There is a classic dialogue between father and son that tells us the huge difference between studying hard and not reading.
A little boy just started school. He went home and asked his father, a farmer, why he should study.
My father said that if a small tree is one year old, it can only be used as a fence or firewood; if a tree is ten years old, it can be used as furniture; if a tree is twenty years old, it can be used Make house beams.
If the child does not go to school, he can graze sheep at the age of 7, and he can raise a large herd of sheep when he grows up. He can do nothing except herding sheep. If he graduates from elementary school, he can use some new technologies to cultivate land in the countryside, he can work as a security guard at a construction site in the city, or he can be a small vendor. For this, elementary school knowledge is enough
If he graduates from junior high school, he will learn something about the operation of machinery; if he graduates from high school, he can learn a lot of mechanical maintenance; if he graduates from college, he can design high-rise buildings and railway bridges; if he graduates with a master's degree, He might invent and create things we didn't have before, do you know? The son said he knew.
Dad asked again: Is it shameful to herd sheep, cultivate the land and be a security guard? My son said yes.
Dad said: Son, this is not ashamed. They don’t steal or snatch things. They make money with hard work to raise their children and parents, so they are not ashamed at all. This is not to say that you don’t go to school, or that it’s useless to go to school less.
It is like a small tree that has grown for a year. It is also useful, but not a big tree. It is also useful not to read or to read less, but if their contribution to society is relatively small, their income will decrease.
Learn more knowledge, spend more money to go to school, spend more time, you will make more money, so your status will be higher.
That conversation left a deep impression on his son. Since then, his son has been able to learn consciously even without his father's compulsion.