Compulsory Education

"Next!"

Claps could be heard in the crowd of the ceremony announcing the graduation of students amongst thousands in the audience.

Students at the age of 14 all lined up waiting to receive their papers announcing their graduation from compulsory education. families all yelled their praise to their sons and daughters while the rest clapped in the same manner and timing. At the age of 5 is when they began their accelerated curriculum on par with today's university level were all implanted in each their minds and have the choice of class, making math and general fitness mandatory for passing.

In the distance of the huge school with its gate along with the numerous buildings belonging to the school was a man in his graduation gown rushing with all his might. His cap was blown by the wind showing his dark brown hair as he sped through the gate after swiping his card through to continue his sprint.

"Student 4938210 Bai Li, grade 10, homeworld Golden Star Planet, granted"

The machine stated as it was long forgotten as he left fast.

His gown was in tatters after running through many bushes and arriving at the massive gym where the ceremony was announced.

He arrived at the gate and came busting through like a charging bull, catching the attention of everybody in the entire space.

"Ehem.."

He coughed as he hurriedly ran through the side to the area of the stage, climbing the steps to the back.

Many students all looked at him and began gossiping.

"It's him...Why did he get here so late?"

"What a troublemaker..making all that noise."

"How did he become a salutatorian when he can't even get on schedule?"

Many gave a look of disdain at his appearance but couldn't openly announce their displeasure.

However, with his excellent hearing, he picked it up and rushed to his assigned seating order of names to be called.

The teacher sighed, as she rubbed her temples as the young man brushed off the leaves of his gown as more students began walking up to the stage.

He finished brushing everything off before realizing his cap was missing.

Bai Li frantically looked for his cap and just before an object thrown hit his face direct center. The cap fell to his hands and he looked towards where it was thrown to see a radiant smile coming from one of the students two rows behind him. Realizing it was his friend, he showed his gratitude by bowing and showing a large smile right on time to his timing.

Both the salutatorian and the valedictorian came last to share a few words about their achievements and their road to success and such, but it wasn't mandatory.

"Bai Li, please come to the stage."

Bai Li rushed over with a serious face and his posture was bright. His steps to the podium brought silence of respect amongst the crowd

"He is our salutatorian who has one of the highest evaluations by all our coaches in the dojo and a recommendation by his history teacher."

The auditorium clapped and some chuckles came into the limelight. Bai Li did not know this at the time but he forgot to pat down the backside of his gown from all the leaves. The pristine and black velvet sheen of his graduation gown was plastered with brown spots, most notably there was a white stain in a certain area...

"Up next, the valedictorian of 4027, who had surprising results from both his written exam about military conduct and tactics and was placed second in the dojo by our arranged staff, Zhao Fei." All of the students just clapped along as the white graduation cap stood up and took their steps towards the podium. The students often compared Zhao Fei with Bai Li with how different they are yet they have shown clear academic achievements over their peers.

Walking up to the podium he cleared his throat with his eyes peering over the crowd.

"I am greatly honored to be our generation's number one in Golden Sun Academy along with many other geniuses of our planet, I will make sure to excel at my art and aim for the top in the Union Army as a general."

He took a glance over at Bai Li and kept a stern look until he finally took his seat near the front. Zhao Fei certainly did know how to kick it off with the seniors and adults but his serious personality towards his peers led him to be ignored.

All began exiting the hall with the graduated members first.

Family members in the crowd all went to their sons and daughter to congratulate them on their graduation. Hugs and kisses were given everywhere, but Bai Li stood alone, waiting til the last of farewells, he began walking away when...

A large arm hooked around his neck and he was brought down, this brought a great surprise to him only to notice it was his friend.

His name was Wei Tao, a fellow student like him with a muscular build and well-defined facial features. His brazen blonde hair was strange in the school with his foreign ancestors marrying on the Golden Star Planet. He was also the one to give him a spare cap.

"Brother, where've you been? Why were you so late to the ceremony?"

"Ah. I was at my part-time job working an extra shift because my manager just assigned it to me."

Bai sighed but still kept his usual demeanor.

"What a drag, well, wanna come with me and my parents to the usual place to celebrate?"

He pushed away the arm that was still holding him.

"No, I'm good, I'm gonna go to the library to study for our exam."

"Tch, what a busybody, just remember."

He slouched and held an imaginary cane.

"Young'uns nowadays have all the time in the world, remember to make use of it, toodles."

He broke off from the persona and shared a good laugh with Bai before heading off with his family in their vehicle.

Both Wei Tao and Bai Li became the best of friends in the dojo since he was always with his fist.

He took a glance at his gown with a slight look of disdain.

'Can't believe they made me spend credits for something I'm only going to wear once."

Bai Li took it off and suddenly realized how horrific the back of his gown was, clearly flushed and agitated, he tossed it into the trash as he started to head on out.

The same gate appeared and Bai Li swiped his student ID through, allowing him access after a long beep.

The Golden Star Library was usually a desolate money sink for the Academy as most books were available through the Cybernet. The large arrays of networks bridge the bonds between galaxies between the other two mediums. But in some cases, books cannot be simply stored away in 0 and 1s on the Cybernet.

Hundreds of thousands of books could be virtualized but no substance could be felt from reading black text from the displays. Real and true knowledge from the ancient masters can not be simplified in a book, surely the virtual books would be worse too. Many masters put their heart and personal touches to the books they create, with the material they use, and the weight of the brush or pen they use to inscribe their understanding of power.

He finally entered the main hall to be greeted at the front desk by an AI using scanners and camera drones to detect and maintain this antiquated establishment. The camera panned towards him as red lights blinked a couple of times before becoming green. A panel from the ceiling slid away to show a metal appendage wave to show that he recognized Bai Li's presence. With a nod to his bright step, he proceeded to walk further into the library.

A cleaning bot was dusting away at the long and aged wood.

He ran his hand through the books which numbered more than hundreds of thousands with many books on one subject.

He pulled out a rather large one at the end of the first shelf which read, 'The Beginning of Change', a book published by the Union to study history, a rather unpopular course with many challenges and memorization skills used to the test.

The nostalgic smell of aged paper was brought near his nose and he smiled.

He rested his eyes on the first sentence of the book.

"Change is one of the multiple factors that come into play in our universe, and has neither a good nor bad take on the matter. Our origin world, of what we used to call Earth, is where all beginnings could be found, and change was what brought us here to this day."