have to take a test first.

And this test is very hard.

Every year, several million people take it.

But only several tens of thousands actually pass.

So students have to study specifically.

Study how to take the exam.

And Fenbi, the company, is what teaches this.

They have a mobile app, and video courses.

The price isn't very expensive.

So a lot of college students use Fenbi's courses.

This company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2023.

The boss of this company is named Zhang Xiaolong.

You might have heard this name.

But not the Zhang Xiaolong who made WeChat.

A different Zhang Xiaolong.

He's in his forties this year.

Before, he himself was also a civil-service-exam teacher.

He taught for several years.

He taught well, and students all liked him.

Later he started this company on his own.

He made an extraordinary amount of money.

Now let's talk about what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, Zhang Xiaolong went to a university.

This university is called Renmin University of China.

Renmin University is one of the most famous universities in Beijing.

It's one of the top universities in China.

What did he go to this university to do?

He went to give a lecture.

What is a lecture?

A lecture means: a famous person.

Stands at the front and speaks.

Students sit below and listen.

After listening, they can ask questions.

What was this lecture supposed to be about?

It was supposed to be about the civil service exam.

Zhang Xiaolong knows that subject best.

But just before the lecture started.

He suddenly changed the topic.

He said: today we're not going to talk about the civil service exam.

He wanted to talk about a new topic.

The new topic was: AI is here.

How are young people going to find jobs?

The students sat down to listen.

After listening for a while.

What did Zhang Xiaolong say?

He said: you should go trade stocks.

Trading stocks means buying and selling shares.

He said: it's best to trade tech-company stocks.

You could also trade American stocks.

The best is: the whole family trading stocks together.

The students listened and had no reaction.

No one laughed.

And no one asked questions.

The students just sat quietly.

It was this silence.

That made Zhang Xiaolong unhappy.

He had probably expected: students would applaud after he finished.

Or they would laugh.

But they didn't.

Zhang Xiaolong got angry.

He got angrier the more he spoke.

In the end he cursed the students from the podium.

"Cursing" means saying bad things.

What he said was very nasty.

He cursed continuously for several minutes.

Let me give you a few sentences of what he said.

He said: "It's right that you can't find jobs."

What does "it's right" mean?

It means: this is your own problem.

He also said: "Other than the civil service exam, you have no abilities."

He also said: "The civil service exam is just eating and waiting to die."

You need to remember these four characters "eating and waiting to die."

"Eating and waiting to die" means: doing nothing.

Just eating.

Waiting to die.

It's a very nasty thing to say.

The students listened and were shocked.

Some students quietly filmed videos.

Zhang Xiaolong finished cursing.

He didn't finish the lecture.

He left on his own.

He didn't come back.

That night.

Students put the videos online.

People all over China saw them.

The comment sections immediately exploded.

What were people saying?

The thing people said most was:

"Pick up the bowl to eat, put down the bowl to curse mom."

What does this saying mean?

It means: eating the food someone made for you.

Then cursing the person who made the food.

Why are people saying this about Zhang Xiaolong?

Because: Zhang Xiaolong's company teaches students to take the civil service exam.

Students buy his courses because they want to be civil servants.

The money students pay makes Fenbi rich.

And makes Zhang Xiaolong rich.

But Zhang Xiaolong, standing on the stage, cursed these students.

He cursed them for taking the civil service exam as "eating and waiting to die."

The people he was cursing are the people who give him money.

The thing he was cursing is exactly what his own company teaches.

This is "pick up the bowl to eat, put down the bowl to curse mom."

There's one more thing that's very ironic.

Zhang Xiaolong gave the lecture at Renmin University's philosophy school.

What is philosophy?

Philosophy is a kind of study.

People who study philosophy specifically think about big questions like "why are people alive."

The interesting thing is.

Zhang Xiaolong himself studied philosophy in college.

He finished college in philosophy.

Then he did graduate school in philosophy too.

His high school teacher told him at the time:

"If you study philosophy, you won't easily find a job."

But he still studied it.

He knows what that judgment feels like.

He himself once was a student like this.

But this time, he said to the philosophy school students:

"It's right that you can't find jobs."

The people he was cursing were essentially himself from a decade ago.

That's the most interesting part of this whole thing.

This morning.

Fenbi the company released an apology letter.

What is an apology letter?

An apology letter is: a person writes a letter.

In the letter they say "I'm sorry."

They say everything is their own problem.

Zhang Xiaolong wrote a few sentences in the letter.

He said: "The responsibility for this is entirely mine."

He said: "I deeply reflect."

He said: "I deeply apologize to the teachers and students of Renmin University and the philosophy school."

He said: "I am willing to take on corresponding responsibility."

But people online didn't really accept this apology.

Some said: what use is writing a letter?

When you were cursing people, nobody made you do it.

Some said: you say you'll "take on corresponding responsibility."

What is "corresponding responsibility"?

Are you stepping down as boss?

Are you giving the students their money back?

You didn't say any of it.

So everyone feels: this apology isn't very sincere.

And there's one more thing making things harder for Fenbi.

The company's stock price has been falling lately.

In half a year, it dropped about sixty-something percent.

The stock is now very low.

Will this incident make the stock drop even more?

We still don't know.

But the company's image has been hurt once again.

When I look at this myself, I have a few feelings.

The first feeling is: he did the wrong thing.

You as the boss of a publicly listed company.

Standing on a university stage cursing students.

This kind of thing shouldn't happen.

Regardless of whether the students reacted or not.

You should control yourself.

The second feeling is: the thing he was cursing about is actually real.

There really are a lot of young people.

Who treat the civil service exam as the only path.

Why?

It's not because they're lazy.

It's because: private-company jobs are not stable.

Salaries are also getting lower.

Civil service work doesn't pay much.

But it's very stable.

So young people choosing civil service makes sense.

Zhang Xiaolong cursed the wrong target.

The question he should be asking is:

Why don't young people have any other good choices?

Not cursing them for having no abilities.

Finally I want to ask you a question.

In your country.

Is there a job like "civil service" in China?

Meaning: a kind of job that a lot of young people all want to do.

Everyone wants to take the test, everyone wants to apply.

Why is everyone pushing to do this kind of job?

Is it because the money is good?

Is it because the job is stable?

Or is it because of some other reason?

Do you yourself want to do this kind of job?

Why?