Chapter 402: The Essay Question Debate
Along with the announcement of that momentous news, the assessment rankings published on the forum no longer became the subject of discussion by everyone else, except for a small number of people who were trying to find the names of certain people—such as the monitors or Xiao Lin—from the rankings.
Among the 12 monitors, Class Four’s Han Manman was the only one who still remained the acting monitor due to having failed her test. Meanwhile, the others had all officially been appointed squad leaders and there was strong competition for the year leader spot. They were also the candidates for the upcoming inter-academy competition, so it was only natural that they became the focus of everyone’s attention.
The monitors’ grades were mostly quite outstanding, and while Xiao Lin’s final evaluation was not that bad, there were still people who made a point to emphasize his score on the essay question. Xiao Lin had a reputation after all, but the more prominent reason was that he only got a D- in the essay question and was actually the lowest score out of all.
“A D minus? One of the student union’s guys told me that it’s been several years since he saw such a bad score.”
“It can’t be right? Xiao Lin is strong though.”
“As strong as he is, I don’t believe he’ll get a good result if he’s absent from class all the time. This is a written test!”
“The previous poster is obviously jealous. Didn’t you see his multiple-choice questions, he got an S!”
“Cheated.”
“Why don’t you show me how to get an S by cheating?”
“There’s no point talking about all this. It’s not like I’m the one who graded the essays.”
“I think Xiao Lin deliberately didn’t answer the last question.”
There are also several posts on the forum expressing curiosity about that odd rating. Some people from Class Seven decided to ask their monitor directly, but they got zero response from Xiao Lin as he was inside the student union’s office. A couple of old bespectacled men were seated before him. He had gone there after speaking with Gu Xiaoyue.
Xiao Lin did not really care much for his grades anyway as long as he passed. Getting number one or number ten did not matter at all to him, but other people seemed to be more concerned with that than him. It was none other than the group of old men in front of him. To be more precise, they were the teachers who graded that written test.
These few months of academy life has long taught Xiao Lin a latent rule: although appearance was not a criterion for judging age, anyone in that world who looked slightly older would definitely have entered academy very early on. Anyone who had reached that age and was allowed to stay in the academy were undoubtedly professor-level figures with actual talent.
When Xiao Lin was still browsing the forum, he received a message from the president who called him over without explaining the why. After arriving, he saw a scene that resembled a trial in three courts.
“Although the actual combat assessment is the responsibility of the military, the written test is still under the purview of the few professors here. You were called here because some of the professors have questions for you.” The baby-faced president remained as genial as ever. He smiled, but his eyes hinted to Xiao Lin that nothing good would come out of that day.
“This is Professor Li, who is in charge of compiling Planet Norma’s history. This is Professor Zhang, who is in charge of Norma’s humanities research. This here is someone you ought to know, since he’s your lecturer, Professor Dai. This is—”
“That’s enough! Don’t waste our time, President. We called Xiao Lin just to have a talk.” The Professor Zhang mentioned by the president interrupted the latter unceremoniously, as if he had seen through the president’s intentions.
In nominal terms, the president was responsible for all teacher-student affairs of the entire academy, but sometimes qualifications had more authority than positions. It was clear that the authority of the president was very small there.
“Xiao Lin, we’re here to discuss the essay question with you. First of all, can you confirm that this is what you wrote?” Professor Zhang said as he took out a printed test paper and handed it over. On it was Xiao Lin’s answer to the final question.
So that was it...
Xiao Lin never expected to be called over and could not help but feel a headache coming on.
“If you don’t have objections, some of our professors are very curious as to why you answered it in such a way? Who told you that?”
“Is there a rule that forbids me to answer in such a way?” Xiao Lin blinked and asked back.
The several professors were taken aback and their momentum took a hit. Another individual, Professor Li, pursed his lips and said pensively, “Your answers were actually very great. We’re very happy to let you get first place among this batch of freshmen, but there’s a rule in the academy that the answer sheet of the first-placed candidate must be publicly displayed in the academy for others to learn from. It’s impossible to publicly show that kind of answer...but since you’ve admitted to answering indiscriminately, there are no further issues.”
“I answered this after making careful considerations.” Although Xiao Lin understood that the final score might not be changed, he did not want anyone else to think that he was answering questions on a whim.
The professors frowned and Professor Dai suddenly asked, “What’s the reason? I don’t remember talking about war in my class? An all-out war between us and the Normans, no less! Don’t you think you’re being an alarmist? Have you ever taken the academy’s discipline seriously?”
“Somehow. It doesn’t really matter what kind of evaluation you give me, but it’s unnecessary for you to deny the correctness of my answer simply because of that.” Xiao Lin spread out his hand and said innocently, “Isn’t that fact really obvious??”
“Absurd!”
“Ludicrous!”
Loud harrumphs were heard all around. The president blinked helplessly at Xiao Lin and motioned for him to give in a little. Xiao Lin sighed, waved his hand and said, “Okay, okay, I was wrong. I shouldn’t tell the truth. I should just write how strong we are on the answer sheet...”
Xiao Lin originally wanted to add in a couple of sarcastic jibes, but he swallowed it back after a second thought. It did not matter what he said there as it was meaningless whether or not he managed to persuade the other party.
The professors stared at him and felt that their fieriness had not yet been completely dispelled. In the end however, the short meeting ended hastily. Professor Dai was the only one who patted Xiao Lin on the shoulder before leaving, and he even said meaningfully, “Xiao Lin, you’re still too young. Sometimes what the people need isn’t the truth.”
Xiao Lin froze. When he turned around, Professor Dai was already far away.
The student council president sighed deeply and rubbed his eyebrows before saying, “Ever since you enrolled in the academy, I’ve realized that the frequency of my troubles is twice as much as before!”
Xiao Lin felt embarrassed too, as it was true when he thought about it. If there was any trouble in the academy, the president was the one who ended up in trouble about 80% to 90% of the time. Xiao Lin was fortunate to have the president on his side, but the latter then said in a rather stern manner, “You really shouldn’t answer the question like that.”
“President, do you think that peace will always be maintained in Planet Norma?” Xiao Lin was a little confused. As a freshman who had only been to the New World twice, he could vaguely sense an impending crisis, especially since Asabanor’s appearance could be likened to an explosive barrel waiting to be ignited. He could hardly believe it if those who had spent so many years in Planet Norma did not feel the same way.
“Don’t you think it’ll send shockwaves throughout the entire academy if we give such high marks for an answer to that kind of question? How will other students think of us? How much panic will it cause in the entire colony?” the president questioned.
Xiao Lin was speechless, as that never crossed his mind at all.