The starting line of life, Zhang Baotong 2018.1.21

Chinese parents are too eager to expect quick results from education, regardless of the cost. Why do we have to let our children go to college, go to graduate school, or study abroad? Why can't children learn a craft and a skill? Why do we have to let children learn English, Olympiad mathematics, and piano? Can't we let children do what they like? Is it important for children to have fun in childhood, or is it important to learn knowledge too early? Anyone who has gone to college knows that in society and life, the book knowledge that can really be used is very limited, and if you learn too much book knowledge, and you are not engaged in the corresponding major, then a lot of the knowledge you have learned is wasted.

In fact, many of us do a lot of useless work. In this regard, some people may say that although we do not use what we learn, this is not a waste, but a kind of quality cultivation. That is, we have obtained a university degree through this form, and it is just a springboard for you. However, when a person leaves his profession, then he also loses his advantage. There are many, many such people. They don't necessarily have to make a career in their profession, as long as they can earn more money and support their families. If this is the outcome, is it necessary for us to spend so much on our studies?

Although the society has spanned decades, our current educational policy is still to cultivate socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique and beauty. However, are our children well-rounded? In fact, examination-oriented education is still playing a leading role, or if someone shouts "don't let your child lose at the starting line," it will attract the echo of tens of millions of people. Because our parents all hope that their children will become dragons and phoenixes, go abroad for graduate school entrance examinations, and become the elite and pillars of society, and do not want their children to become ordinary workers and employees.

It is a pity that what is needed in society is thousands of ordinary workers and laborers, and not too many elites. Just like in a war, one general is enough, while soldiers need thousands. And our parents want their children to become generals, but they ignore that there are very few people who can become generals, and it is very good to be a good soldier. We often say that three hundred and sixty lines are the champions. This means that everyone's talents and strengths, as well as everyone's talents and personalities, are different. Some people study well, some love to work, some like to write, and some people are good at sports. If he can play to his strengths and let him use his talents in the industry he loves, he can easily achieve something. There is no need to force him to study Olympiad mathematics, learn English, and go abroad for graduate school.

What can I do if I go abroad for graduate school? One of my classmates went to the United States 40 years ago, and I still don't know how he lives in the United States. For decades, he did not communicate with his family or his classmates. made his family and classmates think that he had an accident and was no longer alive. In the family residence building of a famous university in Xi'an, everyone used to compare to see whose children could go abroad. Now their children are almost all staying abroad and not coming back for many years. Every New Year's holiday, I feel very envious when I see other people's children bring their grandchildren to reunite with the elderly. At this time, they realized that the joy of family is more important than the child's going abroad.

And whether the children live well abroad? Not necessarily, because it is a strange country after all, without his childhood, without his relatives, without the food he likes to eat and the familiar environment. He will encounter a lot of discrimination and a lot of inconvenience, different cultures, and a language barrier. When I encounter grievances and difficulties, it is difficult to tell my family about them, and I am afraid that my parents will worry. The only good thing is that you can make more money.

Parents don't expect their children to earn much money, they really care about how much they want their children to live happily. In order to make their children happy in the future, they believe that they must be made bitter first and then sweet, and they should be angry and study hard from an early age. China has always had a tradition of "if you don't work hard when you are young, the boss will be sad in vain". This is also an important reason why Chinese parents do not want their children to lose at the starting line. They may be influenced by the idea that the earlier a child's intelligence develops, the more intelligent the child becomes, but they ignore the serious harm of pulling out the seedlings to help them grow, and they are eager for quick success.

Medical and biological studies have shown that the more precocious the maturation, the more likely it is to premature aging. In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, there are not a few cases of Jiang Lang's talent and late bloomer. The most famous and representative example is probably the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China, the students of which are known as the "Chinese prodigies". In order to train these prodigies to become pillars of China's science and technology, the state has equipped them with the best teachers and spent a lot of money, but what has been the result? Practice has proved that these prodigies are mediocre in their ability to live and innovate in addition to some talent in learning, and there are many problems. On the contrary, surveys of Nobel laureates have found that the vast majority of these laureates have academic performance in the upper middle of the school rather than the top of the list. The reason why they have been able to achieve significant breakthroughs and achievements in their fields is because they have been able to focus and persevere in their research for decades.

There are many examples of this, such as Jiang Taigong's encounter with King Wen at the age of 80, Wu Chengen's writing of "Journey to the West" at the age of 50, Qi Baishi's painting at the age of 27, and Su Xun's anger at the age of 27. Walter Scott, the great English writer, was the worst student in school, and Napoleon was in 42nd place when he was in school. It is rumored that during his time at school, he did poorly in all subjects except mathematics. Einstein spoke very late when he was a child, and when he was 4 years old, his parents even recognized that "this child is too slow in intellectual development". Until the age of 9, Einstein could not speak fluently. When he went to school, his father heard from his teacher that the child was dull-witted, unsociable, and had no strengths. Edison was not good at reading when he was a child, and his teacher once scolded him: You are really a stinky brain! Edison's head was eccentric, and the doctor said: The brain inside may be broken. The mother had no choice but to take the child home and teach him to study herself. When Watt was in elementary school, most teachers thought he didn't like to learn and commented that he was an inferior student. If there is a starting line in life, then these artistic geniuses and scientific giants have long lost at the starting line, and if there is not only one starting line in life, it may be said that although they lost at the starting line of early learning, they won at the finish line of the whole life and stood on the podium of the glory of life.