Chapter 4 ·E student

Change our concept of education ·Grow like a genius, but you are not a genius, just the best "yourself". As I neared the completion of this book, the following questions kept popping up in my mind: Is this a book about the young Chinese people at Microsoft?Is it a book about success?Is it a book that teaches kids how to be a genius?Is it a book that teaches you how to fight the existing education system?neither!Throughout the process of researching and writing, I have always cared about one thing: We found a group of people who didn't have a brain that was smarter than ours, and they didn't go through an education system that was different from ours.So why are they different from us?They are unique in their view of education - that alone sets them apart.

Therefore, the conclusion of this book is: Since we can't change education, let's change the way we think about education. "Student E" I bet you all don't know that in Microsoft Research China, we have many world-class experts in multimedia research. — Bill Gates The hall was brightly lit and the atmosphere was warm.In the middle, a long table stretched out horizontally, 20 meters long, covered with a white cloth .The table is filled with beverages of various colors, fruits, wine, Chinese and Western snacks.The shadows of the cups are staggered and radiant, reflecting on the guests.

This night in the banquet hall of the Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing, it was obvious that it belonged to young people.The guests were all dressed in colorful clothes and their hair was messed up.In the laughter, there are Chinese for a while, English for a while, seriousness for a while, and gags for a while.If you look for similarities in them, there is only one thing, they all have a young face. At this moment, everyone gathered on the east side of the hall, surrounding two people. A person of medium build, soft lines, sharp eyes, a standard Chinese appearance, speaks authentic American English, even in midsummer, still dressed neatly, wearing a printed tie, meticulous.It seems that his demeanor is more mature than his age, his speech is more casual than his status, he is faintly haggard and complacent.

The other person is not tall, with big head, short hair, round face, wearing a suit and leather shoes, wrapped in broad shoulders and wide back, unable to conceal the unrestrained unrestrainedness that emerges from the inside out.Those who are good at observing will also notice the pair of eyes behind his glasses, which are both stable and flexible, and seem to have infinite vitality and energy, which are partly hidden and concealed. These two people are Li Kaifu and Zhang Yaqin.The former will leave his position as the dean of the Microsoft China Research Institute, and immediately return to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, USA, as the vice president.The latter is about to succeed the former as the new dean of the institute.Now colleagues at the institute surround them just to say "goodbye" to one and "welcome" to one.

About two years ago, in the summer of 1998, when Kai-fu Lee came to Beijing for the first time to set up a research institute, he had Microsoft’s ambitious plan in his pocket: invest 80 million US dollars in 6 years, find 100 most outstanding Researchers.At that time, there were only two people around him.They settled down in the Sigma Building in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and then a group of young people came here, including undergraduate students, master's and doctoral graduates. "I bet you don't know," Bill Gates said to those senior executives of Microsoft Corporation one day, "At Microsoft China Research Institute, we have many world-class experts in multimedia research."

This world-recognized "genius" obviously believes that he has discovered another group of "geniuses" in China.From the Institute's records, we can determine that Bill Gates developed the idea on October 18, 1999.On that day, Kai-fu Lee led 6 researchers under him, flew across the Pacific Ocean, and came to Building 8 of the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond to report to Bill Gates the progress made by the Microsoft China Research Institute in the year since its establishment.At the end of the report, Bill Gates couldn't help but exclaimed, "That's great!"

From then to today, these young people gathered in Beijing Microsoft Research Institute have gradually surprised the whole world.Microsoft Research China has been renamed as Microsoft Research Asia.It has 170 researchers, associate researchers and engineers, as well as 50 visiting scholars and about 200 intern students.As a result, more than 400 young people gathered on the fifth floor of the Sigma Building.In the past 5 years, they have obtained at least 200 international patents and published at least 800 papers in first-class international conferences and international academic journals. The number of papers is close to the sum of the previous four years.Today, five out of every one hundred papers published in the top five journals in the world come from this institute.It all points to a massive, ever-expanding force here.There is a fact that can help us measure the value of these papers: the papers that can be accepted by the International Graphics Conference represent the highest level in the field of computer graphics in the world.In the past five years, hundreds of thousands of researchers in our country have only one paper selected for this conference, while more than ten people from Shen Xiangyang's group have 12 papers selected.

By 2003, "Microsoft boy" became synonymous with "excellence", and Bill Gates has become accustomed to using some strong words of praise on this group of Chinese youths at Microsoft Research Asia: "Excellent!" "Perfect!" "Outstanding talent!" And most of these people come from Chinese university campuses. Kai-fu Lee has always liked being with students.He firmly believes that "the hope of the future lies in the walls of universities in China today." During the two years of working in China, he went to dozens of universities and met with tens of thousands of Chinese students.One of his most famous maxims is: "There is nothing more important than meeting students." He once refused to go with his colleagues to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, just to talk to a college student who hadn't graduated yet.His belief is not only his personal, it is Microsoft's culture.In fact, Bill Gates' greatest ambition is not to maintain his "world's richest man" status, nor even to let his company beat all competitors.His biggest ambition is to take all the best students in the world under his own account.

However, in the last few months of Kai-fu Lee's work in China, we found some new signs in him.Before that, he was obsessed with "pursuing geniuses", talking about China's "famous universities", but now he often thinks: How can an ordinary child become an extraordinary person?When he stood in front of those college students, he always had very complicated emotions. Sometimes "seeing many pairs of eyes eager for knowledge and full of hope" was like a ray of sunshine shining in his heart; All the students are wasted", and full of gloom, feeling "it's a pity".One day he "suddenly had an urge to write a letter to the Chinese students, writing out some ideas that I had in the process of communicating with the students and some advice I wanted to give to the Chinese students." 2000 In June 1999, two months before he left China, he published the letter.He had great expectations for this letter. "As long as one in 100 classmates who read this letter will benefit from it," he said, "this letter is already more valuable than any research I have done." This shows that he has set his sights on the entire education in China boundary.

The education system of our country is like a building, which accommodates hundreds of millions of students, and each student has his own place in this building.This building is not the shape we usually see, it is a pyramid. There are five levels in the pyramid, and there are five types of students, corresponding to the five levels of the pyramid: Grade A, study-weary type: Unhappiness, boredom, strong psychological resentment and resistance, wishing to throw textbooks on the teacher's face. Grade B, Passive: Passive, passive, numb, making progress under the urging of parents and teachers and the pressure of the environment.

C-level, mechanical type: dedicate oneself wholeheartedly, study hard, head cantilevered, and work hard step by step towards the first-class direction. Level D, aggressive: Confident, proactive, positive, do what must be done to the best, and consistently maintain first-class results. E-level, autonomous type: Possesses the characteristics of a "D-level student", in addition to: autonomy, freedom, tenacity, and happiness.Have personality, have passion, have imagination, enjoy learning rather than completing learning, do not measure success or failure by scores, may not be the first, but must have independent will, have strong interests, and have a goal to pursue persistently. When we divide the five grades of students, we mainly do not consider the academic performance, but the attitude of learning. At the same time, we basically do not consider the factor of intelligence.So this is not a pyramid of scores, but a pyramid of attitudes; not a pyramid of intelligence, but a pyramid of non-intelligence.Non-intellectual factors determine where you stand, and your position determines how much really useful things you can absorb from the current education system. This is not a pyramid of scores, but a pyramid of attitudes; Not a pyramid of intelligence, but a pyramid of non-intelligence. As shown in this picture, the "weary" and "passive" students are in the lower two layers of the pyramid, and there are a large number of them. "Mechanical students" are at an intermediate level, and many of them vacillate between "passive" and "active". "Enterprising students" and "autonomous students" correspond to the "D level" and "E level" of the pyramid respectively.So they can also be called "D students" and "E students". "Student E" is at the fifth level of the pyramid, which is also the highest level. It has three main characteristics, which can also be called "3E": EQ - emotional intelligence Enjoy - happiness, enjoyment (learning) Excellence——excellent, outstanding, outstanding Therefore, the definition of "E students" is: students who have a strong sense of autonomy and high emotional intelligence, so they are happier and more outstanding students. After you have read the pyramid from low to high, please start over now.This time, please start reading from the "Entrance", because this is the starting point of our research. 0 0 This "entrance" is a bit strange.It's not on the ground floor, but between the second and third floors.This is the starting point of education, from here all children go to the mansion.In fact, they already stand at this portal during the first few years of life.When they started, there was no difference between each other, whether it was Kai-fu Lee, Zhang Yaqin, or you now. Now, the kids who go through the "entrance" move on to the "turning point" and here's the key, every kid goes through this at some point before they turn 12, whether you notice it or not , are all certain. Different situations happened to the children standing at the "turning point". Many of them turned their heads and walked to the second level, and many of them continued to go down to the first level and stayed there.Others turned their heads and went up to the third level, then some stopped, and some continued to go up to the fourth level.Then, some people stopped, and some people continued to go up to the fifth level, which is "E level". Our research proves that Zhang Yaqin is a typical "E student", as is his predecessor Lee Kai-fu.In fact, most of our research objects belong to "E students". Most of the "E students" come out of the "fourth grade". Not all "E students" are outstanding, but outstanding people must come from "E students".Maybe you want to grow up like a genius, maybe you don't want to be outstanding, but just want to live a happier life, then you should try to be an "E student" first. Now let's go back to the beginning of this section, August 3, 2000, Kai-Fu Lee's last night working in China.He still has two things to do. He passed a "baton" to his successor Zhang Yaqin.This action is only symbolic, but those who have read "Following Wisdom" must understand that it has substance.Zhang Yaqin was born in Taiyuan, China, with both Eastern and Western educational backgrounds. He is young yet sophisticated, full of wisdom, yet calm.When he was studying in the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China, he was just an unknown child. Today, he is already one of the most outstanding scientists in the field of electronic engineering in the world. "The reason why I can leave with confidence is because of Yaqin." Kai-fu Lee said: "He deeply understands the future of technology and business." Zhang Yaqin took over the "baton" and held it high.He finally smiled, his chin lifted slightly, and he was full of ambition, but the words he said were simple: "As always. It's getting better and better." Applause rang out, and everyone was thinking about how to "get better and better". Kai-fu Lee began to do the last thing before he left office.He took out a key card with his photo and the word "Microsoft" printed on it from his pocket, and said to everyone: "I want to give it to our youngest student here as a souvenir." The "youngest student" was on the spot, only 14 years old, named Yu Yindong, a middle school student from Shanghai, and also the youngest "visiting scholar" in the summer research institute.Its research direction is to use a computer to judge whether the speaker is crying or laughing by identifying the intonation of a speech, and then draw the speaker's expression with a cartoon on the computer. Now, everyone in the audience is looking at the child.At that moment, Yu Yindong's eyes widened in surprise, and after a few seconds, he finally understood what happened, and rushed forward with a "wow".In his heart, Kai-fu Lee has always been his idol and his future, so everyone present can imagine what it means to face this kid. In the hall, the lights suddenly brightened. 14-year-old Yu Yindong and 39-year-old Li Kaifu hugged each other and stayed together for a long time.The crowd cheered in unison, treating the child as a continuation of the adult. A reporter pondered in his mind on the spot: Is this child also an "E student"? If we have the opportunity to study the early stories of these "E students", we will find that there are indeed some unique things at the beginning of their growth.