Chapter 15 Confidence is the first signpost on the road to growth

Even though I'm often not as good as other people, I say to myself, "I'm the smartest. I can do it well." ——Zhang Hongjiang Among the tens of thousands of computer scientists in the world today, no one can ignore Zhang Hongjiang.He was the little boy who opened his eyes when he walked into Yexian County, Henan Province. Now, his specialty is "comprehension, retrieval and Browsing". His ideal is to allow people to use various devices on the Internet as they like, and to get the information they want quickly, no matter what kind of bandwidth, what kind of device, or what language you have. In the words of experts, this is called "realizing automatic analysis, ordering and visualization of multimedia". The most important part of this was developed by Zhang Hongjiang 8 years ago, and his achievements are up to today. He is still praised by people. Zhang Yaqin said he was a "pioneer", and Li Kaifu said he was "the originator", which means the same thing: he is the veritable first person in "video search", walking in the forefront of the world, no one Can take his place in this field. Now, let us go back and continue his "Ye County Story".

The first plot of "Ye County Story" appeared in the so-called "resurgence of the revisionist education line" in 1973.School order is being restored across the country, with students returning to their classrooms and teachers returning to their podiums. There is a saying to describe this situation, which is called "resuming classes to cause revolution."The middle school in Ye County has also resumed classes. Hongjiang just reached the age of middle school. It was the first time he entered a regular school and experienced normal education for the first time. But the child's spiritual world is still in a state of doing whatever he wants.One day in a self-study class, he refused to do his homework but buried himself in painting. When the teacher found out, he reprimanded him on the spot and drove him out of the classroom.This was the most severe corporal punishment in the school at that time, and it was an unprecedented humiliation for this child.As he walked back to the classroom, he cried.I can still remember that feeling until 30 years later: "That was the only time in my life that I was forced, and I have never been dragged out in public."

"Just wait and see," he told the teacher, crying. This is a bit like a Chinese idiom that says, "be courageous after knowing shame".Many children have had such a mental state, but they have not encountered continuous motivation, so it cannot last for a long time.In fact, from a very young age, children's self-esteem and self-confidence have been continuously violated, like a stone being hit by a hard chisel and smashed to pieces bit by bit.It is amazing how this relentless and destructive force comes from the very very people who claim to be educating their children—parents and teachers.But we can also see some children whose self-esteem and self-confidence seem to be indestructible.Because they have stronger inner power, just like the situation that Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Roosevelt of the United States, said: "Without your consent, no one can make you feel inferior."

A few weeks later, Hongjiang ushered in the moment he was looking forward to.This was the first formal exam after the school resumed. Both the teachers and classmates believed that it was of great significance, but Hong Jiang had a stronger desire in his heart.As a result, he got his wish and won the first place among 360 classmates.The teacher began to look at this inconspicuous student with a different perspective, but he found that the original idea of ​​asking the teacher to "wait and see" was not important at all.He had something more important: "Recognizing his potential for the first time, and suddenly."

The fact is often that the average child has the same latent abilities as the child who wears the aura of "child prodigy".As Yaqin, Hong Jiang and Xiang Yang said, every child is a potential genius.Unfortunately, most children tend not to believe that they have intelligence, nor do their parents and teachers, so it never occurs to them to give them a chance to express themselves. Hongjiang's luck is not that he has the ability to surpass other children, but that he has the opportunity to discover his own ability, and then have the opportunity to show it.In that instant, he saw his strengths, energy and potential.His view of himself has since changed.

"I believe I am the smartest." He said to himself: "Yes, I am the smartest. Even in later days I was often inferior to others, but I still said to myself: 'I can do better than others. Well done'." Success drove him away from low self-esteem and toward self-confidence.But a few weeks later, the situation changed suddenly. In the nearby city of Zhumadian, a female student committed suicide. The newspaper cited it as "the evil result of the revival of the revisionist education line."The climax of the great criticism was set off again, the cadre schools were expanded, and the factories were also expanded. The workers, peasants and soldiers once again shouted slogans to occupy the "superstructure", only the formal schools were silent.Zhang Hongjiang left the county middle school that brought him so many "firsts", and returned to his parents' factory school to study.

There are few students here, but teachers can give students more time to study freely.The Chinese teacher seems to take special care of this child who was once "first in the exam", and he has also consolidated his confidence in the teacher's favor and preference.For those parents who want their children to become a dragon or teachers who "hate iron but not steel", these past events may prove one thing: Giving a child self-confidence is more important than giving him a lot of knowledge.