Learn to Be Independent--教育觀念／老闆的孩子也要助學貸款

http://udn.com/NEWS/LIFE/X1/5789723.shtml

教育觀念／老闆的孩子也要助學貸款

【聯合報╱賽夏客（苗栗頭份）】
2010.08.17 03:05 am


俗諺說「再富有，也要窮孩子」，父母若一味的滿足孩子的需求，養成孩子不正確的價值觀，反而害了自己和孩子。

我有個當老闆的朋友，小時候家裡一貧如洗，父母又相繼過世，他是由親戚撫養長大。他成家後，靠借貸開家汽車修理廠，憑著一手好技術和廣結善緣，事業蒸蒸日上，孩子也陸續來報到，一家子生活不虞匱乏。

他素來熱心公益，當了好幾家學校的顧問，不時捐助學校活動經費，但他從來不在孩子面前擺闊或炫耀自己的財富，也不讓孩子知道父母已經為他們儲蓄一筆就學基金。

他規定每個孩子上大學以後，就要去申請助學貸款，支付一切的開銷，至於申請額度的多寡由孩子自己做決定，只不過申請越多，將來出社會，就必須還越多的貸款。

My comments: A former student of mine was asked by her father to pay her own college tuition next semester. This summer she had to work part-time.

他明白的告訴孩子：「我小時候經常有一餐沒一餐，哪有機會讀大學，現在你們不愁吃穿，都是靠我這雙手打拚出來的，而我年紀越來越大，體力越來越衰退，無法再滿足你們各種需求，所以你們要學習扛起一些責任。」

My comments: A student in my homeroom class started to understand how difficult it was to earn money when she took a part-time job.

他的幾個孩子確實看到父親整天在火爐般的廠房內，修理一輛輛進場維修的車子，一雙手從未停歇過，一張臉從未乾淨過，十分辛苦，因此二話不說，都自動申請了貸款，同時額度都不敢太高，以免將來負擔過重。如此一來，他們生活的開銷自然比班上同學少了很多，而且個個都很認真上進。

這位老闆說：「我何嘗不想給孩子優渥的生活，但我更想要他們做個有能力的人，而不是社會的寄生蟲。金錢與物質太容易滿足，往往會阻礙孩子奮鬥的人生觀，唯有讓孩子經常處於『匱乏』的狀況下，他們才會懂得珍惜眼前的幸福。」

My comments: If parents always wait on their children, when would they stand on their feet and learn to earn what they need?

This story reminds me of a RD article "Lessons from the Neighborhood." It is one of the best articles I've ever read.

Lessons from the Neighborhood
Sometimes, when you least expect it, you learn something new
By Philip Gulley
From “Front Porch Tales”

I’m glad I was born before computer and video games became popular. My parents turned off the television and sent me outdoors, where I met all kinds of interesting neighbors. Knowing them was an education in itself.
Dr. Gibbs didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. Every time I saw him, he was wearing overalls and an old straw hat. His smile matched his hat—crinkly and well-worn. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on four acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
The good doctor came from the “no pain, no gain” school of horticulture. He never watered a new tree. When I asked why, he said that watering plants made them grow shallow roots. Trees that weren’t watered, he said, had to grow deep roots in search of moisture.
Dr. Gibbs would plant an oak, and instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! He said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs went to his glory a couple of years later. I’ve walked by his house to look at the trees I watched him plant 25 years ago. They’re granite strong.
I planted trees a few years back. Carried water to them, sprayed them, the whole nine yards. Now they expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows, they tremble and chatter their branches.
Funny thing about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’s. Adversity and deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways that comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray their lives will be easy, but lately I’ve been thinking it’s time to change my prayer. Has to do with the inevitability of cold winds.
I know my children are going to encounter hardship, because life is tough. I’m going to pray my sons’ roots grow deep, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, they won’t be swept away.
(364 words)
--from Reader’s Digest December 1998