One day, two young fish met an old fish."Good morning, kids. How's the water?"The old fish greeted me like this. The young fish continued swimming for a while, and one of them couldn't help but ask his companion:"What is 'water'?"

Adults have to get up early and go to work every day. After 8 to 12 hours of full-time work, they have to eat and deal with daily chores. After a short relaxation, they go to bed as early as possible, just to repeat the cycle tomorrow. In the seemingly endless cycle, it is easy for people to fall into inertia, such as being annoyed by the trivial and complicated daily necessities, neglecting or being full of negative emotions about the people and things around them, and swiping on the phone with empty eyes to speed up the passage of time. Such a signal is like that young fish that has been in "water" for too long and no longer feels and understands its surroundings.

This story comes from a speech delivered by the late American novelist David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College's 2005 commencement ceremony. He tried to clarify that the purpose of education is to cultivate a way of thinking, that is, to be able to maintain a clear self-awareness (Self-awareness) at all times in a tedious and boring life, and not to let the messy and unconscious life drag one down, but to take the initiative to control it. Life.

The purpose of education is to exercise and learn to think, to analyze choices, and to instill faith and free will, so that we have the ability to actively obtain happiness.

# Teaching # American University # Speculative Reading