From Knowledge to Impact

Many people believe that knowledge is very important. A typical person will spend the first 22 years of his life learning and acquiring knowledge through a formal education process. However, what many do not realize is purpose of acquiring knowledge, and furthermore, how they can use the knowledge to accomplish things other than getting a good grade on an exam. Knowledge is typically applied to solve a certain problem, thus creating impact or contributions to others. This entire process can be split up into three parts:

1. Acquiring Knowledge
2. Applying Knowledge
3. Creating Impact with Knowledge

1. Acquiring Knowledge
This part is what most people around my age are doing, as a consequence of the "lack of knowledge" or "insufficient knowledge" regarding a certain area or studies. Some believe that undergraduate studies isn't enough, thereby entering graduate school to continue the process of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired through formal education, books, internet, socialization, experience, etc.

2. Applying Knowledge
Once knowledge is acquired, it must be applied to solve problems or create new things. This is where many people, including myself, struggle. After taking in a lot of insightful information, it is difficult to remember every single detail, therefore it's hard to know when to use what concept or theory previously learned. One must often refer back to notes or the original text to recall the information learned and then apply it to a real life situation. Knowledge is easily applied when it is acquired from experience, contrary to something you read on the internet or in a book.

3. Creating Impact with Knowledge
After successfully applying your knowledge, it would be pretty useless if it had no impact on a problem. As a result, the knowledge you used to solve a problem also needs to be "customized" and effective enough to actually solve the problem and result in an outcome. I would say this is the most important part of the entire process, because your ability to create impact is what distinguishes you from others and demonstrates why you are valuable.

Knowledge isn't merely something you're forced to acquire for an exam and forgotten afterwards. It is a valuable tool to create impact and deliver value to others. I think it is important for everyone to understand this three step process in order to leverage your knowledge for creating valuable impact and contribution, thus demonstrating your value to others and to organizations.

End of an Era

Good things always come to an end.

Nothing lasts forever.

As I watch him walk down that escalator, I knew it would be a while until I would see him again. Usually when you say goodbye to someone, you assume that you will see each other again very soon. But this time, it was different.

My best friend is going on exchange for a year and a half. He got into a very good dual-degree program in Japan. It was a good opportunity, so he accepted it. Our close group of friends supported him and also thought it was a good opportunity, but we could not bare the fact that he had to leave us for a year and a half.

What's ironic is that I'm a diplobrat, and I have been moving my entire life. But I always found it true that that when you're leaving to go somewhere else, you're excited, but the friends and people you leave behind will be very depressed. For the most part, I was the one who was leaving people behind, but this time, I was being left behind, and indeed, I was very depressed.

But as I mentioned in the beginning, good things always come to an end. Some things have to end in order for new things to start, and I think today begins a new chapter to my life.

I feel like I cannot be stuck on the past. Life goes on, and so should I. I still need to finish college. I still need to meet the girl of my dreams. I still need to pursue my passions. When life is moving, one cannot simply stand still, but must go along with it to make the most out of life.

Today marks an End of an Era, but every end comes with a beginning. For every door closed, there is a new one that opens. So let the new chapter begin, as we move away from our past, and into a new tomorrow.

論大學生燒成績單的可能性 - Reaction/Comments/Response

Recently, there have been a lot of people sharing the article 論大學生燒成績單的可能性. This article is about a Taiwanese college student who studied aboard in Germany and compares Taiwanese college students with German college students. Since I also have an opinion on the issue, I will discuss my reaction and response to these articles. Links to the article are provided below.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/dscher-han-huang/%E8%AB%96%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F%E7%87%92%E6%88%90%E7%B8%BE%E5%96%AE%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E6%80%A7/10151220848110388

https://www.facebook.com/notes/kirsten-liu/%E8%AB%96%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F%E7%87%92%E6%88%90%E7%B8%BE%E5%96%AE%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E6%80%A7-%E4%BE%86%E8%87%AA%E4%B8%80%E5%80%8B%E5%89%8D%E7%91%9E%E5%85%B8%E4%BA%A4%E6%8F%9B%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E8%BF%B4%E9%9F%BF/10151279818361527

"Hey man, have you done course selection yet?", my friend asks. 

"Yeah, I'm taking Business Management Monday afternoon and this class called Creative Thinking Wednesday afternoon. What about you?" I responded.

"No-oooo dude! You need to take this law class Tuesday afternoon about national law. People say it's a really chill and an easy A!"

"Nah, I want to take classes that I'm interested in, not classes that I can screw around and get an easy A.", I replied.

"Alright man, whatever floats your boat."

Many of my peers and classmates here at National Taiwan University have the same mindset about course selection and education. They believe education is an obligation that they have to fulfill because their parents told them to or their teachers in high school told them to, or even because all of their peers are doing it, so they are just hopping on the bandwagon. This is not to say that Taiwanese students aren't good at school and don't get good grades. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of brilliant minds and talented students in Taiwan. My point here is to re-address the issue of parents and teachers putting too much emphasis on grades and tests, which mislead students into thinking that those are the most important things in their academic career. As a result, many students lose interest or never develop an interest in the subjects they learn. They merely choose their paths based on their parents' "decision", what their peers are choosing, and what the news say about the majors that have good pay upon graduation. There is no part in this process where the individual is intrinsically motivated by his interest and chooses a path that will lead him to working and doing what he loves. 

Lets now take a look at places other than Taiwan.

There was a news report a while ago about the Harvard library full of students studying 4 o'clock in the morning. Some say this report is false, but regardless of its accuracy, students from Harvard and other top ranked schools have the tendency of working hard is not a myth, it is true. 

My father had the opportunity to study at Stanford as a Research Fellow. One of the most memorable things he remembered was the diligence of Stanford students. He recalls one class he took where the professor required students to finish a certain amount of reading material each week. However, before the first week ended, there were numerous students approaching the professor to ask for more books to read. Not only are Stanford student on top of their game, they exceed the expectations to achieve as much as they can. 

Similar to the two articles above, we can observe that students from the top ranked schools in Europe and America have a different attitude towards learning and education. They see it as an opportunity to satisfied their needs but also to expand their knowledge. They love what they learn and do not need to be motivated by tests and grades to study. 

The point I want to make is why aren't students from top ranked schools in Taiwan doing the same thing? They are probably just as smart, if not smarter. But why are Taiwanese students less competitive? I believe it lies in the attitude of the students, which was developed in their junior and senior high school years. This phenomenon is not completely the student's fault because the teachers and parents are the root of the problem.

So to discuss whether college students have the right to burn their report cards it completely irrelevant. Why? Because tests and grades should not matter to a student. What's important is that students in Taiwan understand the importance of education and not debate over their rights as a student. If you truly love what you are studying, then you should not have any problem with classes, thus you should not have any problems with your grades.  

I strongly suggests the current college students of Taiwan to read more about what's happening outside Taiwan and learn from them. Turn off the Anime and log out of those online games, it's time for Taiwan to rise up and show the world what we got.

Meaningful Life

On a cold Thursday morning, I checked the time on my phone as I woke up: "12:38." I accidentally skipped my morning class again, but it didn't matter because it was the last golf class of the semester. Rolling around in my sheets, I refused to expose any part of my body to the open air, as it would make me tremble from the coldness. Around 12:50, I gave in and got out of bed to brush my teeth and turn on my laptop. When I returned to my desk, I opened up facebook just like any other morning. However, this morning it was a little different.

As I scroll down my news feed, I discover that one of my friends in high school passed away. Many of my friends posted statuses about her and the good times they had with her; it was tragic time for our part of the network. However, this got me to think, if I were to pass away tomorrow, would I be satisfied with what I've done so far in my life? And it didn't take me long to get to the answer: no. 

I grew up in an Asian family where my parents are particularly conservative and protective of me and my sister. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it just means we grew up with the mind set of "staying in the comfort zone." When I was in elementary school, I was always hesitant to go trick-o-treating, unless I was accompanied by my mom or my sister. When I was in middle school, I was on the swim team but I could not jump off a diving board, so I only did backstrokes in swim meets. When I got to high school, I was always with the same group of friends I knew and I never had the courage to talk to people outside of my group of friends. Even now in college and of age, I refuse to drink alcohol or go to clubs. It just goes to show that I cannot step outside of my comfort zone and try new things.

When I start to reflect on the things I've done in my life, from as far back as I can remember, up to the present, there's also another patterned that I noticed about myself: I never gave full effort for anything I did. I didn't work the hardest in elementary school, I didn't try my best to improve myself in tennis in middle school, I didn't push myself the hardest for grades and SATs in high school, and now in college, I'm not trying my hardest to maintain a good academic record. I ask myself, do I love what I do? The answer is yes, but then why on earth am I not putting 100% into what I do? 

Low and behold, I realized it was because I was afraid that I would fail, even if I tried my hardest.

I may have ambitions to one day become an entrepreneur, to change the world for the better, and to gain more respect for Taiwan. However, those are all dreams that are still far away. And I realized that I am nothing but a wimp that has no courage to take the leap of faith, to step out of my comfort zone, simply because I fear failure.

I fear that I will fail even though I give my all. I fear that even if I stay in my room 24/7 studying, I will fail. I fear that even if I do each practice problem 100 times, I will fail. I have many reasons why I fear and many things that I fear, even though it never occurred to me.

But after seeing one of my friends pass away, I realized that I can't continue like this. If I do, I will just fail by default. Steve Jobs once said: "For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something...almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

My only option left is to start giving my 100% and pray to God that it will somehow succeed in what I do. Why? Because I have nothing to lose.

I need to start changing my lifestyle, what I eat, what I do on a daily basis, how I manage my time, and most importantly my priorities in life. And when I am satisfied with my lifestyle, then I can ask myself again, if I were to pass away tomorrow, would I be satisfied with what I've done so far in my life?

Be Your Everything

Four letter word
But I don't have the guts to say it
Smile til it hurts
Let's not make it complicated
We got a story
But I'm about to change the ending
You're perfect for me
More than just a friend so we can just stop pretending now
Gotta let you know somehow

I'll be your shelter
I'll be your storm
I'll make you shiver
I'll keep you warm
Whatever weather
Baby I'm yours
Be your forever, Be your fling
Baby, I will be your everything

Boys like Girls - Be Your Everything

Result of the Taiwanese Education System

Sitting on my bike at the front gate of NTU, I was waiting for my friend to grab lunch. Usually at that time, my friends from elementary school and I would meet up at the front gate to grab lunch, and there would be three girls and me. But today, one of the girls wanted to watch a basketball match and another girl had last minute family plans, so she could not come as well. That leaves me with only one girl to grab lunch with. Considering that I'm a relatively awkward person (I said relatively), I was thinking of things to talk about with her to avoid any awkward silences. And then I thought about how she was the only local Taiwanese student out of the four of us. So I thought maybe I should ask her about my favorite topic of discussion; Education in Taiwan

As some of you might already know, the education system in Taiwan is very different from the American system, which is the system I grew up in, fortunately. Elementary school is six years, middle school is three years, and high school is three years. To get to high school or college, students must take a standardized country-wide examination to place into a school. As a result, if there was one word in Chinese to describe the goal of the education system here in Taiwan, it would be 升學, which in English means to get to the next level of education. Not so much in kindergarten and elementary school, but as soon as you get to middle school, teachers and parents will become very concerned with your grades. There will be a lot of quizzes, tests. Students either stay at school to study after class ends, or they will leave school to attend cram school. Why do they do this? Because they want you to do good so that you can get into a good high school. Long story short, as soon as you get into middle school, your (temporary) life goal is to get to the next level of education, until the day you get into college. Parents will tell you, "don't think too much, just focus on school." Teachers will tell you, "don't think too much, just focus on getting the right answer." After you get into high school, you're next goal is to get into college, and there's another three years of "don't think too much, just focus on school."

Now back to my lunch.

After we had the typical "how was your week" or "what did you do this weekend" conversation, I popped up with the question of "What do you think people in other countries think about Taiwan?" Her answer to that question will be discussed in another article that I will put out about Taiwanese National Spirit. Then, somehow our discussion led me to the point where asked her this: "What went through your mind the day you got into college?" She sat there for a couple of seconds, to think about it, and she finally responded: "Nothing, absolutely nothing." She said as soon as the goal of getting to the next level of education was gone, she had no direction; she did not know where to go, what to do, or how to even think about what to do. To someone like me, that was very shocking. A little background knowledge, to get into our university, National Taiwan University, you need to be top 5% of the country to get into NTU. So my friend was smart enough to get into NTU and I would say she is well-informed about the world. But a typical student like her cannot tell you what she wants to do with her life.

This is the result of the Taiwanese Education System. Starting from the day students enter middle school, to the day they get their college entrance exam results, they are forced to focus on study and nothing else. This restricts students to not think about anything other than their test scores, and school material. Furthermore, students schedules and time are all pre-occupied with studying, and they won't have time to discover their passions, their interests, their hobbies, and sometimes, even themselves.

Another case in point is when I first got back to Taiwan last year summer and I attended an elementary school class reunion. As a result of skipping a year in Greece, I was a year ahead of my elementary school classmates, so I was about to enter college, while they were entering their last year of high school, preparing for the college entrance exam, which is the hardest year in high school. While we were eating, my classmates were very curious about what happened with me for the past 5 and a half years I was aboard. I told them some things about Greece and some things about America. And then out of curiosity, I asked them what they wanted to study in college, and almost everyone of them responded with the same sentence, "不知道，把分數考好再說" which means "I really don't know, I'll see when the results come out." Another quick background information, in order to place in a particular major, one has to meet the minimum required test score on the entrance exam to apply for that particular major, therefore if you want to do medicine but your score did not meet the requirement, then there's no way you can get in. 
These responses also really appalled me because it just goes to show that Taiwanese students have been in a sense "brainwashed" to the point where their concern is nothing but focusing on test scores. Furthermore, when they're so focused on test scores, they have no time and no interest in caring about their what their passion or interest is.

That is all I will say this time, but next time I will discuss the Taiwanese National Spirit, the importance of passion, and more on Education in Taiwan, specifically how we should change it. Until then, see you next time.

Retrospect

Sometimes when I look back into my past, one year ago, two years ago, or even five years ago, I just smile think to myself 'good times man, good times'.

Middle School

I went to an International School for middle school in Athens, Greece. At that time, I was, what I like to call, a dork. I literally had two hoodies and two cargo pants, and every other day, I would wear the same thing. I did that for about 2 years, until my parents and my sister finally took me shopping. Academically, I was rather strong because our school had pretty low standards so I was sometimes known as a nerd, partially because I had decent grades, partially because I looked like one, and partially because I was Asian. I didn't have that many friends at that time, and those whom I occasionally hung out with were just people to hang out with when I had no one else to hang out with. I liked three girls within the three years I was there. I told the first one by writing it in a happy birthday card on her birthday. The second one never knew but always thought of me as a really good friend. The third one knew because it was so obvious apparently, and when she asked why I liked her, I said because she was Asian too. I also played a lot of tennis back in those days, and I would frequently hang out around the tennis court, with the coach and the others who had lessons, even though I didn't always have lessons. My best memories of middle school were probably at those tennis courts. Good times.

High school


High school was much more fun but also much more dramatic than I thought it would be. But I did learn a lot from high school. I moved to Maryland after living three years in Athens and attended a public high school in Montgomery County. Montgomery county was also were I grew up as a child, therefore I had a lot of childhood friends, all of which I met again in high school. The first group of people I hung out with were the friends of my childhood best friend. We got along pretty well but I still couldn't consider myself as one of them because I didn't know how to fit in. In late sophomore year, I met a girl in my English class that was really friendly, and I eventually became friends with her. In the first half of junior year, I hung out with her and her friends, which were all girls but I didn't mind. After winter break, some stuff happened and I ended up not hanging out with them anymore. For the rest of junior year, I struggled to have friends to hang out with until I befriended a new group of friends around junior banquet. My time with this group of people was probably the highlight of my high school life. We went to the pool, we went to play pool, and we did many other things. But towards the beginning of senior year, I realized that they weren't the people I wanted to hang out with. I just wanted to be cool and belong to a group. Therefore, I left that group and started hanging out with the FOBs (Fresh off the boat). They were all Taiwanese people and they always spoke chinese around each other. I liked hanging out with them but they were a very segregated group from all the other people, due to the language barrier. Up until the end of senior year I hung out with the FOBs and I even went to Prom with them. Good times.

Conclusion


Now that I think back to all these things, I realized how much I have grown and matured. I thought I was the coolest kid ever to hang out with that group of people in junior year but now I think that was the stupidest thing I have ever done. I remember there was this one girl who obviously disliked me because I apparently wasn't "good enough" for her, but now that I think about it, I honestly don't care if you like me or not because I'm not gonna waste my time on people like her. In conclusion, I think it's all part of the learning process and it's normal to make mistakes in your life. The most important part of that is to learn from those mistakes and do better in the future.