School of thought

The director says: "Every parent hopes his or her child will be a good student and land a well-paid job in a big city. But there are fewer people asking why everyone sets and pursues similar goals or even questioning if the goals are reasonable."

She adds that time is changing so should the education mode, not only in classrooms, but also at home, which is often neglected in public discussions.

Zhou regarded the national college entrance exam as his school life's mission.

But Chen's life took a different turn. She kept thinking about what she was good at and who she wanted to be. During her senior middle school years, Chen wrote a novel and tried to shoot a short film.

Later she furthered her study at the Visual Arts School at the New York Film Academy in 2015. She now works in the movie industry in Beijing.

While some found Zhou and Chen inspiring, Li's story made many viewers, even the director, feel connected. Zhang describes Li and herself as xiaozhen zuotijia ("small-town swots").

Before entering Beijing National Day School in 2012, Li received exam-oriented education in a small town in Shanxi province. She felt isolated and confused at the new school, where students could select courses according to their own interests.

At the school, students did not study in a fixed classroom with the same teachers and classmates. Instead, they could choose the courses they liked among several options, moving from one classroom to another and studying with students from different grades.

Change gradually happened to Li as well.

In the third episode of the documentary, she was no longer the shy girl she once was, but a confident student who tried K-pop dancing in school.