Inspirational story: it is better for a smart person to be confused.

I quote a famous saying of Zheng Banqiao (Zheng Xie), a gifted scholar in the Qing Dynasty, which is called "it is rare to be confused". He is a native of Jiangsu, and he was born in poverty. He stood up on his own. Before earning fame, he lived by selling paintings and teaching. At that time, the salary of teaching was very low, and so was the teacher we invited at home in the past, unlike the good salary of being a teacher now. Therefore, the ancients said that "it is better to die early than to be poor, and the family is poor and helpless to be a gentleman", and the family is too poor to come out to teach and live.

Zheng Banqiao later gained fame and became the county magistrate of Weifang, a famous cultural area. I have read his letters to my family, which have a deep influence on me. This is education. He told the children at home not to necessarily want to read more books to seek fame, because it is not necessarily good to read, be knowledgeable, have fame, and be an official. He is a gifted scholar, and he can do anything with piano, chess, poetry and painting, so he said that I have taken up all the Feng Shui of the Zheng family. It is impossible for future children to know everything like me! As long as you behave yourself, learn a skill to make a living, grow up with a mouth to eat, and live a safe life, that is happiness. So he wrote four characters: "It's hard to be confused".

what do you mean by hard to get confused? It doesn't matter if you are stupid, but you should behave yourself. You must pay attention to the words "it's hard to be confused" that he wrote. He said, "It's difficult to be smart, but it's also difficult to be confused, and it's even more difficult to change from smart to confused. Let go, take a step back, and feel at ease now, but it is not a good thing to be rewarded later. "It is difficult for a person to be born smart. Honestly, which parent knows if their children are smart enough? As I look at my children, they are all so-so and not smart enough compared with me. I told the children, don't learn from me. At best, I have read so much, and everything has been done. What good is it? There is no benefit, only more pain and trouble. The more knowledge, the deeper the trouble; The higher the education, the greater the pain. I only hope that you can live a safe life.

A grandson called me yesterday and I asked, "Who are you?" "I am your grandson!" "Oh, I see. What is it?" "My children want to take an examination of a middle school, and their scores are almost a little worse. They told me that you can just write a letter to Grandpa ..." I said, "Is your child a man or a woman?" (Laughter) I really don't know. He said it was a man. I said, "You call me grandpa, right? You are my grandson, don't you know? I won't write a letter for my children and grandchildren and ask the head of the local education administration for this favor. How can you be unclear? " "Yes, grandpa! I understand this truth, but I am forced by my wife to give you a call. " I said, "You tell your wife that any school can produce talents. You see, I have worked hard all my life, and I can never do this."

Today, my grandson called me again, saying, "I told my grandfather's lesson yesterday, and everyone knows that you are right." I said, "I know you are uncomfortable, but what does it matter if you go to reflect on the school?" Look at the heroes in the world, like Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, who graduated from a good school? You said that the number one scholar in all previous dynasties, every university won the first place, who has done something? Those who do great things, such as American car kings and steel kings, may not have graduated from universities. Why should we pay so much attention to academic qualifications? "

So Zheng Banqiao said, "It is difficult to be smart, but it is also difficult to be confused". It is not easy to be a stupid person, and I am afraid that children will not be stupid. If they are really stupid, they are really disciplined and honest, and dare not do bad things. Smart people are easy to do bad things, but they are dangerous, so it is more difficult to change from smart to confused. Pay attention to the third sentence. You are smart, but you have to learn to be confused. This is even more difficult. Let everything take its course and work hard. These are Zheng Banqiao's words of "rare confusion".

Besides, the descendants of the saints Yao, Shun and Yu in China's history are not good, not bad, but not smart enough, which comes to the so-called genetic inheritance in science now. I have also been a parent, and I have four generations under one roof. I know that children are not smart enough, and these four generations of cleverness have been taken up by me. Look at the fruit tree. One year it grows a lot of fruit, and then it will rest for several years. You are all great smart people. Don't put any more pressure on your children. This has a great meaning. Children are born with physical strength, brain power and good or bad personality, accounting for 3% of them, so parents should reflect on the teaching of their children.

I have experienced many things and met many people. When asking about their parents, I don't say, "What does your father do and what does your mother do?" We used to be polite to our subordinates. "What does your grandfather do? Is your old lady from the countryside? When will you come? I'll invite your grandfather and old lady to dinner. " In this way, we can know this person's personality, some of which is the inheritance of parents and family education. There is a lot of knowledge here, so everyone should pay attention.

So it's not that you don't care about children, but that you don't love them too much and let them develop freely, but modern people care too much. The purpose of education is not to teach him knowledge, but to transform a child's naturally inherited personality. Therefore, real education is not only based on school, but on family education, and the most important thing for parents is not to be partial. Children have many personalities, but few advantages are inherited from their parents, and there are many disadvantages. Let's study them carefully and look at ourselves in the mirror with children. Some children have a particularly big temper, and some children are very depressed, which are inherited from their parents. Children's various mentalities are related to their parents. Therefore, education begins with tutoring, and the school is just helping. Nowadays, people's concept places education in schools, which is wrong.

Preface and Postscript at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Confucius said: Ning Wuzi, if a country has a way, it will know; if it has no way, it will be foolish. Its knowledge is accessible, but its stupidity is also.

Ning Wuzi was a famous doctor in the Spring and Autumn Period, whose surname was Ning, whose name was Yu, and Wu was his posthumous title. After two generations of changes, from Wei Wengong to Wei Chenggong, the two dynasties were completely different, but Ning Wuzi was safely a veteran of the two dynasties. "If a state has a way, it will know". This state is another name of the ancient country. The country is on the right track politically, and its wisdom, ability and talents are brought into play. Great! However, when Wei Chenggong arrived, politics, society and everything were very chaotic and dangerous. He was still in the DPRK and took part in this politics, but when he was "in the middle of nowhere", he acted stupid and dull, as if he were ignorant of everything. But historically, he was not stupid. He was trying to save the regime and society at that time, invisible to outsiders. On the surface, it seems that he is incompetent and has no performance, but he really does something for the country and society. Therefore, Confucius gave him a verdict: "It's understandable, but it's stupid." He said that some people can still do Ning Wuzi's intelligent performance, but it is difficult to learn the stupid performance in troubled times.

When the social history changes, especially when the ancient imperial regime is in turmoil, people who have fully demonstrated their political talents in the hands of the previous king are easily jealous. This is an unchangeable political rule. Why is this so? It's a little puzzling, maybe it's a common problem of human psychology, and someone will be jealous if they can do it. Why jealous? It can only be said that it is the innate inferiority of human beings, and we must kill it with knowledge and morality. This kind of jealousy, when it comes to career or relative interests, avoids remembering others. Therefore, the way to learn is to understand your own psychology and kill and transform these evil psychology. That is the "benevolence" of the real "benevolence". Therefore, when Confucius talked about Ning Wuzi, his talents were so high that he should be envied by others. But when the accident happened, he was incompetent, no one attacked him, and no one hated him. This accomplishment is beyond others' ability. When people are proud, intelligence is easy to show off; "It's within reach", which we can still do. But in fact, it is hard to do it because it is unpretentious, honest and plain, stupid and incompetent, and it is "stupid".

Here, we think of Zheng Banqiao, a famous person in the Qing Dynasty, who said a few great words: "It is difficult to be smart, but it is also difficult to be confused, and it is even more difficult to change from smart to confused. Let go, take a step back, and feel at ease now, not to be rewarded later. " Extremely clever people don't deliberately pretend to be confused, but converge their cleverness and turn into confusion, which is even more difficult. In the next sentence, I feel very comfortable when I treat people, take a step back when things go wrong, and give all my interests and power to others. I don't want people to repay me afterwards, as long as I feel comfortable at that time. This is another extension of Confucius' saying that Ning Wuzi's "his knowledge is accessible and his stupidity is also".