The Price of Ignorance is an in-depth article

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Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University, is a well-known contemporary American scholar of law, sociology, and higher education. He enjoys a high reputation in the education field. Famous. He served as president of Harvard University for 20 years.

He once said a famous saying:

- If you think the cost of education is too high, try the cost of ignorance.

Buffett's golden partner, Charlie Munger, repeatedly emphasized the importance of lifelong learning in his "Poor Charlie's Almanac" and wrote:

If you do not learn lifelong , we will not achieve very high results. We can't get very far in life just relying on the knowledge we already have.

Yes, I don’t know since when, the whole society has been telling you such a story of hard work: telling you that you can’t do it without working hard.

In fact, everyone knows how great it is to not work hard at the moment!

If you don’t work overtime now, it’s great to go home and eat delicious food and play games;

If you don’t cook now, it’s great to order takeout and browse Taobao;

Now When I’m not studying, I enjoy playing games in bed!

People of any age will find joy in indulgence. Even critically ill patients will feel great about secretly smoking a cigarette.

Although I am indulging my life, this kind of indulgence is very satisfying.

Therefore, if you don’t work hard or force yourself to study, you will happily play silly games, play games, and use TikTok, and you are not willing to spend time studying with your children. Compared with those parents who study with their children all day long, This is simply a life like heaven.

But are you sure that you can tolerate the ordinaryness of your child? Can your child accept that he is an extremely ordinary person?

When it comes to something as philosophical as happiness, it is actually a bit difficult to distinguish, but I have to mention it, after all, this is the ultimate goal of everyone.

Behind the appearance of high education, good job, high income, etc., is the desire to be happy. So what really determines a person's happiness?

Many writers have interpreted and explained it. If you read enough, you will find:

Happiness must be closely related to two indicators-dignity and freedom.

Needless to say, dignity is inseparable from a person's moral character and social status. Just having good moral character is of no use. The class you are in deeply affects the dignity you get. This is class-specific. law.

What about freedom?

Everyone has free will, but the freedom this society gives you is limited. Wealth and status determine a large degree of freedom. This is what we have to admit, unless you expect to retire to the mountains and forests early. .

If you go online and take a look, young people face those “careers and lives that they will see die at the age of twenty”, face the “cold looks from society”, face “the time of ordinary life”, How dissatisfied and helpless.

When a young man encounters dozens of times more failure than others because of a resume, what will he think?

The more ignorant a person is, the more likely they are to make excuses for themselves.

Do you still remember the liberal arts champion who told the truth about society?

"It is increasingly difficult for children in rural areas to get into good schools, and children like me from middle-class families whose parents are diplomats are still born in big cities like Beijing...

This determines that I can take many shortcuts in my studies.”

Every sentence touches my heart, and many people begin to feel resentful of reality, blame others and lament their origins, but they are also blinded by them. , cannot see the other part of reality.

So many people use this as an excuse: Just accept your fate, anyway, this is what a lifetime of hard work will do.

But there is always another group of people, in this reality where the future cannot be clearly seen, they are still throwing their heads and blood, and they are still performing stories of passionate dragon slaying.

That part of the people who persevered stood out from this invisible future reality and arrived at another part of reality.

In this part, destiny has many fish that slip through the net, many doors of opportunity are open, and countless elves of hope follow.

Just like the last sentence of the top scorer in the Beijing Liberal Arts College Entrance Examination said:

Having knowledge may not necessarily change your destiny, but having no knowledge will certainly not change your destiny.

Many people feel that working hard since childhood is an overly utilitarian thing that dehumanizes oneself and deprives oneself of "happiness".

But in fact, except for a few extreme cases, all efforts have nothing to do with utilitarianism, it is just a choice.

We often see statistics like this: In a survey on the education level of 500 executives of listed companies, 84% of the executives had a high degree of education, and 48% were from 985 prestigious schools.

The overall faculty of 985 University is much stronger than that of 211 University, let alone other schools.

The more prestigious the school, the greater the library and document inventory. The book collection indicator represents the "dry material volume."

The top ten universities in China with the largest collection of books are all 985 institutions. In addition, 985 schools can provide more hardware facilities and communication platforms.

If you continue your studies with an undergraduate degree, the treatment will be even more different. In many "985" colleges and universities, the recommendation and exemption ratio is very high. It is astonishingly high. Half of the students in a class are admitted to graduate school, or even more than half.

Studying abroad is also a “different path” that young people are keen on.

When applying to study abroad, there are also some "hidden rules", that is, students' school background is valued and whether they belong to the "985" in key universities.

Not to mention employment, take 2012 as an example:

Over 90% of the top 100 listed companies in mainland China choose to go to 985 and 211 universities every year for "campus training" Recruitment";

For non-key (second-level and below) universities, less than 10 of the top 100 companies have entered the university.

Although it is biased to rely solely on diplomas for evaluation, if it is measured based on ability, the cost of this measurement cannot be afforded by the company, and the company can only use a simple screening method with a low probability of error.

These are the prices you pay for neglecting education.

These things all point to many aspects of life, and are not utilitarian at all. These are a person's requirements and responsibilities for themselves. This represents the goals and ideals of young people.

As long as you keep working hard, life has endless possibilities.

Compete with time, break through the odds, and be the fish that slips through the net in the hands of God.

I can’t see the world clearly either

The news of “Peking University graduates selling pork” has been talked about for I don’t know how many years. Many people think: So what if you graduate from Peking University? Going to sell pork? I graduated from elementary school and still sell.

But what they didn’t know was that the “pork seller” Peking University student was named Lu Buxuan.

A man named Chen Sheng was the first to discover his power:

At one stall, he sells 1.2 pigs a day, which is quite impressive. ; And this guy can actually sell 12 pigs a day, which is amazing.

Chen Sheng later cooperated with Lu Buxuan to establish the "Butcher School". Later, they opened hundreds of chain stores. Lu Buxuan and Chen Sheng both had a net worth of over 100 million.

Coincidentally, after graduating from Yale University, international student Qin Yuefei went to Hengshan County to become a village official.

Many people sneered:

"I must not be able to survive at Yale, otherwise how could I be a village official? I can't read a word, but I can still be one." Village official..."

Later, Qin Yuefei used his connections at Yale to launch the "Black Soil Wheat Field" project. Use the financial knowledge learned at Yale to introduce capital and marketing teams to develop the business industry in the village.

As a result, he became the most beautiful village official in China.

There is an article written:

After reading 985 and 211, you realize that the theory that reading is useless is a lie.

People like 985 and 211 not only have the ability and strength to enter better companies and platforms.

Even in the industry of selling pork and selling peanuts and melon seeds, which has no barriers, there is a high probability that they can do better.

The so-called theory that studying is useless and that the quality of graduates from prestigious schools is not good is just a test machine. In fact, these are very extreme examples.

Ignorant people like to use tiger skin as a banner, using extremely unlikely events to defend themselves and maliciously speculate on others.

Don’t try it

So, what is the purpose of education and learning?

Is it to get high scores? Going to college?

No, absolutely not.

At least, not just that.

Studying is not just for getting a college diploma and opening up a smooth world.

Reading is to make you a person who has warmth, understanding, taste and thinking;

It is to let you have a calm heart in the ups and downs of life, so that you can In the future, you can survive those long and dark years alone without complaining;

Reading is so that you can discuss not only firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea with your lover in the future, but also music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and wine.

No matter how exquisite the vase is, one day it will break, no matter how beautiful the face is, one day it will grow old. Only the books you have read and the words you have written will gradually accumulate in your body. , becomes your wealth.

If you read more books, you will find that the world that you have never noticed before is so vivid. Beyond the screen of your mobile phone, there are thousands of mountains and rivers;

What you have read If you read more books, you will find that in front of the boundless ocean of knowledge, no matter how big your troubles are, they are just a drop in the ocean.

Even if you end up falling into tedious matters and washing away all your glory, you will have a different state of mind when facing the same job;

When facing the same family chores, you will have a different mood. Different sentiments;

If you raise the same offspring, you will have different qualities.

This is the world’s greatest reward for those who study hard and value education.

It is tiring to work hard, it is tiring to educate children, and it is tiring to accompany children to grow up, but it must be worth it.

Don’t be afraid of being tired, having too much time, being expensive, and don’t be afraid of trouble.

Every choice has a price. Don’t try to pay the price of ignorance, it will be miserable.