2. 朗读-父母成功的模板，孩子们可以套用吗？

2. KidsDon’t Need to Stay ‘On Track’ to Succeed

大西洋月刊

A10-year-old boy says, “I want to run a start-up when I grow up.” He doesn’teven know what a start-up is. Many young parents, teachers, and community areall likely to encourage this way of thinking, but they are only making hisfuture chances of being successful less likely. Part of the culture is more andmore centered on a narrow notion of what success looks like and how to attainit. Money is overvalued, and character undervalued.

Toomany of us are worried about how our kids will compete globally. We ferventlybelieve that staying “on track” beats wandering around. However, realitysuggests otherwise. And instilling this concept of success as a straight linecan set kids up for unrealistic expectations and disappointment.

Evenif parents ascended a relatively smooth track from school to career success,it’s misguided to assume that what worked for them will be right for theirkids, too. Encouraging children to follow a linear path makes them cautious,when what they are most likely to need are curiosity, a willingness to takerisks, and a talent for collaboration.

Whatexactly constitutes success is open to a world of meaning. Financialindependence is one way to measure success, a sense of doing meaningful andfulfilling work is another, and raising a healthy family and contributing toone’s community yet another.

Ifa linear progression tightly tied to grades, admittance to selective colleges,and high-­powered internships for well-­known companies were in fact the pathtaken by most successful people, we still would have to weigh its value againsthealthy child development, but at least we would have some evidence that ourkids would one day benefit from all of the aggressive preparation, coaching,and tutoring. However, reality—that is, real people following realtrajectories—suggests that this particular template is only modestly accurate.More often, a meandering and unexpected path is what leads to success.