Save The “Diligent Man” Before It Is Too Late

There is a very popular saying among Chinese college students that since we were born, there have been two little people in our mind. One is called “lazy man” while another is “diligent man”. This two little people are always fighting against each other. During our childhood, the winner is always the diligent man. When we go to high school, they break even. Then we go to college, we find in surprise that the two people stop fighting. Why? Because the “diligent man” has already been abused to death by “lazy man”. It’s just a joke but in some aspects shows a malady of Chinese college students. In my opinion, I think it’s our education system where the reasons are. This can cause serious problems, such as it does in the cases of many students.

In our senior high, the only duty is to study. The harder you work, the happier your parents will be. Many teachers don’t even care about those students with low marks, they only want their top students get higher mark. My senior high is called the best high school in Liaoning Province. It’s very familiar that teachers have after-class lessons. This so-called “after-class lessons” are not really started only after class and some of them are expensive because our teachers are famous. And I think in most provinces it’s the same.

So you can see Chinese high school students are really having a hard time, especially in the third year. It’s still a nightmare of mine. I have to sleep everyday at 2 or 3 a.m. and get up at 6:30 . This terrible status lasted for nearly one year and makes me have a habit that I can’t fell asleep before 1 a.m. You can image how fresh students will feel when they go to college. What’s worse, the birthday for eighteenth of most students comes at the last year of senior high. Parents always say to their children that since you are an adult, you have your freedom to decide for yourself. In fact, we do decide for ourselves, but many of us just decide how to play well in college rather than how to plan for the future. I saw a picture on RENREN that in Yale, many students get up early to study. The study room is crowded even though it’s just 5 a.m. We should realize that when we are playing games, on the other side of the world, students are studying hard. As the world become international, they will be our competitive adversaries when we both graduate from college. We should know that just coming to NUS doesn’t mean we will success in the future.

Is your “diligent man” killed by your lazily? I hope not. So save him before it is too late, not only for him, but also for ourselves.