To Stand on the World Stage, plus the Fringe Benefits of Hard Times--李嗣涔勉台大人：立志做世界級人才

Yesterday I intended to write another entry about the NTU graduation ceremony today, this time summarizing the two speeches I listened to in the morning, one by NTU President Dr. Si-chen Lee (李嗣涔校長) and the other by the guest speaker, Chung-hua Cheng (鄭崇華先生), President of Delta. Today's UDN happens to give a report on the two speeches.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID =252172

李嗣涔勉台大人：立志做世界級人才

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】2010/06/06

 

台大校長李嗣涔昨天勉勵台大畢業生，要立志做一個世界級的卓越人才，也就是對提升人類整體的幸福與解決人類文明所面對的問題，做出積極的貢獻。

李嗣涔是在台大畢業典禮致詞時，作了以上表示。李嗣涔希望學生要感恩，感謝父母、師長、學校，以及整個社會，提供優良環境與愛護支持。

他也說，台大人始終與台灣的發展息息相關，也最受台灣社會重視，應該立志做世界級的卓越人才，且對人類知識與精神的發展要主動參與。

李嗣涔表示，大家未來面對的挑戰是超越本土、來自世界各地的競爭，因此，也比之前任一時代的人，更需要國際觀、前瞻開放的心胸，以及省察、分辨的能力。

而學生畢業進入社會以後，要更努力的學習，包括不同的語言、文化、專業及跨領域的知識，才有機會在激烈的競爭中脫穎而出成為世界級的人才。

【記者陳智華／台北報導】台達電董事長鄭崇華昨天在台大畢業典禮上，勉勵台大人不要怕挫折，他表示，如果自己不是少年困苦求學，不會克服數學恐懼症，也不會有今天的台達電，他並呼籲大家要節能環保。

My comments: Mr. Cheng was born in the countryside of Fujiang in mainland China. He skipped 6th grade to study in junior high school. But according to him, that was a mistake because he then didn't learn 6th grade math. Thus, his math was bad in junior high school. Later at the age of 13, he his uncle took him to Taichung in Taiwan He then studied at Taichung First High School, where his uncle worked as a teacher. Grateful to his relatives for their help, he decided to work hard on his math. He concentrated in class and worked so hard that he got a full score in the first quiz and drew the math teacher's attention. Later, when he scored less than 80, his math teacher would show his concern, which forced him to set 80 as his math test standard. With the pressure, he worked even harder, which in turn led to better grades, stronger confidence, and best of all, more interest in math. He admitted that, left alone in the dorm during summer and winter vacations, with no hot baths in winter, he felt miserable then and envied his fellow students for having a warm family. However, now looking back, he think he was lucky. The tough times taught him to confront problems in life. Mr. Cheng used his story to tell the graduates that hard times are a good chance to better oneself. Very inspiring.

鄭崇華應邀在台大畢業典禮上致詞，他以個人學習經驗，勸勉畢業生如果碰到挫折，不要太擔心，要堅持努力下去，把困苦環境當成磨練的機會。

鄭崇華說，他大學畢業後在亞航工作，亞航買了第一台噴射機，讓他接觸到最新科技。後來到工廠工作，每天做的事都差不多，讓他對工作失望，不過，想讓產品品質更好，思考轉了方向，對工作感覺就有不同。

My comments: Mr. Cheng encouraged the graduates to enrich knowledge, and cultivate good character and positive working attitude and habits. He mentioned that graduation is a beginning of another journey of learning.