Harvard professor’s message to Chinese parents: Real education is self-education

The world-famous Harvard University in the United States has been in trouble recently. An Asian who failed to get admitted to Harvard University filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court, claiming that Harvard University treats Asians (East Asians and Southeast Asians) differently, resulting in the enrollment rate of Asians being far lower than that of whites and other mainstream ethnic groups. An internal email from a Harvard employee was presented as evidence in court. The email, titled \”My Hero,\” said, \”You have once again created a miracle. I am very happy with the students you have recruited.\”, and Praising this enrollment as a \”big win\”; naturally, this applicant is not a simple person. Behind him is an anonymous donor who \”promised to donate a building\” and two others who \”promise to donate a building\” People who donate large amounts of money.” In other words, the rumor of \”donating a building to Harvard\” is true. 01/Education itself is unfair/There is always an idea buried in the hearts of Chinese people, that is, education should be fair, regardless of race and wealth, as long as people with talent should be eligible to receive education. Even if he lacks talent due to objective reasons, we should help him and give him a chance to give it a try. Therefore, we have a precious tradition called the \”imperial examination\”, which allows students from poor families to study and become emperor. However, in European and American countries, this is not the case. Since the Middle Ages, Western education has been the exclusive preserve of lords and nobles. In modern times, the idea of ​​equal rights gradually blossomed on the European continent, and there were examples of civilians entering top universities. However, even so, college is still not something that people from poor families can reach. For example, the average annual tuition fee for American universities is close to 50,000 US dollars (about 350,000 yuan). Families that can afford it, even in the United States with such high incomes There are only a handful of countries; and it is not uncommon for most college students to owe the government a large student loan after graduation and spend their entire lives repaying it. Tuition fees at top private schools such as Harvard are astonishingly expensive. The source of income for almost all private schools comes from student tuition fees and alumni donations. These funds are used for facility construction, research and development funds, salary payment, etc. Therefore, the expenditures of top universities are very staggering, and the so-called wool is in As for sheep, the tuition fees paid by students cannot be low. Therefore, it is not surprising that rich people who donate money, buildings, and research laboratories have become the favorites of these private universities and give them a green light in admissions. Everyone is equal, this is a very politically correct statement. But in reality, education itself is unequal. Rich people enjoy better educational resources, more opportunities, and a bigger stage. Their achievements are more easily seen by the world. The motto of Harvard University says: \”No one\’s success is accidental.\” They may have missed a sentence at the end – \”However, the success of the rich is inevitable with a high probability.\” 02/The college entrance examination is actually quite fair/Compared with the education system in European and American countries, the fairness of China’s education has been praised by many Western educationists. This is due to the tradition of our country’s old “imperial examination” and the modern “college entrance examination” \” system. Exclude gray transactions,For all students who take the college entrance examination, there is no direct correlation between the wealth of their families and whether the students can enter a better school. Without breaking the law, a student with a family asset of 100 million is as good as a student with a family asset of 100 million yuan. There are millions of students, and there is no \”rich-based admission\” situation for the two. In other words, even if you donate ten buildings to Peking University, you still cannot enter Peking University through legal channels. In other words, although there are \”regional differences\” and \”unequal distribution of educational resources\” in our current education system, from an institutional perspective, it can be considered to be more fair than the \”elite education\” in Europe and the United States. However, even if the college entrance examination system is fair, the relationship between education and capital is inevitable and getting closer. More than a year ago, Beijing’s top liberal arts scholar Xiong Xuangang sparked discussion in front of a camera when he mentioned that “it is increasingly difficult for children in rural areas to get into good schools.” “Today’s top scorers come from families like mine. Good and powerful.\” The capital here is not just monetary capital, but includes status capital, cultural capital, vision capital, etc. that money capital subsequently brings. These capitals have narrowed the circle of high-end education and slowly turned education into a capital game for a few wealthy and elite classes. 03 The Matthew Effect of Education: / The richer the person, the higher the educational resources they receive / This year, in the official data released by Harvard University, the family income of the freshmen of Harvard University in 2022 is as follows: At the same time, in 2018, the United States The median annual household income of residents is approximately US$60,000 (approximately RMB 400,000). In other words, about 75% of freshmen at Harvard University come from families with above-average incomes, and an astonishing 17% of students whose families have an annual income of US$500,000 (approximately 3 million yuan). The data released by several American universities affiliated with the Ivy League is almost the same as Harvard University. It is conceivable that after graduating from Harvard University, these children from elite families will also enter various top companies/institutions and become elites in all walks of life. In this set of data, university qualifications are monopolized by the rich not mainly because of donations, building buildings, or using back doors, but precisely because of \”fair\” examinations. In Western society, the hollowing out of public schools and the rise of private schools have induced the industrialization of education – if you have money, you can buy high-quality educational resources, lay a solid foundation from an early age, enter a better primary school, and get into a better university. After middle school, and then entering a better university, a high-quality social circle, a better job, and a higher income will follow; thus, more resources will be used to train the next generation, becoming a virtuous cycle; and vice versa , the poor can only access low-quality educational resources, and are likely to have developed bad habits (violence, drugs, alcohol, etc.) since childhood. They are at the bottom of every exam and can only enter poor universities or even be unable to receive higher education. After entering the society, they make bad friends, cannot find a good job after graduation, have low income and growth potential, and finally do not have enough capital to train the next generation, causing the next generation to fall into the same vicious cycle. The Matthew Effect in education is emerging. world-wide,Reading has gradually become no longer a channel for the poor to turn themselves around, but has become a tool for the self-reproduction and regeneration of the upper class. The saying that one cannot be rich for more than three generations and poor for more than five generations is like a beautiful soap bubble that shatters at the touch of a hand in modern society. 04／The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility／The relationship between wealth and responsibility has been repeatedly discussed by all walks of life no matter which society it is in; currently, the wealth of the rich accounts for the proportion of the total wealth of the whole society at the highest level in history, and 100% in the world One of the people with the highest assets accounts for 20% of the world\’s total wealth, which is 20 times the average wealth retention; the top one in 10,000 people owns about 3% of the world\’s total wealth, which is more than 300 times the average. times; the data also shows that the wealth of the rich grows faster than that of the general population, and they suffer less losses when encountering an economic crisis than the general population; the rich not only have more wealth, but also have a higher social status , longer life span, better health, and better education level; what we need to admit is that the rich group is basically a group with the smartest brains, the most professional technology, the most innovative spirit, and even the most A collection of hardworking people. However, the question is, do the rich have IQs hundreds of times better than ordinary people, put in hundreds of times the effort of ordinary people, and contribute hundreds of times more productivity than ordinary people? Anyone with a little common sense will understand that this is impossible. The rich will not even be more diligent than an assembly line production worker, but their wealth will be thousands of times that of the latter. In the Hollywood movie \”Spider-Man\”, the protagonist Spider-Man said: \”With great power comes great responsibility.\” Almost all governments will ask the rich for their money through taxation. should bear responsibilities; however, the rich are smart, and a considerable number of rich people will use various means to avoid taxes and evade responsibilities. Some time ago, the tax evasion incident of celebrities made people angry. The essence is that they have overwhelming It is unacceptable that the advantaged rich should run away from their responsibilities. 05 Good Education: / What you surpass should be yourself / Since 2012, national special plans, local special plans and university special plans to recruit students from rural and poor areas have been launched. A series of actions are precisely for Maintain the upward path for middle- and lower-class students. In China, due to the existence of the college entrance examination system, it can be considered that focusing on the education of future generations is still of high value; but at the same time, we should also realize that the starting point of people is essentially different. Some people stand 50 steps away from the beginning. To use a popular saying, it is like this: I worked hard to be qualified to have a cup of coffee with you. The reason why I wrote this topic is to tell many parents: Today, it is relatively difficult to let your children take the exams for Tsinghua and Peking University. You may not be able to do it yourself, so how can you let your children do it? If you want your future generations to become top students, you should first make yourself aStart for top students. If it is difficult for you to do it, then you should let your children understand that people do not live to compare with others and participate in this kind of vicious competition. You live for yourself, not for others. The important thing is that you must transcend yourself, do what you like, and live the way you want. You don’t have to get into Tsinghua, Peking University or key universities, but you should at least keep reading and be motivated; you don’t have to have big ambitions, but you should at least give your lover, children and family a relatively decent life. This is not difficult, find a job Stable work and hard work can be achieved. When you focus on yourself, you will find that life is not that bad. The reason why many people think life is bad is that they like to compare. Tell your children that you don’t need to compare with others. What you have to surpass is yourself. Real education is to let children live out themselves.