Chapter 13 Part 13

Taiwan's entrance exam is like a very famous one.A restaurant with limited seating. When you squeeze in, you can eat the most nutritious, healthy and delicious things. What if you can't squeeze in? you can…… Lianka restaurant It has been nearly 30 years since I took the college entrance examination, but to this day, I still cannot forget two things that happened at that time: Two gunmen were caught in the examination room, one was a student of a famous university and the other had already graduated.They all have superhuman skills, taking the exams for others for several years in a row, and they are admitted to prestigious schools every time.

The gunman is admitted to the university, and the foreign country gets a Ph.D. After being arrested, their student status was expelled, and the students who had taken the exam on their behalf also lost their student status. The problem is that two of them have not only finished their university studies in Taiwan, but also studied abroad and obtained graduate degrees in foreign countries. . Seeing this news, I thought, the person who hired the "gunner" to take the exam must have done poorly in their homework. Since the homework is not good, they must not be able to keep up with entering a prestigious school, even if Taiwan's prestigious school is "you play for four years" University.Going abroad is bound to make a fool of yourself.However, why not only do they get a master's degree, but some even get a doctor's degree right away?

Another thing that makes me unforgettable is the day when I entered the Fine Arts Department of Normal University, the head of the department said in his welcome speech. "You are so lucky. There are nearly 2,000 people taking the exam this year, and we only select 25. You must have found a good teacher and trained for many years before you came in. Therefore, you are already great! " After the first sketch class, I looked around at the works of my classmates. Sure enough, everyone drew very well.Just like the sketch professor's comment that day - "It can be seen that you have all been taught by academic teachers." He smiled, and he tilted his head: "To be honest, I haven't received academic training, and I can't get into our art Tie.…

I asked a few classmates and thought about myself: "Isn't it? Our teachers are all academics, you can even say that they are all famous teachers!" However, since then, I often think: "If a person who is talented and determined to be an artist can't find an academic teacher or hire a famous teacher to guide him, will he be cut off from our art department forever? ? If so, it would be too unfair!" Harvard University: Don't look at the past, look at the future! I always remember that the son of An Kezhi in the United States told me that his grades in high school were not very good, but Harvard University accepted him after the oral exam because:

"Harvard not only asks how much you have learned in the past, but also pays more attention to your potential and how much you can learn in the future." The question is, how does our entrance examination system discover those young people with potential and enthusiasm?Under the rigid examination method, would there be too many Zhang Daqian, Huang Junbi, and Lin Yushan who were rejected at the first pass? But, thinking of this, I asked myself again, among the few in front, which one was the winner of the examination room?Relying on a golden list to be great? China attaches great importance to imperial examinations, and there are countless talents who have been graduated from the imperial examinations. However, if we do the math, I am afraid that people who are not from the imperial examinations have a far more decisive influence on Chinese history than the former.

Mr. Sun Yat-sen wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang long before he engaged in the revolution, and even sent it to Tianjin himself.Fortunately, Li Hongzhang ignored him. On the contrary, if Li reused Sun Yat-sen, I am afraid that Sun Yat-sen would not be able to become the father of the country.I'm afraid that until today, we still have a high-ranking royal family just like Britain or Japan. It also reminded me that when I was at Normal University, I heard that the department wanted to hire Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen to teach, but later because of Mr. Jiang's academic qualifications, he failed, which disappointed the students in the department for a long time.Later, I learned that Mr. Jiang went to the Cultural University to teach, and then served as the vice president of the Palace Museum, and now he has become a master of the generation.

Not only did Mr. Jiang not be hurt in the slightest by the stiff way of employing people at the Normal University back then, but it might have pushed him to a higher level and become even greater. Temporary success or failure is not important This reminds me of the late Mr. Deng Changguo, a well-known musician, who once said to me: "You can try to compete for several awards. Winning an award will definitely help you." After a while, I see nothing. The meaning of competition, he said: "Some talents don't bother to compete with others. It's just that it's good to disdain competition! It's bad if you don't dare to compete! The former will always work hard in the direction he believes in, and he will always succeed The latter, fleeing again and again, even though they are talented, in the end, they will fall behind."

After another two years, I met again, and he patted me: "Why bother to compete for those awards? Go and compete to be the judges of those awards!" It has been many years since Mr. Deng Changguo passed away, but his words are still ringing in his ears.I think he is a very encouraging person.He pointed out a path and inspired me to follow it.I found the second way again and gave me encouragement again.Most importantly, he emphasized that no matter whether a person competes with others or not, and regardless of the temporary success or failure of the competition, he must always determine his own direction and strive silently.

Very lucky, I passed the entrance exam.Many students who failed in the past took the exam again after a year, and some of them passed the exam after completing their military service.Those who failed the ranking entered the society early. When I held an art exhibition, several classmates who failed the rankings collected my works.They started early and succeeded early in society. Several of them became big bosses, and a bunch of doctors and masters worked for them. you can't beat the test I found out that I was wrong back then! It is impossible for a person to be knocked down by the exam, but only to be defeated by the exam. If he fails in the future life because he failed the exam, he will definitely not be eliminated by the exam, but by his own "depressed heart".

We can not fight with others, but we must not fight with ourselves.Only those who "beyond themselves" can truly succeed. Thirty years later, looking back at the university entrance examination, I found a clever metaphor: The entrance exam in Taiwan is like a very famous restaurant with limited seats. When you squeeze in, you can eat the most nutritious, healthy and delicious food. What if you can't squeeze in? You can go another day, or stop patronizing, after all, the world is too big, there are restaurants and delicious food everywhere. Only a stubborn person would say:

"I can't squeeze into a big restaurant for the entrance exam, I'm going to starve for the rest of my life!" ----------------------------------------- You can not allow me to write, not to speak, not even to cry, not to laugh, but you can't stop me from thinking. So, I thought about my music in my heart, and I still live beautifully.How wonderful! Live beautifully! "I've been in a dilemma recently." A male student with good qualifications said to me, "I have two girlfriends who both love me and I like them very much. I don't know which one to choose." "It means that the two conditions are similar." I said. "No! The conditions are quite poor." The student stared at me and said, "One is very rich, and there is a big Steinway concert at home. The other is very poor, and I often call her. Half of the calls, I can't do anything." I said it. Because her bedroom is right next to the railway, the whole house vibrated when the train passed by, and I couldn't hear anything, so I had to hold the phone in a daze." Half a year later, I met that student, who was already married. "Married someone with a Steinway?" I laughed. "Married in the ghetto next to the railway." "Oh!" I nodded: "It's not simple! Is there any special reason?" "One day, I went to her house and sat in her bedroom chatting. Suddenly, a train passed by and it was so loud! There was a gust of wind and the curtains were blown up. It was a very cheap thin cotton curtain, which she sewed by herself. Yes. At this time, the sun came in, and I saw a flowerpot made of half-cut plastic bottles on the windowsill, and there was a cluster of unknown small yellow flowers in it. I asked her what it was. She was very embarrassed. I stood in the front and said it was a worthless flower. I asked again, "It's very beautiful! What kind of flower is it? She hesitated for a long time before saying that it was a small grass flower dug out in the wild, and it was worthless!" What a special brilliance: "Do you know? I was suddenly moved by that moment, and rushed to hug her, telling her not to say that, don't say it's worthless, the feeling of beauty cannot be measured by money! At that moment, I realized that I fell deeply in love with her." The beauty that touches the soul is not necessarily gorgeous The words of the students often come to my mind. I often imagine the curtains that are bathed in the afternoon sun and blown by the wind, and the clump of weeds and flowers on the window sill.How ordinary, how beautiful! I remember that on Valentine’s Day one year, I went to a flower shop to order flowers, and the owner of the flower shop then brought me a rose. When I got home, I put the rose in a thin little bottle.Two days later, Valentine's Day flowers were also delivered, twenty-four roses.I found another big crystal vase and put it in. The strange thing is, compared with the twenty-four beautiful and fragrant roses, compared with the lonely twig next to it, I have a special feeling for that technique.I feel so delicate, so meticulous, so wise. I also thought of going to the house of Mr. He Haotian, the former curator of the History Museum.The layout is very simple, there are no flowers on the table, only the young shoots of sweet potatoes emerging from a pot.The light red sweet potato skin and the green and curved vine leaves give people a special elegance.Let me go back to my childhood. In my memory, the garlic seedlings raised by my father in a small water container, in front of the window in winter, sprouted a piece of fresh green. The true beauty is often like a simple Zen non-ink painting, which does not require gorgeous colors or complicated composition, but it can attract people's reverie and give people beauty in the "empty" place. Beauty, help us through the suffering of life Since my daughter went to kindergarten, she often gives me this kind of beauty. She has a work basket, which looks like a trash can at first glance.Inside were hats made from supermarket kraft paper bags.Small people made of clothespins and buttons.Masks made from paper plates, and drawings made from soybeans. The school sends out notices at every turn, asking parents to prepare empty fresh milk boxes for their children, or the "paper rolls" left over from the toilet paper.Then let the children bring back from school, with toys made of those waste. The problem is, the trash in the eyes of adults has become a treasure for children.They don't care about worldly values, they only care about whether they are moved and imagined. So, I often see the little girl showing off her work.Think she is stupid first.After thinking about it, I realized that I was vulgar.She reminds me of that student's girlfriend, the plastic vase flowerpot on the windowsill, and the little grass flowers inside.It reminds me of a passage from a professor at Columbia University: "The purpose of teaching art in the future should not be to cultivate a few professional artists. It is to cultivate a group of citizens with a sense of beauty. Let them see beauty from the most ordinary things, and know how to use the ordinary things around them to create beauty Make them have a positive and happy attitude towards life, not just realistic values. It also enables them to face the sufferings of life with a sense of beauty." people are a kind of beauty I remember when I first arrived in New York, I went to see an old friend in the art world in Soho.Entering his studio, I almost choked. There was a cloud of smoke and dust, and there was a strong smell of paint everywhere. He was immersed in repairing antiques. He slowly pieced together the pieces of porcelain sent by customers.Glue first, then fill and polish with porcelain powder.Then paint the broken patterns as they were originally.Then use the canned paint sprayed on the aircraft to spray the surface into a bright glaze. My friend took off his mask and walked out of the studio with me.Carefully step over the muddy remaining snow and step onto the dark streets of Manhattan. "How beautiful!" He clasped his hands, exhaled white smoke, raised his head, looked at the tall buildings approaching all around, and almost chanted, "New York! A city that really sees people." Pointing to the tall buildings, He also pointed to the ronin squatting on the corner of the street: "It's all created by people, all kinds of people, how beautiful!" I looked at his face and saw the emotion on that face.There is also a kind of touch from the bottom of my heart-he, a real artist.In such an unsatisfactory time, he is still happy and still lives beautifully.When there is beauty in the heart, there is beauty in the eyes.It also reminds me of the collection of the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, "The Golden Pavilion Enlightenment" painted by Kawabata Ryuko, and the "Sanjoden Fire" collected by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.The blazing flames rose upwards, bringing thick black smoke, and the Japanese national treasure "Kinkakuji Temple" was burning, and samurai holding swords were killing people.But it can become a kind of beauty in the artist's pen. Fire can burn people to death, but it is red and beautiful.Ice and snow can freeze people to death, but it is so beautiful.War is cruel, but it can be written as an epic of mankind.The historic site has been forgotten, but it can express the nostalgia for the past. The picture of a folk music collection creator suddenly came to my mind.After being imprisoned for more than ten years, someone asked him how he felt, and he smiled: "At that time, it was like taking a picture. When his camera moved to the right, you turned to the left; when his camera moved to the left, you turned to the right again. But it doesn't matter, you can not allow me to write, no I'm not allowed to speak, I'm not even allowed to cry. I'm not allowed to laugh, but you can't stop me from thinking. So, I think about my music in my heart, and I still live beautifully." It doesn't have to be wishful, rich, or poetic.As long as we have beauty in our hearts.There is beauty in the eyes.All the joys and sorrows, can be chewed out a kind of beauty.Even if it is poignant, it is also beautiful. How wonderful!Live beautifully! ---------------------------------------------- Can you feel at ease falling in love with this kind of "boy" or "girl" who doesn't grow up? Can you be sure that what he said represents himself, and that the promises he made will surely be fulfilled? where is your head Every time I go back to Taiwan, I will buy some clothes for my daughter.But this time, when I passed by a children's clothing store, I thought about it and didn't buy it. When I got home, my daughter asked me for new clothes. I spread my hands and said to her: "Dad didn't buy it, because I don't know what clothes you will like. You are already six years old and have your own opinions, so why not another day, I will take you to a clothing store, and you can choose by yourself." !" No is also right. The next day, I took her to buy clothes.She didn't dare to choose at first, and insisted on my help. After repeated encouragement, she finally made the move. She actually picked out a few clothes that I would never have thought of.The problem is, she chose it by herself, she likes to wear it very much, no matter how it looks on her body, it doesn't look right, but it also looks right no matter what. I found that real "creativity" and "breakthrough" often come from this way.If we want the next generation to be better than the previous generation, we must give them space, give them freedom, and let them be the masters. where is your style I remember that I used to be in the traditional Chinese painting class of American University. There was a student from the art department.But when he learned the basic brushwork of traditional Chinese painting, he stopped copying and scribbled here and there. I felt sorry for him at the time, and felt that if he practiced hard according to traditional methods, he would definitely become a very good Chinese painter. A few years later, when I received an invitation for his art exhibition and walked into the venue, I realized that I was wrong. He was right!Because he integrated the techniques of Chinese painting into his paintings.It is indeed no longer a traditional Chinese painting, but it is "his" painting! As far as artistic creation is concerned, what is more important than expressing your own unique style? where are your feelings From that day on, I often thought: "Chinese-style education, under strict control, does it ignore the children's own feelings? Especially today, there are few children, and they are all spoiled like treasures. "You should drink water! Don't sweat too much and get angry." "You should eat fruit to avoid constipation!" "You should eat this dish and avoid that dish, because this dish is more nutritious!" "You should take off your clothes! It's hot!" "You should change the blanket, it's getting cold!" "It's time for you to study, don't you have an exam the day after tomorrow?" think about it!How many parents don't tell their children like this?The problem is, a child is also a human being, doesn't he know how to be cold or hungry?Don't know how to dress and eat?After more than ten years of "serving" like this, the natural instinct of that day may become dull instead! On the one hand, we take care of him in a meticulous way that does not require the child to worry about it. On the other hand, we hope that he can become a person who thinks independently and is responsible.Can such an education succeed? Do you dare to fall in love with him? The more serious problem is that a child brought up in this way has lost the ability to "make decisions"; when encountering problems, he does not face and solve them by himself, but retreats behind his parents and waits for "adults" to help. Even when going to college, you can see many "big kids" registering under the leadership of their mother who is a head shorter than him. Can you feel at ease falling in love with such a "boy" or "girl"?Can you be sure that what he said represents himself, and that the "promise" he made will surely be fulfilled? For this reason, I created opportunities for my son to be the master when he was very young. He wanted to buy a computer, and I taught him to read the materials, make phone calls, and bargain.When encountering problems, I asked him to call the free consultation line and discuss each item with others. Sometimes, when he came to ask me, I even pretended to be stupid: "I'm sorry! Dad doesn't understand! You can figure it out and decide for yourself!" I also opened a credit card and bank account for him early, deposited a considerable amount of money in it, and then said to him: "If I find you spend money, don't expect me to give you more money in the future. On the contrary , if I find that you know how to manage money, I may hand over a large amount of money to you in the future!" I found that the more respect he gained, the more he respected himself.What is more important is that he has learned to be responsible for his own profits and losses, and he has also learned to be responsible. where is your head When I was in graduate school, a professor said it well: "The research institute teaches you how to learn, but it doesn't teach you to think. Thinking is your own business." Why do I think it is necessary to wait for the research institute?When the child is small, we should already teach him.At least we can teach him how to think without directly giving him answers. Everyone has his own opinion and is an independent individual, so why should everyone have the same answer?As long as his way of thinking is correct, his views are not extreme, and he has gone through his own repeated dialectics, he should be respected. One's own decision, one's own responsibility, is a matter of course!Even if he was wrong and failed!It was his own failure, and he had to learn from it.He has his own world, and he has to face his battles. No matter how strong the parents are, it is impossible to protect their children for a lifetime!The more you want him to stand the blow, the more you have to teach him to stand on his own feet early. To this day, my son has graduated from college, and I still say that old saying to him: "It's your business, Dad doesn't understand. I have my own work, where is your head? It's up to you Bar!"