「名校教了我什麼——女校生的反思」之我感

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直資名校被揭發一大堆混帳，那部古老幻燈片機就在我的腦袋開動不斷重播我的中學校園片段，晃眼已是十多年前的泛黃舊事。

我的母校，是港島區一家有逾百年歷史的女校，人稱「老牌名校」、「貴族學校」。我曾經為自己能夠入讀這樣的名校感到無比自豪，因為我們一班女生，既能說流利英語、又懂得吃西餐禮儀、亦能夠淡定自信於人前表現自己，根本唔將隔籬學校著旗袍紮孖辮的四眼妹放在眼內。

直至我做了記者，我才發現，所謂名校生獨有的自信、傲氣，還有世故、現實，跟那隻只懂呱呱叫的井底之蛙，沒太大分別。

八九六四那年，我在鰂魚涌一間街坊中文小學讀小五。我是班長，自發貼了大堆剪報，發起同學手纏黑布。翌年六四1周年如是，我還記得我們和班主任一起哭。

1991年，我被派到那所名女校升中一，班主任比我更興奮，我卻戰戰兢兢。

我被編入全級最top的A班，噩夢開始——老師上課全講雞腸我聽唔明、英文堂默生字我無個寫得出、原校小學升上來的個個都已埋堆唔受我玩，和我一樣的外來生全班只有五六人，她們不是半唐番就是英文小學出身，來自中文小學的好像只我一個。

同窗：我唔想自己中文咁叻

中文堂，成為我的避難所，也是我唯一找回點點信心的課堂。可惜，我的同學都看不起中文，反而為自己中文成績遜於英文而感「自豪」。我很記得，中二那年我的同窗中文測驗全班最高分，她放學時卻苦瓜乾面口道﹕「我唔想自己中文咁叻，我要英文勁呀。」

不單我的同學，後過渡期年代的修女校長，也不將中文放在眼內。中三起我加入中文辯論隊，校方對我們的重視遠不及英文辯論，我的大師姐隊員都是高材生，閒談 時笑道﹕「校長唔理我哋仲好，輸咗都無壓力。」據說，修女校長的臉孔在回歸後180度轉變，小師妹通風報訊，Sister近年經常強調要向北望學好普通 話，轉直資後又花大筆錢裝修搞個什麼孔子學堂，希望girls都要學好中國文化。

名校，就是如此現實。它貫輸的價值觀是七個字——識時務者為俊傑。不單校長，老師、同學，都很懂得做人——做一個成功的主流香港人，當然離不開一個錢字。

名校價值：識時務者為俊傑

我的同學，家住干德道司徒拔道，每天司機駕着勞斯萊斯定時定候接送。中二那年，富家女邀請我到她的大潭複式洋房，我到今天仍記得那個無敵大海景。那晚，我回到數百方呎的舊樓——我的家，感到前所未有的自卑。

同學雖然有錢，但她們不算show off——應該說，她們由開口講英文到言談間展現個人長處，是骨子裏自然流露的自信，外人覺得她們「寸」、「扮嘢」，但那其實是她們是獨有的上流社會溝通 方式、貴族間的溝通密碼。午飯鐘響，校園是中英夾雜的喧鬧、好動女生在球場打英式netball而非籃球羽毛球、貪靚的討論暑假去歐洲買什麼名牌。沒有人 會談六四，也懶理香港回歸將至。

我當年自覺格格不入，這幾天我不停思考，這個年代獲獎學金的窮學生，入到直資學校後，可有當年我的自卑、孤單？

年輕的我用了半年時間，流了很多淚水、開了多晚通宵，就全程投入校園生活，學懂說美國口音英文、不怕在堂上舉手答問題、在同學面前不再害羞，我學會了如何 做個presentable的名校生。我的成績由包尾變成中等，更獲頒全年進步獎。我開始享受校園生活，和我的富家同學一起溫習看戲談天說笑。我享受自己 被標籤成「A班精英」，有名人來校探訪，校長只會把他帶到我們A班；朗讀話劇跳舞我們A班都拿冠軍；老師最疼惜的又是我們A班。

勝王敗寇的遊戲規則

名校的遊戲規則是「精英制」，你入了A班、攞到獎，就是精英中的精英，如盛放牡丹成眾人焦點，其他班別的同學，只是你的綠葉。名校精英制，簡單來說是套用 職場遊戲規則——勝者為王敗者為寇，職場的上位伎倆，名校生早在少年十五二十時就學懂——懂得識時務、懂看人眉頭眼額、懂把握機會表現自己長處。但少女含 苞待放的天真純情，去了哪兒？年輕人對社會的熱血，為什麼丁點都不見？

中六那年，我被同學選了當Head Girl（雖然我不是會考狀元）。那年我18歲，成年了，看到所謂名校生、我的同學師妹，很多人雖然表面自信家境富裕，但其實心靈空虛，有的放學流連百貨 公司不願回家、有的故意不穿整齊校服引人注意。我將我的發現告訴校長老師，希望他們多花時間關心同學，而非一味叫她們參加比賽幫學校攞獎。

結果我被大駡，更被視為最不聽話的Head Girl。

10多年了，如今，我不少中學同學都很有成就，有的是某某大公司主管、有的嫁了有錢人錦上添花。數月前，在婚宴重遇昔日的A班同學，她們說起自己的職業、老公、子女，當年班房裏的自信又再呈現，表現自己似乎是名校生的終身任務。

可是，我已不再是A班那個小薯仔，我不想再追隨A班大隊了。

離開名校投身記者工作後，我看到世界之大，不是只有干德道豪宅、生活也不是只有名牌攞獎、做人的價值也不是只懂得看人眉頭眼額。世界之大、胸襟之廣，是即 使我們家住干德道，也知道香港有個地方叫深水埗有很多板間房；即使我們追逐名利，也關心世界大事懂得分辨是非黑白，而非趨炎附勢。

倒模生產典型香港人

教育的終極目標，是訓練每個人的獨立思考、批判思想。但名校在這方面做到幾多？名校最成功的，是它大批倒模生產一個個典型香港人——實際、精叻、識上位、識表現自己。但更深層的價值——真、善、美，名校又教了幾多？

這個每個名校生都應思考的問題。

後記

我不憎恨我的母校，畢竟它教曉我很多實際的。到今天我最好的朋友，都是和我背景類近的中學同學。雖然她們不讀報、不關心時事，但都有一顆溫柔的心。我預科時的中文老師是我最尊敬的人，也是我的死黨。

寫這篇文章，是希望香港人不要盲目貪慕名牌。所謂名校的教育理念，你作為家長是否認同？更重要的，是你希望學校教曉你的子女什麼？

而我最希望，香港出色的窮學生與富學生，都有平等機會入讀優質學校，這卻是我對直資概念的最大質疑。

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我的後感﹕
作為曾接受名校教育但家庭背景未談得上上流的我，不敢不認同以上文章的某些觀點，但同時卻認為「名校」也不是全部如以上文章筆者所說的「倒模生產一個個典型香港人——實際、精叻、識上位、識表現自己」的人。相反，我卻認為名校比一般香港「填鴨式」學校更能教育出她所說的「獨立思考、批判思想」，以及勇於表達已見，不向有勢力的人低頭。

諗名校多年，自己並不是什麼尖子，但卻因為能與一班有己見，勇於表達自己的同學一起成長，令我不多不少學會了「獨立思考、批判思想、表達自己」等不會隨波續流的性格。

兩件中學時代的小事，令我今天還記得﹕
第一件小事是發生於我校早會上。跟據習慣，我們每天早上全校都要在禮堂中早會(Assembly)，並聽校長說教。有一天，校長在早會上要求全校同學中午時不能在課室內吃午飯，因為空氣不流通，對大家健康不好。當然，禮堂每一位同學都議論紛紛。其中一位大約中三的同學舉手，並以一口流利的英文在全校面前對校長發表自己的看法。內容大概是她明白在課室內進食午飯會空氣不流通對身體不太健康，可是由於校社細少，學生又多，課室外根本沒有足夠的地方供學生吃飯。校長立即回應，明白同學的意思，並立即改變自己的見意，學生可於第一個鐘聲時在課室內進食，但鼓勵學生於第二個鐘聲時到室外走走。
一件小事，今日畢業多年的我還記得如此清楚。可以見到名校是能教育出「獨立思考、批判思想、表達自己」的學生。即使這是個別例子，而又不是由名校教育所致(可能是因家教)，但名校能把一班有「獨立思考、批判思想、表達自己」的人連在一起，令未能從家教中領會到的同學可以於如此環境成長，每一都比這些人感染。

第二件小事是發生在我諗中四時。當時有一位新的化學老師教得學生非想好(大家都因為他愛上化學，並能以淺明白難明的化學)。可是，有傳言化學系主任不喜歡這位新來的老師，並要這老師離開，原因好像是他以不太正經的教學方式來教學生。當然學生們全認為他是jealous，而最終是什麼原因當然他本人才知道。

這新來的化學老師要離去的事好快傳到學生裡。當時我諗的是文理班，即有些同學會讀化學，有些沒有。本人雖讀理科，但卻沒有選收化學，只是與這老師談過幾次話，但都覺得他為人好。因為我當時讀物理，常分不到發電電流的current時用左手或右手的formula，而言老師即教我以男左女右來分別。一句話到今日都還記得。

所以本人知他要離開(或比人要求離開)感到不太開心，但同時先的學生又有什麼可以做到來改變結局。

後來，我班有一位有諗化學的同學抗議，把自己希望過老師留下來的原因寫在banner上並貼在課室門口，還寫了一封信發給校長。不論信中及banner都有許多同學簽名，當中亦有如我這些未接受過他教導卻又受他影響的同學的簽名。最後我班還感染到其他班別的同學一起齊心抗議，發表自己已見。最後，校長在禮堂與所有比這老師教導的同學會面，聽她們的意見，讓她們發問，解她們的問題，而最後這位老師都留下來。(當然校長說一齊都是誤會，而老師是自己個人理由想離去，卻又因為受學生行為感動而留下)

到上年我回校參加活動時還見到他，並與他談話。

我不是認同什麼事情到抗議(如今日的香港抗議文化)，但我卻認為如我們有經過獨立批判思考後就應該勇於表達自己已見。我相信這兩個小例子中的女主角正表現出獨立批判思考及勇於表達自己的好例子。或許她們已經忘了這兩年小事，因為她們已經獨立批判思考和發表自己意見為習慣，但我卻深受他們影響。

或許名校會有「實際、精叻、識上位」的人，但同時名校教育環境都教育出許多「獨立思考、批判思想、表達自己」的人。

今天大多數的名校都變為直資，有許多人都評擊他們的造法令許多香港出色的/有potential的窮學生與富學生，都不能有平等機會入讀優質學校，當然我都深深認同。但同事，為何名校要從政府資助變為直資？多年來名校都有能力直資，為何他們以前不會，現在卻會？這是否告訴我們，香港教育填鴨式制度的問題及香港政府對教育政策的問題？

談香港政治﹕二零一一年區議員選舉之我感

我從小都不大喜歡談政治，特別是香港本地政治

可能因為自幼受父母、老師及長輩影響，覺得大部份黨都是為了個人目的或名利等，用黨的名義、黨的口號及理念，引起市民及傳媒關注

因此自幼自己不但不喜歡談/去了解政治，更認為推動社會施政及進步，不應受民主及大眾意見影響。因為社會多數的人未必一定是受最好教育而最懂定下未來社會方向的人。

今年，一個不喜歡政治的我，在星期日晚上去了投票。原因非常簡單，因為我區兩大後選人，一位是獨立後選人，而另一位是人民力量代表。我想也不想，沒有看到兩人的政治理念、政綱等，就選了獨立後選人。我不否認我對人民力量代表成了偏見，認為這黨人特別偏激。

今日，看到林行止先生在信報所寫的社評，可說令我反思不少。

節綠﹕

「香港人的現實、短視，甚至可說物質生活享受消磨了他們謀生賺錢以外的志氣！一句話，高近百分之四十二的投票率，與其說反映了選民民主意識提高，毋寧說為了維持經濟和社會現狀而投票。如果高投票率預示港人致力追求民主以至推動民主普選行政長官，則民建聯何以會如此風光？

沒 有公民黨，香港無法站在法治的高峰；沒有社民連，香港的民主政治不會受到廣泛注意，而民間的怨氣怒火更無處宣洩。換句話說，公民黨和社民連，都不是沒有功 勞於香港，不過從這回選舉看，他們已失去相當多選民的支持，這固然是公民社民的失敗，更是香港可能漸漸在自由世界中淡化褪色以至失去國際大都會光環的先 兆！」

其實令我反思的，不是香港人是否現實及短視（雖然個人認為這是大部份香港人），但最值得探討，是社會需要一個怎麼樣的政治。

從facebook上，看到許多朋友（特別是公務員）都對「人民力量」某些過於激進的黨員及其行為反感，同時也為公民黨以法治為名，不斷阻外社會基建及進步而感不滿。本人亦有此感，但林行止的文章令我明白到一個重要的信息。多元化才是令社會不斷向前的主要動力。

唐 代的詩詞及學說可說是中國數千年歷史中最鼎盛的時代，其主要原因正時因為當時百家學說齊放所致。正所謂「時勢造英雄」還是「英雄造時勢」，本人認為兩者皆 是。當社會有太多不同聲音及意見，令社會失去方向，社會便需要一個或一黨實事求事的人，帶動社會向前，就好像中央及民建聯一樣。但當社會只懂向一個方向 走，而沒有理會他人的利益及感受，以及法治及人權等道德高地，社會便需要不同聲音，令人們關注盲目發展以外的道德高地。

社會發展，應平衡向前發展及人類的各樣道德高地，如民主及法治精神。而各政黨，即擔當人類不同立場及理念的重要角色。社會要繼續進步向前，缺一不可。

Written on 8th November 2011

Steve Jobs' speech @ Stanford 2005

- Quote from Standford -

Link: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

- End of Quote -

People are impressed esp right after listening/ reading this speech, however, how many of us will remember the message tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after the day after tomorrow, or every day?
I hope at least when I start to forget the message, I can always refer it back to here.

Finished attending - Internal talk by Peter

It was an astonishing and inspiring talk.

The two most insightful concepts that I got was not what he kept emphasis on boosting sales in non-funding product.

Rather it is about his view on RMB internationalization while answering a floor question on how he views BxC being the settlement bank of RMB.  First, he believes that China's back may not be able to internationalize RMB as they lack ability to adapt to other local culture or just simply do business for the chinese in other local countries. While as an international bank, we have the ability to internationalize RMB. Besides, the more internationalize RMB is, the bigger the piece of cake will be resulting a larger portion of the cake we will obtain and also he didn't believe at that moment there will still be one settlement bank.

His views on this business was astonishing, not simply because of how he view the RMB business, but rather his thinking methodology and ability to handle competition. He finds our niche and competitive advantage rather than simply complaining why we aren't the settlement bank for RMB. Apart from this, he finds opportunities rather than simply seeing competition. By expanding the business opportunities, we need not focus on internal competition as we all gain profit from expanding rather than eating up competitors' profit.

This is how a leader shall think and how we shall learn from if we have the ambition to be in his position one day.

The second point he mentioned is the lack of patience of the young generation. He stated that the "elder people" shall understand the young generation of lacking patience, which they wont have the patience to wait for several years to get promoted from band 9 to say 5. While his advice to the youngsters are to be patient.

Yes, this is so true. A lot of high-fliers within the company left just because they cant wait for one or two years to get promoted as manager from MT or AM. They immediately go to another position with a higher ranking in title, and better department name say regional xxx or some traditional profit making business teams. However, two points to question are: is the person ready to be manager or get promoted. You may find it the same paste as others who get quickly promoted, yet if your foundation is not strong enough, this my hinder your future development, resulting a longer duration as manager or a low rank as your promotion celling. Besides, a traditionally good business line or function, does it implies a continous growth or expansion on that business, or whether it is already a saturated business? As a young man, we should be visionary. To be able to see further, but at the same time having patience to complete stuff that occurs in front of us. It is never contradicting, and both can co-exist. Prepare yourself and at the same time learn to complete the tasks in front of you, and move forward step by step.

Finished watching - X-men First Class

X-men has always been a very good movie, not only does it has good animations to distinguish normal human beings and those genetically difference, but more importantly, X-men always stress the conflicts between genetically difference and normal people.

In X-men First Class, it clearly emphasis that Charles (Professor X) believes that human being and genetically different people could co-exist with respect and peace, which may be just a matter of time, while Erik (Magneto) believes that normal people will try all their means to kill, destroy or put genetically different people under control (this does reflect in the last episode of X-men)

The question that immediately pop up in my mind is, why people always try every means to eliminate those that are different from them or put these different spices under well control? However, we never see animals having such kind of behaviour. They attack only to survive because they are either being attacked or they are hunting for food, yet in normal circumstances, they can always co-exists and not to mention controlling other spices

Such special behaviour of human beings, to eliminate or to control these "outliners" may highly due to the traditional way of surviving methodology of human being. They killed those threaten them if they couldn't put other animals under control, or just kept the animals inside the zoo cage.  A very typical example is human will normally try to killed spiders and insects when they see them, while your pet say dog will simply play with them.

Besides, unlike animals, we well defined our property right and privacy. We built house for ourselves and also rooms for our own. Yet animal live together with the same spices while never define a room for themselves.

Actually even in today's society, despite we cant prove if genetically different people will have special power, yet it is undeniably that we humans try to eliminate those who are unlike or deviate from the norm. We never except something difference. And humans are taught to try whatever means to cope with the norm and converge to the norm since young/ kindergarten. Superactive or quiet people has to use whatever medical threapy to help them to adapt to norm. However, why cant the norm appreciate what they born to be and their true beauty? Does anyone think of the problem does not lie with the so called abnormal beings but the ability to accept outliners by the norm? Why shall people taught to be alike and towards the norm, is it simply because of easy management of the society, or some high-ended people who actually deviate from the norm hopes to fool the norm and earn as much as they can from them, or is it because human beings lack the ability to accept things that are difference?

Even during small group conversation, if one states out an idea or opinion or having some kind of behaviour that is different from the norm, people try to discriminate them as weird, yet does that mean wrong and can we conclude the norm is correct.

As a rational human being, we need to distinguish right and wrong rather than norm or deviate from norm. We act when we believe it is correct even we are the minority and outliner, cos only outliners stand the chance to win and beat the norm. Never act according to norm without thinking or just hoping to be recognized as one of them (the norm). One should be proud of who they really are rather than how "normal" they are

"「八十後」致富之路"之我感

每一代(上一代)總是喜歡以上一代的視野、人生智慧來評論下一代

如於香港九七時，五十及六十年代的人總喜歡評論七十年代的人經不起考驗，因為他們未經歷戰亂、錯節
今日上一代(包括七十年代的)即談及「八十後」什麼也批評，不腳踏實地等等

但又有幾多人真的從客觀條件分析由來？

曹仁超於此文章客觀地簡明為何「八十後」會有此行為(主要原因是因為香港經濟已不再如戰後、八十年代至九十年代經濟發達，引致發達機會不多)

作為八十後，或許你會說八十後非常不幸，買樓、結婚、生兒育女，不再時容易的事

但大家又有否想過，我們學習機會，不論是knowledge 、國際視野、多元發展 (如游水、音樂等)，都比上一代多。Internet的發明，令我們比上一代容易廣寬視野、information及knowledge

為何這一代，不能跳出上一代所為成功的圈子(有車、有樓、兒女入讀名校等等...)

我認為，八十後可悲的一群，絕非買不到樓、進升或發達機會少

而是失去自我...
今日沒錢買樓，可以租樓，之後再買樓
未能發達或發達機會少，不代表今日繼續努力、他日不能發達

今天還未找到長達目標，還可以現在一步一步腳踏實地工作/讀書/進修，然後繼續尋找自己的目標

但時沒有自我，連自己想怎樣也不知道，關心如否也感受不到，什至以為吃得好、穿得好，就是享受、就是關心，其實連自己一點也不開心也不知道

這是最可悲。活著就如行屍走肉

今日八十後沒有的不是錢、樓、夢想，而是卻多人都沒有自我
更可怕的是，他們以為有自己的想發或感受，但其實全都是他人、朋友、大眾的想法

今日internet的發達，無可否認為人類尋求知識、資料等來得容易。(本人連自己大學時代的畢業論文，也可以從互聯網上找到)

可是，互聯網的發明也帶來不少毒害。

之前提及，八十後變得沒有自我，什至以為自己有，但其實通通也是自己無意識地把別人的感受、想發當作自己...因而社會思想比以前變得單一
Facebook 是其中一個最大的元兇。

看到朋友吃喝玩樂、去旅行的相片，就會覺得這就是人生、這就是享受。可能這真的是某些人想要的人生，但真的是你想要的？真的沒有無意識地被影響了？

看到朋友短短一句"status - what's in your mind" ，就不理會他的由來，立即"LIKE"。慢慢地，你開始什麼都不求原因，什麼都LIKE。

開始朋友的意見、所思所想，都慢慢變成自己

結果社會思想變得單一化，再不能百花齊放

對人生觀、價值觀等，都變得一致。如享受人生，就等同吃喝玩樂及旅行，而再不存在其他可能

八十後，現在才是二十多歲，正時最無restriction、最勇敢、最有創意並如現實最接軌、最可以接受挑戰及面對失敗的時後

因而我們應該把握這可一不可再的機會，吸收真正有用的資訊，而非facebook的留言或他人的micro event。更應多思多想，尋根究底，培養分析及獨立思慧

八十後，不要隨波而行

Sudden thoughts

During my study on some foundamental statistic, finance and risk related issue, I randomly pick up the book that I am currently reading "A mathematician plays the market" and start reading a page taking about "confirmation bias".  It stated that people tends to search for information that supports their own belief and neglect those that are against them.  I believe there may be some minorities who may unintentionally search for info that are against them while ignoring those that favours them. Anyway still, the info that these people grasp are definitely bias.  Even there are wiser people who tend to read info with different standpoint, yet I believe due to the structure of human brains, they tend to have better memory on info that are favour their view.  That means the info is skewed either to the right or left if they are being classified upon favourness to ones thought.
The only way to minimize "confirmation bias" on the selected piece of info, it is important for us to organize the info and its implications to us via a scientific way.  Maths and statistic are one of the less non bias mean to help us to do so, despite it may have its only limitation.