Another story from the ancient China soon came to my mind:
宋人有閔其苗之不長而揠之者，芒芒然歸，謂其人曰：『今日病矣，予助苗長矣。』其子趨而往視之，苗則槁矣。
《孟子·公孫醜上》
The story is widely known as "拔苗助長" and, of course, is famous enough. Our friend tried to help seedlings grow by pulling it up a bit - for sure the little plant died. If you are too eager to help a smart kid, the result may simply be a ruined childhood and a disastrous career.
Well, a little side track in the wordings of this story may skip your eyes. The original story actually did not say that the silly man pulled the seedlings (拔苗); he actually knew perfectly well that pulling too hard would kill the plant, and what he did was, in his own benevolent idea, merely tug up (揠) the leaves a bit.
And, therefore, the little flower didn't die immediately, but, rather, gradually changed. It lost its direction, its vigor dried, and eventually it fell apart.
1 comment:
It is sad for teachers like us to see what happened. Tugging the pretty flower is to openly declare that one does not think much of the other aspects of education like socialization and morality.
After all, did this do the kids any good? Or was it for those who demonstrate to the public what a pretty flower they got hold of?
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