Withdrawing from Reed University after six months, he went on to sit in on only a few classes that interested him, such as calligraphy. One might ask: Is calligraphy connected to the development of computers and Apple's enormous success? The truth is that there is a strong connection between calligraphy and design, aesthetics, and designing a distinctive computer. American culture honors individuality. If I could only use two words to summarize why the United States has the best education, I would think of "exploration" and "tolerance", i.e., the spirit of exploration of the unknown and the tolerance of failure. In the American view, there are different paths to get from point A to point B. The best one is the one that has not yet been explored. The best one is the one that has not yet been blazed, not the one that people have already traveled. People who want to blaze new trails, get new ideas, or develop new products have to explore. I'd like to share with you a story that happened to my husband, Lester Thoreau (American economist, former dean of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and bestselling author of Time Magazine in New York). When he was writing his 16th or 17th book, he brought home two large boxes of books, probably around 200. I asked him, are you going to read all of these books? He said, yes. And I asked, well, about how much of those 200 books do you think will be useful to you in writing your new book? He said, two or three books have that small paragraph. I was taken aback. He explained that plagiarism doesn't create new ideas. Although the 200 books I read may not come in handy right away, the knowledge I gained from them will be stored in my mind and will be used somewhere down the line. That's why, to Americans, the roadmap for getting things done is not simply getting from A to B, but exploring and finding new paths to get to Point B. The second example I would like to mention is about the MIT Media Lab, which is one of the top research institutes in the United States. In addition to engineers, scientists, and technologists, there are many designers, musicians, and artistic talents working there. One can't help but wonder what the relationship is between music and the emerging sciences, and MIT would give this answer: different disciplines contribute to different aspects of a project. In order to innovate, you can't just repeat the same old thing you've done a million times before, but you have to incorporate different ideas. The third example I will give is about the case study method at Harvard Business School [Twitter]. The case study method is used in many universities, especially in Harvard Business School. Through these real cases in the company or business world, students learn how to put themselves in the position of the company's policy makers to think about the problem and come up with solutions and implement them. The case study method focuses on practice and teaches students to collect and evaluate information and propose solutions. The case study method focuses on teamwork and teaches students to both divide and conquer and to present persuasive arguments. Americans tolerate failure because they believe it gives people more and is more instructive for the future. American culture views people who suffer failure as people with ideas, courage, and energy. "Failure is not a word with a negative connotation. "Oral presentations bring children to the stage to learn how to present ideas clearly and receive feedback. American Education Focuses on Social Skills Americans believe that social skills are important. From kindergarten on, children are expected to give "presentations" in class. They may just show their buddies a few ordinary rocks they found on the beach and make a simple oral presentation. But in this activity, children go to the front of the stage, stand in front of their peers, and learn how to clearly state their ideas and receive feedback from their peers and teachers. By the time these children are in high school or college, presenting ideas to others has become a commonplace. By the time they need to make a personal presentation to a potential investor or employer in the future, there is no doubt that they can do it very well. Students need to imitate their teachers, but teachers also need to allow students to innovate so that they can find a way to grow. Confucianism Dominates Chinese Culture Ancient China is a bright jewel in world history. China has four great inventions - papermaking, compass, gunpowder and printing. It can be seen that the Chinese nation was once the most creative nation in the world. In Chinese culture, Confucianism has always dominated. Confucianism honors well-orderedness, hierarchy of respect and inferiority, diligence and hard work, and continuous learning, all of which are good values. These values were vigorously promoted at that time and played a positive role in fostering social development at that time. For people, in times of social upheaval, such as the Warring States period, there was nothing more important than the establishment of a well-organized order. Therefore, in the Chinese education system at that time, "order" was strongly emphasized. While respecting elders and not questioning teachers were good qualities, not daring to challenge authority also inhibited the development of critical thinking. People do not want to see students questioning what their teachers say. This also happens in Asian countries like Japan, Korea and Singapore. In fact, even if a teacher is smart, correct, experienced, knowledgeable or friendly, students should feel that it is normal to question and challenge the teacher. Only in this way can students develop the habit of independent thinking and the ability to think creatively. Students need to imitate their teachers, but after a certain point, teachers need to allow students to innovate and find their own way to grow. Chinese people not only inherit traditional values, but also absorb new ideas from the education they receive in foreign countries. Why Overseas Chinese Can Achieve Remarkable Success Yang Zhiyuan, who is one of the founders of Yahoo! Yang Zhiyuan, who is one of the founders of Yahoo! Cheng Zhengchang, who is the founder of Panda Express (a restaurant group); David Sun and Du Jichuan, who are the founders of Kingston Technology (a global leader in memory); and Zhang Yin, who is the founder of Nine Dragons Paper. All of them are Chinese who have made excellent careers in the United States. Why can Chinese people make such remarkable achievements in the United States? Because these Chinese have not only inherited the traditional values of hard work, good learning and orderliness in the spirit of their people, but also absorbed new concepts from the education they received in the United States, that is, critical thinking, the habit of independent thinking, the spirit of exploration of the unknown, and the attitude of acceptance of failure. Thus we have come to the conclusion that what we once needed is not exactly what we currently need. Society is changing, and China's education system has to adapt to new changes and new requirements. So how do we integrate the good values we have just talked about? The Chinese and Jews value education, family, and hard work, which are very good values. Americans and Jews also share some of the same good qualities, for example, they value the spirit of discovery in the search for the unknown, they do not impose order and allow for failure; they are fun-loving, value good social and interpersonal skills, and have the ability to be critical of others as well as accepting of their criticisms. This is exactly what we aim for in international education. Q & A: Q: What kind of students does Harvard favor? Dr. Anna: First of all, you need to have a good grade! Harvard University has a large number of applicants every year, all of whom are also very good, and the competition is very fierce. If you don't have good grades, it's not a good situation. But for Harvard, it's not just about "being able to study", students should be able to do more - honesty, unique experiences, critical thinking and creativity are all very important qualities. There are many top universities in the world, and the number of American students who get into Harvard is as small as the number of Chinese students. You may want to think of Harvard as a representative of the world's top universities, as a benchmark to strive for, and in the process of perfecting yourself, discover the best institution of excellence for you. The experience of visiting the international elite class of Bayi Middle School a few days ago impressed me quite a lot. Their language is quite outstanding, and what is more outstanding is the sharp questions they asked, which showed me their critical and different thinking mode. Translation and organization of this edition/Hu Zuhong Contributions/Sun Yanyan