The learning methods and training details of Harvard's top students

Chapter 13 Persistence is the only way to excel

(Harvard representative: Helen Keller) It doesn't feel good to lose, but it's better than never trying to succeed.

——Harvard alumnus, former President Roosevelt
【Wonderful Guide】

Biography of Helen Keller
Helen Keller (1880-1968), was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was blind and deaf due to illness when she was a child. With the help of teacher Sullivan, Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, she learned Read, wrote, and learned to speak. At the age of 14, Miss Sullivan took her to a school for the deaf in New York City, where she learned pronunciation, lip reading and fingering. At the age of 16, she entered the Cambridge Women's College affiliated to Harvard University. Miss Sullivan accompanied her to attend classes, and then taught her with finger words. Therefore, she read British history, German, Latin, mathematics and many literary classics. In 1900, Helen entered the Radcliffe College of Harvard University to study and graduated with honors in 1904.When she and her teacher Sullivan co-authored Helen's autobiography "My Life" (also translated as "The Story of My Life"), it was published, which caused a sensation and became a famous English masterpiece.

After graduating from university, Helen focused her energy on promoting social movements for the blind, such as publishing blind publications and establishing a committee to protect the blind. In 1926, she and Miss Sullivan traveled to the White House to invite President Coolidge to serve as honorary president of the Institute of the Blind. In 1932, she became vice-chancellor of the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

During World War II, Helen visited many hospitals to condolences to blind soldiers, and was revered by people.

In 1959, in the United Nations General Assembly, representatives of various countries unanimously praised her contribution to mankind.In the second year, on the day of her 80th birthday, the "Helen Keller Memorial Foundation" established the "Helen Keller International Award", and the mayor of New York City announced that Helen Keller's birthday would be "Helen Keller Day". ".

In 1964, she was awarded the highest honor of American citizens - the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was selected as one of the ten outstanding women in the world the following year.

In 1968, Helen Keller peacefully finished her arduous, fulfilling and glorious life.She is the author of "If You Give Me Three Days of Light", "My Life", "My World", "The Second Half of My Life", "Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy" and so on.

【Character Story】

Helen at Harvard

Helen Keller once talked about her study experience at Harvard in her autobiography:
In the classroom, I was completely isolated, and the professor was as far away as if I was on the other end of the phone.While listening to the lectures, although all the content was spelled in my hands as quickly as possible, the individuality of the lectures was lost in the haste.

Like a hound chasing a hare, I often fall short of the words that are spelled hastily in my hand, but I don't think people who bury their heads in notes are much better than me in this respect.If a person devotes all his mental energy to mechanically listening to words and recording them in a hurry, then I think he must not realize the thoughts and methods revealed under the surface statement.

I don't take notes when I'm listening to the lectures, because my hands are busy listening to the lectures. The usual way is to write down what I still think of in my mind as soon as I get home.I had exercises and daily essays, critiques, quizzes, and midterms and finals, all done on the typewriter, so it wasn't hard for the professor to see how much I had learned.When I began to study Latin rhyme, I explained my understanding to the teacher in detail using a set of symbols of my own devising to illustrate the meter and rhyme of the poem.

I use a Hammond Nender typewriter.I have tried many types of typewriters and found that the Hammond Nunder was the most suitable for my particular learning needs.This typewriter can use movable type, and there are several, with Greek, French and mathematical symbols, according to individual needs.I think it would be impossible to go to university without such a typewriter.

Few of the various textbooks I needed were printed in Braille, which obliged me to have the contents spelled into my hands, and I often took much longer than others to prepare the lessons.Because spelling by hand is always too slow, I am always impatient, and sometimes a little thing requires a lot of effort.

Every time I think that I have to spend hours reading a few chapters, while other students are outside laughing, singing, and dancing, I start to resist and get impatient.However, I will soon regain my spirit and laugh away my troubles and dissatisfaction, because I understand that anyone who wants to gain real knowledge must climb high and dangerous peaks.Since there are no shortcuts to summit success, carve your own path with rugged twists and turns.

【Harvard view】

Success requires persistence as the cornerstone
Learning is a very difficult thing, but don't give up easily, only by persevering can you gain something.

Throughout the ages, none of the people who have achieved outstanding results flinched when faced with difficulties.

"Let me tell you the secret of my goal. My only strength is my persistence." This is what the famous French scholar Pasteur said when he answered the questions raised by the young people.His words contain a truth: the success of any thing must have the spirit of perseverance and persistence, and learning is no exception.At all times and in all over the world, those who have made great achievements have the spirit of perseverance.Mathematician Chen Jingrun was not afraid of irony and sarcasm in the process of conquering the mathematical fortress of "Goldbach's conjecture". He endured the pain of illness and studied and studied day and night under poor working conditions. Only the manuscript paper he used for calculations Just a few sacks, a British mathematician praised him for "moving mountains" in mathematics.

"Father of modern physics" Einstein, for scientific research, said to his family until his deathbed: "Go to sleep, I have to do something..." The great astronomer Copernicus who founded the "heliocentric theory" Why not?He has studied diligently since he was a child, and traveled all over the world to collect evidence of the "heliocentric theory".Until the completion of the great work "On the Movement of Celestial Spheres", although he did not have the opportunity to read this great work that affects all mankind again, he won the praise and admiration of later generations with his persistence.

So what if you don’t want to persevere and give up when you encounter difficulties?In ancient times, there was a man named Jiang Yan who was very talented since he was a child.When I was very young, I wrote a book like "Hate Fu" that exposed the dark rule at that time.Later, because of his pride and complacency, he stopped studying. When he realized that he could no longer write such a good book, it was too late, and he finally fell into a joke of "exhausted talent".

The principle of persistence is not difficult to understand, but not everyone can do it.In real life, many teenagers are very determined at the beginning of their studies and make plans, but when they encounter difficulties and setbacks, they become discouraged and waver, and often give up halfway.The reason is the lack of perseverance and the tenacious will to overcome difficulties.The success of any business cannot be smooth sailing, and you will encounter various unexpected setbacks and obstacles, and sometimes you will inevitably fail. The key is to advance despite difficulties and not to be discouraged and disappointed by failure.The famous British philosopher Russell said: "Great careers are rooted in the perseverance of work, with all the spirit to do it, and not to avoid hardship." With this spirit of "not avoiding hardship" and "perseverance" , to gain true knowledge.

[Easy interaction]

Are you a person who can endure setbacks and persevere to the end?

Please choose one of the answers to the following questions.

1. When there is something very worrying, I
A. Unable to study.

B. Study as usual without error.

C. is in between.

2. When I meet a competitor I don’t like, I
A. Can't handle it.

B. Cope with ease.

C. is in between.

3. When encountering failure, I will
A. Broken cans.

B. Make failure an opportunity for success.

C. is in between.

4. When learning is not progressing fast, I often
A. Very anxious.

B. Find a solution calmly.

C. is in between.

5. When encountering difficulties in study, I
A. It is easy to lose confidence.

B. Always actively use your brain to solve problems.

C. is in between.

6. When I feel tired during study, I
A. I always think about being tired, and my brain is not working well.

B. Continue to study regardless of fatigue.

C. is in between.

7. When the learning conditions are bad, I
A. Unable to continue studying.

B. Can overcome difficulties and continue to study.

C. is in between.

8. When criticized by teachers or parents, I
A. I don't want to study anymore.

B. Can cheer up the spirit to study better.

C. is in between.

9. When I lag behind my classmates, I
A. Feeling inferior and unable to hold up my head.

B. If nothing happened, study as usual.

C. is in between.

10. When difficult tasks fall upon me, I

A. Very disgusted.

B. Think of it as an exercise.

C. is in between.

Scoring criteria:

In each question answer, you choose A to get 0 points, B to get 2 points, and C to get 1 point.The total is your score for this test.

Test Results:

Score 17 or more:
It shows that you have a strong ability to endure setbacks and shocks, you are full of confidence in yourself, you will not be easily affected by the external environment, and you don't care how many setbacks you experience in order to achieve your goals.I hope you cherish your ability in this area, it is a precious wealth on the road of life.

Score between 10 and 16 points:
It shows that you have a certain ability to endure setbacks, and you will not retreat immediately when encountering difficulties, but you are still very weak against impact in some aspects.You should remember the famous saying "Indomitable, the more frustrated, the braver" and use setbacks to inspire your fighting spirit.

With a score of 9 or less:
It means that your ability to endure setbacks is poor, you lack confidence in your own abilities, you will give up easily when you encounter difficulties, and you have no strong will.You should consciously change this situation, and learn to perform self-psychological adjustment and health care after encountering setbacks and failures.

【Parent-child total product】

Buffon, a great French enlightenment thinker, once said: "Genius is long-term perseverance." The students are very familiar with and admire the chasing boy and hurdling hero Liu Xiang, right?Liu Xiang started his sports career at the age of 8, began to practice high jump, and later transferred to hurdles.In more than ten years of hard training, what I face every day is running, jumping, and leaping; leaping, running, and jumping.Day after day, year after year, how boring and boring this is to Liu Xiang, a teenage boy who loves music and computers!However, Liu Xiang persevered, and more than ten years of hard training made Liu Xiang a success. At the Athens Olympics, an oriental myth that surprised the Western world was born.

【Harvard view】

Difficulties are always temporary, don't give up on yourself
Nowadays, there are quite a few students who feel depressed because of being stuck in their studies.A senior high school student from a key school wrote when talking about his distress: "I was admitted to a key city school, and the whole family was happy for me. However, in the first exam in the first year of senior high school, my grades fell behind. These come from various sources. The top students in the school are really good. I am determined to catch up. My parents have done everything for me in order to let me concentrate on my studies. I am very grateful and want to repay my parents with excellent grades. I worked hard. However, the results of the final exam disappointed me, and I was still behind, and I was very sad about it. Am I really going to be an underachiever? What should I do?"

This high school student spoke out the thoughts of quite a few students.Before these students lose their confidence in learning, they want to get rid of the predicament of learning by adopting the method of "fatigue battle".But this kind of long-term and inefficient "fatigue battle" can only accelerate the vicious circle of learning, and gradually, they embarked on the road of self-destruction.

Learning maladaptation is a common adaptive disorder among teenagers, and most of them are habitual psychological disorders.However, due to the direct impact on learning, poor academic performance, if not adjusted in time, will lead to suspension of school, repeating grades, or even drop out of school due to weariness. If the delay continues, severe neurosis may develop.

In the face of many difficulties, it is completely unacceptable to give up on yourself.Because it is the number one natural enemy of success.Helen Keller, a woman who can’t hear, see, or speak, has made extraordinary achievements in education; Roosevelt, who has been re-elected president for 13 years and has become a model politician of a generation, the reason why they are separated from themselves The reason for giving up is that they can face the reality and no longer spend a minute and a second blaming others, blaming God, parents or self-accusation; they let their remaining advantages become advantages and make full use of them; After the change, they all love life devoutly and pursue success.Teenagers should understand that a temporary failure in learning does not mean that there is no hope from now on, and giving up on themselves will not help. The most important thing now is to build confidence, cheer up, and find the direction of the next step.

[Easy interaction]

1. When you encounter repeated setbacks, will you exile yourself, give up on yourself, or tell yourself to persevere to the end?Are you complaining, frustrated, or looking to others for guidance?
2. Think about it, when you have difficulties, who can you turn to for help, and what good solutions are there?
【Parent-child total product】

Strategies for overcoming difficulties in learning include:
1. Arrange time and energy reasonably

In learning, if you get entangled in individual problems and waste a lot of time, you will have no time to solve other problems that could have been solved, which is very unreasonable in terms of energy use.The best way is to solve the problems that can be solved first, and put aside the "perplexed" problems. After a period of time, it may be easier to solve. In fact, this is also the strategy of the exam.

2. Ask the teacher or communicate with classmates
Successful students are often students who are not ashamed to ask questions.Be good at communicating, and don't think that telling others what you don't know will make people look down.On the contrary, in the discussion with classmates, new thinking will be generated and sparks of wisdom will be collided.Of course, the premise of communication is independent thinking, and the problems that can be solved by oneself should be solved through independent thinking as much as possible.

3. Learn to adjust mentality

Never let the sense of failure occupy your mind for a long time.When you are in a bad mood, you can go out for a walk to relax, or do other things to distract your energy, and then study when you are in a good mood.To overcome vanity, don't expect too much from yourself, otherwise you will encounter a little problem and you will not be able to accept it.

4. Good at summarizing
After a period of study (one week or one month), you should summarize the content, methods and main problems of your study, and know which ones you have mastered well and which ones are not, so that you can make targeted improvements in future studies.

5. To develop good habits

Learning is growth, but not the only content of growth.To develop good study and living habits, so that their physical and mental development.

6. Be good at learning the strengths of others
If a person can learn all the strengths of others, this person will not encounter opponents.

(End of this chapter)