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暑假時有個世侄女係美國返嚟，順便宣傳佢出版嘅一本教細路嘅書，送咗本俾我老婆。阿女掀完後就同我講：「佢啲仔仲咁細，邊有說服力？老豆不如你寫番本，教人點樣培養弱智兒童入世界名校。」我回答：「邊度有人認自己嘅細路弱智？最多咪話佢未開竅，本書唔駛慌有人買。」
我個女，一個形容自己細時跡近弱智嘅細路女，下年就會喺美國一線大學畢業了。此中轉變，可能對某些家長有參考價值，雖然冇版稅收，重要冒shadeslayer之徒嚟踢館或俾人冠名怪獸家長嘅風險，得閒就寫一下我其中嘅經驗好了。當然EK家長嘅家長多數係叻仔叻女，唔啱睇就當笑話好了。先此聲明，並非真言，亦非大法，絕不系統。
用倒序手法，先從阿女申請大學嘅personal statement講起。下面係佢personal statement 一部份，講佢自己嘅變化，多口一句奉勸咪照抄，斷送你仔女入大學機會路唔好賴我:
I was introduced to the concept of opportunity cost by my father using a traditional Chinese folk song called “In a Far Away Land” when I started my economics course in high school. The song was so well known that even John Denver once sang it in Chinese in a public performance. The song is about the love for a beautiful shepherd girl in Tibet. To be able to come close and be around the girl, one would need to give up all his wealth and be willing to turn into a young lamb. Moreover he would have to bear with the gentle but constant whipping of the girl’s quirt. From the simple and beautiful lyrics comes the concept of opportunity cost: everything in life comes with a price. To obtain something, you have to give up something. Since then I fell in love with economics. It explains a lot of phenomena around us in daily life. The law of diminishing returns explains why I am willing to pay more for a combo meal even if sometimes its portion size remains the same. I like the concept of comparative advantage the most. It dawned on me that, no matter how inadequate I think I am, through exchange and working with others, my life can become more meaningful and even benefit the people who are simply better than me in every single aspect. The concept actually has helped me to get over my inferiority complex which I will talk later on.
…
I always thought I was the tortoise in Aesop’s “the Tortoise and the Hare”. Compared with many people around me, I felt inferior. When I was small, I was always the timid girl hiding behind my mother’s back when meeting other people. Although my parents kept telling me that I could tie my shoes, manipulate the chopsticks (yes, using chopsticks is difficult for Chinese kids as well), ride a bicycle, know how to swim, all at an earlier age than most kids, I still felt like a tortoise. My parents sent me to a drama group in our neighborhood when I was at Grade 2. In the performances, I was the girl who always riveted her gaze on her shoes while murmuring her lines. The fact that I went to one of the best schools in Hong Kong did not help either. Surrounded by so many “hares” who are so much brighter than me, I felt justified to pity myself for being a tortoise even though my grades were actually above average at school. Deep down in my heart I’d like to be the hare in the fable but the sad thing is, as well as I tried, I still felt like being the tortoise.
The Chinese embrace a stereotyped interpretation of the fable. We conveniently praise the tortoise and believe that, through sheer hard work, one might be able to win against the odds in life like the tortoise. As a Chinese I also believe in the value of hard work. We are not given choices whether to be born as a tortoise or to be born as a hare. As Randy Pausch says, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” Born as a tortoise or not, I know the best deal for me is to find out where my strength lies, or to use the economic term, what my comparative advantage is, and then focus on it and work consistently and steadily. Hopefully, small quantity changes would gradually cumulate into significant mutational quality changes. And this is what more or less has happened to me.
I may not be a pretty and witty girl who will sparkle in others’ eyes at the first encounter, but I am an enthusiastic and reliable team player my friends and partners can trust. I have been a volunteer worker since I was 7.
I may not be a quick-minded or a genius student who will impress my teachers as such but I’m definitely intelligent and hardworking. I am doing well in my current studies and my economics teacher has commented that I am the best economics student she has ever taught. I am confident that, with my intelligence and perseverance, I can be counted on to turn in quality academic work in my university studies and given chance make my contribution to the academic world in future.
I am definitively not a super star on the stage but last year I finally assumed the role of the leading actress in the annual drama performance of our drama group for the first time.
All these achievements are probably not something a “hare” would find it worthwhile to brag about, but they have meant a lot to me – a girl who used to think herself as a “tortoise” all the time.
待續。
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發表於 13-1-19 13:00
