Is the crossbow fast?

(Baonghean)Back in the day, I went to high school in Dung Town. The road to school ran along the picturesque Lam River. We'd all trudge along the riverbank, jogging and running to get to class on time. Yet, when we saw people casting nets and using small-mesh nets to catch fish in the river, we'd all crane our necks and shout, "Those nets and small-mesh nets are nothing compared to the students' fishing skills! It's... ho... ho... ho..." and burst into laughter.

Among the men casting nets and pulling in their rudders, some were no pushovers. He pulled in his net while tilting his head back and shouting in response, "Words and literature are worth less than a bone of a catfish. Ho...o...o...oh...ho..." Unable to respond, the whole group ran headlong to school. As they ran, they thought, what could a mere catfish bone possibly compare to the noble words and literature! Even though, back then, every family in the village was starving.

In class, I listened to the literature teacher explaining two lines of Yuan Mei's Chinese poetry: "Every meal, I do not forget to write on the bamboo slips / The lowest path to making a living is literature." This means: "Every time I eat my rice, I do not forget to write on the bamboo slips / Making a living through literature is the most despicable path." Then I thought of the folk song comparing literature to the bone of a catfish; I couldn't decide which was better.

In the blink of an eye, almost half a lifetime has passed. Yet, the mischievous rhyme of my childhood resurfaced intensely in my heart when I read online that this year, out of a total of 1,710,983 applications for university and college entrance exams, only 6% registered for the humanities/social sciences (Block C). And people concluded, "Block C is increasingly losing its value."

In recent years, the number of people applying to these fields has steadily decreased. Each year is lower than the previous one. This is because it's very difficult to find a job after graduating from humanities-related fields. Even if you do find a job, the salary is very low, barely enough to live on. Comparing it to money, the value of humanities-related fields has truly plummeted. It's plummeted drastically. And at this rate, the day will come when humanities-related fields become… priceless, in the sense that "priceless" means "nothing." Completely worthless!!!

Thinking about this reminds me of the old folk song, "Words and literature are not worth as much as a bone in a catfish." Could it really be true?

Artisan