皮皮蝦:【女兒的新聞路(十一)】

2015.10.27

9月26號，女兒參加了2015年北加州媒體大會，和另兩位同學一起獲得了網絡新聞類(Online News Package)的最高獎(Superior)。

 

這個獎是在當天的一小時新聞製作比賽後獲得的。這篇網絡新聞由三人分工合作完成。一人負責文章寫作，一人負責錄像製作和插入，本蝦女兒負責最下麵的圖。此圖運用高科技手法，移動鼠標可以顯示六處文字說明，簡述大會中不同講員所講的內容並給出鏈接，全部由女兒創意製作和撰寫。在短短一小時內做出這樣的質量，整體上的確令人印象深刻。

 

這個獎並不是女兒得到的最高新聞獎。今年四月，她飛到科羅拉多參加了全國新聞大會，在社論類寫作(Editorial Writing)中獲得了二等獎(Excellent)。此獎一等獎(Superior)有兩名獲獎人，女兒雖然獲得的是二等獎，但由於是全國級別的，比在北加獲得的這個最高獎(Superior)含金量要高。

 

昨天，女兒給我看了兩個很長的單子：一個是她發表的所有文章的鏈接list，另一個是所有引述她的別人的文章鏈接list。由於她在校報編輯部，有規定她不可以被校報其它文章引述(除非她是新聞中的當事人)，所以她在另一所高中校報上被引述的次數遠高於本校校報。

 

女兒埋怨本蝦不好好讀她寫的文章。其實就在前幾天，本蝦也遇到一個熟人，她也嗔怪本蝦多產，文章來不及讀。

 

看來百忙中還是要抽出時間通讀女兒的文章，不然非常說不過去的。

 

 

有讀者希望＂見識＂一下本蝦女兒的文章，本來想拍一張文章的照片，但考慮到公眾號上的照片不能象微信上那樣放大來看，本蝦隻好複製粘貼文章在此了，名字就免了。

 

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Op-Ed: Parents' approach to finding passion is harmful for kids

07/02/2015

 

It's time for parents to gain a new perspective on passion.

 

 

In the heart of Silicon Valley, we see CEOs, engineers and Stanford professors. They're idols, a vision for parents for what their child should become.

 

 

 

This environment has given rise to a cult of parents who sign their kids up for every extracurricular, keep them from falling down, and micromanage them. In her 2011 book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua asserted that "strict child-rearing" produces successful children, the type that would become Silicon Valley "idols."

 

 

 

They recognize résumé. With these parents, students are crushed by the need to be perfect. They spread themselves too thin, pulling all-nighters and crying themselves to sleep.

 

 

 

I attend Gunn High School, a high-achieving public school in the affluent city of Palo Alto. The grief and trauma of suicide clusters plague our campus, sparking discussion in the community about how we can make the environment less of a pressure cooker and more emotionally bearable, since so many students experience academic pressure and mental illness.

 

 

 

After realizing their children's struggle, many parents back off a little, realizing the dangers in overparenting, where a push toward success could become a push toward suicide.

 

 

 

"Just do what you love," these parents say desperately. "Find your passion! It's not about money or status. I just want you to be happy."

 

By encouraging kids to do what they love, parents believe that they're no longer too much of a tiger parent, and success will come naturally for their happy child. But that still isn't the solution. Children are then forced into a different pressure, and it's problematic for several reasons.

This wave of parents separate themselves from strict helicopter parents with the "passion" façade, but deny many of the same pressure-cooking effects they have on kids. Even with passionate, non-robotic kids, there's an expectation of achievements to complete by the time college admissions roll around. Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Stanford dean of freshmen and author of the new book How to Raise an Adult, dubs it "the checklisted childhood." Her advice is to throw it out.

But parents are still very fearful of failure, because it could equate to unhappiness. They want their kids to "go big or go home."

"Make music, but play at Carnegie Hall and go to Julliard. Be a fashion designer, but be a big, Red Carpet name. Be a journalist, but write for the New York Times. Do research, but win the Nobel Prize."

Parents have given kids permission to be anything, but they still want them to decide what--early on. What parents really mean by "find your passion" is "win the timed rat race to find passion." This way, their kids gain an advantage in the brutal competition of Silicon Valley. The kids who have begun pursuing a career path at a young age, parents believe, will ultimately become more successful and happy later in life. But that isn't the case. Loads of people adjust after a late career change. And often, young high school students simply aren't equipped to know what to choose. Teenagers haven't been exposed to unconventional careers, real work environments and challenges certain industries face.

Yet they're still pushed to choose. By high school's end, students often declare their "major" in life, closing other doors. Life fills up with focused extracurriculars. To win the race of passion, one must be aerodynamic. No irrelevant distractions. Every activity must be academic and career-boosting to become the best in the industry of interest and passion. So parents take over the other, non-passion-related, things. Kids can't do the laundry, too busy to afford to learn how. This causes a lack of independence. Children become outlines clinging to their parents' profiles. The way parents push children to pursue their passions, and only their passions, creates one-dimensional people with no holistic sense of self. It murders the "whole child."

It's sad that our society has come down to this when it comes to passion. It shouldn't be fueled by parents' concerns about the future. Passion shouldn't be a race.

We need a third type of parent. We need parents that not only recognize passion, but also give kids space and time to develop it, without worrying that success is on the line. In her book, Lythcott-Haims, a Palo Alto resident, describes "free-range parenting." Though free-range includes many more physically applicable paradigms, like leaving kids outside to play, it also gives kids the medium to explore. It's not something many Silicon Valley parents have explored, since most are pushing kids to pursue passions wildly. And now's the time to change.

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這個係列的文章就此打住了。都是一些雞毛蒜皮的小事，希望沒讓您太煩。多謝耐心閱讀。

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