2014.05.12

 

 

 

教育決定未來(四)

My Education My Future

 

全世界年輕人每天都在做的事-拒絕放棄。決定為自己的人生與教育負責，給自己定下奮鬥的目標，我相信每個人都能做到這些。

今天，我希望每個人都能為自己的教育定下目標，盡自己最大努力來實現這目標。你的目標可以很簡單，像是完成作業，認真聽講，每天閱讀，或是參加一些課外活動，或在社區當志工。或許你會決定挺身而出，保護那些被戲弄的孩子，因為你認為，所有的學生都應該有安全的學習環境。你可能決定該好好照顧自己，為將來的學習做準備。

不論你將來準備做甚麼？希望你能堅持到底，腳踏實地的去做。我們有時候會從電視上得到這樣的印象，不必很認真就能功成名就擁有財富，只要會唱rap、會打籃球，或參加真人秀節目，就能坐享其成，一般人幾乎沒有此機會。

事實上，獲得成功不是輕而易舉的事，每個人不可能對每門功課都有興趣，也不可能和每個老師相處都順利，不是所有的作業都和目前的生活有關，也不是每件事都能一試就成功。但那沒關係，世界上最成功的人士有時候是遭遇最多失敗的。哈利波特的作者J.K.羅琳，他的哈利波特第一版在出版前遭受12次退稿。麥克喬丹在高中時被籃球隊刷下來，在他的職業生涯裡他輸了幾百場比賽，射籃失敗過幾千次，但他曾說過，「我一生不停的失敗，失敗再失敗，這就是我成功的原因」。他們的成功，源於他們明白不能讓失敗左右自己，而是要從中吸取經驗。從失敗中，明白下一次可以做怎樣的改變。如果做錯了不要認為是製造麻煩，而是意味著要更加努力把事情做對。如果你考試失敗，不表示愚笨，而是表示你要花更多時間學習。

沒有一個人天生擅長做甚麼事，只有努力才能培養出技能。第一次接觸新的體育活動，不可能成為主力隊員；第一次唱一首歌時，不可能唱準每一個音。一切都是熟能生巧，學習也是一樣。

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across the world. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

Today I hope on each of you to set your goals for your education, and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased, because you believe, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.

But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes you get that sense TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work, that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you’re not going to be any of those things.

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at the minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. J.K. Rowling, who wrote Harry Potter, her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, ”I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.” These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures define you- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. The same principle applies to your learn.