Dream Big--麵攤小子洗碗邊K書 如願上台大

Yesterday I heard the news story on the radio.  I was very impressed and have been planning to tell my students the story.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=12&f_SUB_ID=31&f_ART_ID=260521

麵攤小子洗碗邊K書 如願上台大
【聯合報╱記者張祐齊／台北縣報導】2010/07/20

麵攤苦讀也能考上台大！台北縣立永平高中學生張晉明，指考考了四百五十八點七分高分，張晉明父親經商失敗負債上千萬元，家裡改作麵攤生意，他只能利用麵攤客人少時在攤位上讀書，回家還要照顧罹患腫瘤的母親以及罹患巴金森氏症的外婆。在困境中奮鬥不懈，終於考取台大。

 My comments: What I admire him for is not that he can go to NTU but his attitude, his persistence, and his love for his family.  The adversity did not stop him from dreaming big and pursuing his dream.

張晉明的父親張煜理說，昨天將兒子考上台大的好消息告訴他的外婆，原本有點失智的外婆，高興地流下眼淚。

母親廖美娥說，晉明七個月大時被診斷出罹患「球型紅血球症」，只要一感冒血紅素就會急速下降，需要立即輸血，小一時進林口長庚開刀，將整個脾臟切除，才終於治癒。兒子從小身體不好，但國小開始，每天放學第一件事就是回到麵攤招呼客人，讓她相當心疼。

My comments: Nature or nurture?

張晉明說，就讀國小時，經營廚具生意的父親生意失敗負債千萬元，爸媽只能四處租屋賣小吃、便當，每月還要負擔房租和債務近十萬元，日子快過不下去了，身為長子當然要幫忙分憂解勞。

廖美娥表示，兒子在麵攤負責洗碗、洗菜兼跑腿，平常根本沒有時間讀書，只能利用客人還沒來的空檔，坐在麵攤旁的小椅子上看書，連站著也看書；洗碗時還將書本靠在流理台上看，完全不浪費任何時間，能夠考上台大，全家人都相當驕傲。

My comments: When you really want something to happen, you try every means to make it come true.

廖美娥說，兒子相當有主見，本來繁星計畫可考上政大，但兒子堅持要上台大，即使每天麵攤生意忙到晚上十點以後，晉明還邊幫忙邊讀書，終於一圓台大人夢想。

My comments: This reminds me of an article in Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture entitled "Don't Complain,  Just Work Harder."  

Here is a sentence from the article:

"...if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out."   

張晉明表示，父親曾想申請低收入戶，但卻因爺爺名下有土地不符合申請資格；他希望能考上台大法律系，如果分數不夠，希望能就讀台大社會系，可以關懷弱勢族群，讓和他一樣的人能夠脫貧得到幫助

My comments: Good for you and good luck, Mr. Chang.