First of all, the young players after 00 in the Tokyo Olympic Games "shark crazy", followed by the Flash of the National Games Berkeley women's basketball school bully, the American climbing champion, this year's parents are paying more and more attention to sports.
From popular tennis and basketball to the relatively niche fencing, ice hockey, squash, hip-hop... I heard that in the well-known international schools/international classes in China, a single "volume" of academics is a thing of the past, and the gods in the school are both academic and sports, and both hands are strong.
On the topic of sports, we have written about dancing street dance and won more than a dozen world-class medals of "quality chicken" Shenzhen dad, today, we invited Clinton, who has experienced the top American high school and graduated from Cornell, to talk about the importance of "sports" with his own experience.
In his view, in addition to cultivating competitive spirit and leadership, sports are also very important "rattan school stepping stones".
Clinton's father was the "Fuji generation" who entered Yale University for further study, and under the influence of his father and his self-drive, he single-handedly stepped from the American experimental school (similar to the current vocational school) to the top High School Hotchkiss, and then he successfully became the "Fuji second generation" who graduated from Cornell University. Now, as a father, he has also begun to plan the "Fuji Sanshiro" route for his four-year-old child.
Having experienced the American education system, Clinton has ample say in both studying abroad and climbing vines. The two major problems that parents often pay attention to, namely the U.S. high school experience and the shortcut to the Ivy League, were also solved in Clinton's lectures.
(For ease of reading, the following is self-described in the first person)
#01
My life can be boiled down to "always on the road to make a difference."
When I went to study in the United States with my father in the 1990s, as a young man, I was sent to a Children's corporation, in other words, a vocational school. Every day the students there learned were crafts, ceramics, chess, woodcuts, etc. After graduating here, you may be able to find a good craft job, be able to support your family, and be a good way of life. But at that time, I didn't believe that my life would be limited to assembly line work.
During that time, I studied English with my father and mastered a set of local English skills that helped me win prizes in writing competitions in the United States in the 7th grade at that time. That's when I started studying hard, and my grades were basically at the top of my class.
In addition to the results, the top MIKO Mimoto's sports ethos is very strong. I remember that at that time, I read the "Chronicle of Learning from the West and the East" by Rong Hong, the first student in modern Chinese history to study in the United States, and Rong Hong also entered the Monson Academy of the United States first, and later became the first Chinese to enter Yale. Not only is he at the top of the list, Rong Hong also has a number of sports records that no one can break. It was this book that gave me a deeper understanding of the educational environment in the United States and made me aware of the importance of sports.
By chance, I won the lottery and got a basketball, which was also the opportunity for me to officially start my sports in the United States.
When I first joined the varsity team, because I was the only Asian, coupled with the racial discrimination problems of that era, everyone had to come to guard against me and drive me back to Chinatown. In their impression, Chinese children have no reason to play basketball, and the people who are suitable for this sport are black and Spanish. But at that time, I was not a cowardly and timid person, but trained harder.
I remember when I was on the varsity team, I had the advantage of running fast, how did this speed come about? It was also because no one in public schools could protect me, and I would be robbed of my lunch money if I didn't run faster after class. After joining the basketball team, you will find that you have found an organization, and no one will dare to rob you of your money.
At that time, I also used a letter of recommendation from a physical education teacher to apply for Meigao, and when I heard that I was a varsity basketball guard, the admissions officers were very surprised. Many years later, I asked the admissions officer why he admitted me to The High School, and his words still impressed me: "After three years in the United States, you have reached a certain level of English and participated in the sports varsity team, which proves that you have a very strong ability to learn and adapt." ”
There are many people with good grades, but students who can do well in both grades and sports must have a higher competitive advantage in the United States.
At that time, in the experimental school, I was the only one among the four Chinese children to go to college, and I became more and more aware of the change in vision brought about by this step gap. I vaguely remember a basketball coach saying to me: "Don't think, just shoot." As a school basketball guard, I need to pass the ball skillfully and concede the ball.
The same is true for my own life choices, but when I was young in the United States Experimental Middle School, I hesitated for my life, or was willing to be mediocre, I could not have embarked on this track today.
#02
Not all children are suitable for going abroad, and not all children are suitable for us.
After the boom in studying abroad fades, parents need to analyze their children and analyze the environment from a rational and forward-looking perspective. After experiencing USC education first-hand, I have summarized the following commonalities among USC students:
△ Campus life of top US High School Hotchkiss (Image source: school official website)
First of all, children who enter the Us High School can basically reach the level of native English. Students need to learn to use sound to learn languages that inspire their learning patterns instead of rote memorization. Speed reading is another very important technique. Whether it is a high school, a Rattan school, or even an investment bank, a law firm or even a journalist after graduation, the ability to speed reading can greatly improve efficiency and is also a favored skill for enterprises and schools.
Active participation in sports is also crucial, with the preference given to sports for large teams. What is the use of sportsmanship? On the one hand, students' leadership, hard work, teamwork, etc., can be exercised in a game and practice.
Moreover, at Mecca, the school requires every teacher to lead a sports team, and participating in sports projects also means that you can have more topics with teachers and promote teacher-student relationships. When I was studying on the football team, although the talent was not strong, the degree of effort and diligence were 100%, and every time the team fell behind, I would call on everyone to "play chicken blood" for everyone. It is precisely because of joining a large team and showing his leadership in sports that he can stand out even more when applying for a Rattan school.
△ The American University Athletic Association (NCAA) is a sports event association formed by thousands of universities in the United States, and the top universities will recruit a large number of athletes and students with certain sports skills to participate in NCAA competitions
For the IVF, they want to cultivate people who are more inclusive, dedicated, or able to stick to their choices against the tide. Most of the new generation of parents do not want their children to suffer hardships, creating good conditions and a comfortable environment, which also makes it easy for children to give up easily or have a sense of superiority to a certain extent. There are people outside the people, there is a sky outside the sky, so that the children themselves have the "source power" to chase the goal, absolutely not a one-time thing.
Some parents will worry that in The United States, can children freely discuss what they can learn? In fact, this is the characteristics of Meigao, after layers of screening, most of the children who enter Meigao are excellent in themselves, and they are in a virtuous circle environment, such children, no matter where they go, are welcome.
#03
In the eyes of most parents, the IVF is the cradle of the elite, a traditional, aristocratic school. However, the original term "Ivy League" referred to a sports league of eight colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States, which once again emphasized the importance of sports.
For IVF schools, good grades are important, but a sports skill is an inevitable plus when applying. Earlier, most Chinese parents only paid attention to their children's standardized grades and competition results, but sports are also one of the important criteria for measuring talents in Fujian College schools.
At Hotchkiss, among a group of students with similar grades, I was admitted to the Ivy League with another Asian classmate, and he and I had one thing in common: we both had three sports. (I'm basketball, rugby and baseball; he's tennis, long-distance running and swimming.
△ Top US High School Hotchkiss (Source: School official website)
For students who want to enter the IVF, The Uscity is indeed a shortcut, which can also be seen from the data that enters the IVF every year. In addition to providing the best environment for learning English, the most important thing is that their education system is linked one by one, first go to the United States and integrate into the American system, so that whether it is study or life, it will be easier to adapt.
English is a clichéd topic, but what I want to emphasize more is the rejection of "Baidu English". When I was a financial assistant in college to correct students' homework, I could clearly feel the difference between top students and others from the words, and their language fluency and expression accuracy opened up the gap between students in the Ivy League to a certain extent, and also played a key role in their future work.
Although you can use a translator to complete your homework quickly, when you go to the United States, you will find that most of the exams need to be handwritten, and if the exam and the usual homework are judged by two people, they rely too much on the convenience of electronic products, which will cause students to misjudge their true English level.
In addition, many people will think that sending children to study abroad and then entering first-class universities can perfectly replicate the path of successful people. However, does the parent play a key role in this idealized shortcut, and does the child really know what he is chasing?
Take myself as an example, the biggest driving force in the 90s was poverty, we can't have as many life paths as today's children, and the choices at that time were more like desperate bets. And my father, because he wanted to invest his energy and money in my education, chose to terminate his doctoral career.
From Hotchkiss to Cornell to the dad who went on to become a four-year-old, at least when it comes to educating the next generation, I'm confident in my plans. Therefore, education is undoubtedly the most cost-effective investment, an investment that can create the happiness of generations.
△ Campus life at Cornell University (Source: Official website)
From personality to environmental choices, from sending children to the United States high school, to children becoming excellent people, they are hindered and long, and they do not quit. Education is a promising thing, isn't it?
#写在后面
Flowers have a reopening day, and no one is any more young. Whether it is a parent or a child, we should treat education issues rationally and choose a suitable educational trajectory. Compared with the "college entrance examination", which is a single wooden bridge, studying abroad is an open question and an exploration of unknown fields, and it has no standard answer. It is precisely because of this that it is more desirable and more worthy of our repeated exploration and in-depth study.