by Hsien-yu Lin
Ask yourself honestly. Do you know how to do your laundry by washing machine? Are you sure you can distinguish an apple from a pear? Are you aware you need to switch on the vacuum cleaner before you use it? Dare you claim you can name more than five vegetables ? If you answer “No” to all the questions, congratulations, you are among the growing group of so-called “Life idiots.” What’s unusual about these people is that they are over-achievers in their working fields; they know everything about their specialty; they make you want to kneel before them when talking about their expertise; they are so intelligent that you wouldn’t categorize them as human beings; they can do so well at school that you cannot help complaining to your parents for not having given you a better brain. Calvin is the best example. Since he was in kindergarten, he’s been getting first place in most exams and contests. Now he is a young man of 22 and he’s been to the U.S.A, the U.K, Germany, France, Japan’ any place you name. He has no problems at all talking to a native English speaker as if he had grown up abroad. He can give a speech to 200 people any place any time without so much as a blush. He can solve any computer problem in both hardware and software like he is the inventor or the programmer. He can play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with such skill that you may suspect he is playing the CD. This kind of person is now everywhere in Taiwan. Why Taiwan particularly? Just imagine, you have computer classes, English courses and piano classes on holidays , and you are obliged to go to math, physics and chemistry cram schools at night. So how can you find the time to do other things? Moreover, you are not only having these courses; you are supposed to practice over and over again till you are exhausted. Yes, you are busy all right, and thanks to Taiwanese parents, you never have you to do part-time jobs. All they ask of you is to get good grades and win prizes. If you perform better than your neighbors or relatives, you will probably get some reward. When you are studying, you are more powerful than an emperor and will be excused from every household chore. Parents or other siblings who don’t do well in their studies are responsible for this work. Thus it is really no big deal that you cannot peel an apple, that you need to wear your keys on your neck all day long, that you use bleach to wash your dog, that you mistake cleanser for cooking oil, that you wash your leather shoes in the washing machine, that you feed your baby sister a coin, that you pluck your father’s valuable orchid because you deem it an ordinary flower, that you play with a CD like you are playing frisbee, that… However, times are changing. There is no way for you to act that innocent any more. In the 21st century we need a person who can get along with people easily, who can fix the toilet, who can be responsible for trivia. If you live in a dreamland where you are God, where everyone admires you like you are one of a kind, you are terribly wrong. It is time to wake up and spend some time learning things out-side school. a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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