Why we don’t needMVP
M. Zheng
Until recently didI realize that I held on the wrong belief that the Number One mission ofeducation is to cultivate talents for the society.
When I wasdiscussing with my friend that I was planning to offer an MVP title as a bonusto those students who are better prepared for and have contributed more toclass, she replied: “A teacher is there to help, not to judge.” I argued thatstudents need more competition to acquire knowledge and skills more efficiently.“Like it or not, only thirty percent of students will be entitled to a grade A.That’s the school policy.” I told my friend. “Well,” she responded, “It is moreimportant for your students to learn to be happy than to be knowledgeable andskillful.”
直到最近，我才意识到，我错误地认为教育的首要使命是为社会培养人才。
当我和朋友讨论我打算把MVP称号作为奖励给那些准备更充分、对课堂贡献更多的学生时，她回答说：“老师是来帮忙的，而不是去评判的”。“我认为学生需要更多的竞争来更有效地获得知识和技能。不管乐意不乐意，只有百分之三十的学生有权获得A，这就是学校的政策。”我告诉我的朋友。“哦”，她回答道，“你的学生学会快乐比学习知识和技能更重要。”
“To be happy, people need to love what theydo. Besides, they must believe that what they do is of value to the world.” Myfriend spoke softly. “Only a happy person is capable of sharing happiness withother people. Therefore, if a person is knowledgeable and skillful but nothappy, he or she would be reluctant to extend their help to those in need.” Shecontinued. “But talented people can work hard when they are paid to do so,” Icounter-attacked. “That is true. But people cannot do their best when they arepaid to do something that they don’t like.”
“要得到快乐，人们需要热爱他们所做的事情。此外，他们必须相信他们所做的事情对世界有意义”。我的朋友轻声说道。“只有快乐的人才能与他人分享幸福。因此，如果一个人知识渊博、技术娴熟但不快乐，他或她将不愿意向有需要的人提供帮助”。她继续说道。 "但如果有人支付报酬，有才能的人会努力工作“，我反驳道。“没错。但是，当人们为了报酬去做他们不喜欢的事情时，他们就无法做到极致”。
Seeing myconfusing facial expression, my friend offered to give me an example. “Supposeeight students are selected from a big class of one hundred for their wonderfulperformance. At that moment, all of them feel very proud of their achievement.However, after some time they become team members and have to compete with eachother. At some point, some team members earn a higher GPA than others. Herecomes the key difference between happy students and unhappy students. As forhappy students, they focus on how to benefit from cooperating with theirteammates to solve problems. They make the best use of their strengths tocomplement their teammates’ weaknesses. Little by little, they make moreprogress and earn a better GPA because they make an increasing contribution tothe team in a different way. As a result, they feel rewarded and are ready toembrace friendship. By contrast, as for unhappy students, they focus on theirweaknesses and try to catch up with others. Whenever there is a problem, theyare quick to blame others rather than find solutions or make improvements. Itresults in frustration and consumes a lot of energy, which gets in the way ofmaking progress and friends.”
I’m thankful forthis discussion. Based on what I have just learned, we may not need MVP.
"假设八名学生因为他们的精彩表现从一百个大班中被挑选出来。在那一刻，他们都为自己取得的成就感到自豪。然而，一段时间后他们成为团队成员，不得不相互竞争。在某些时候，一些团队成员获得的 GPA 高于其他团队成员。快乐的学生和不快乐的学生之间的关键区别开始显现。快乐的学生，他们专注于如何从与队友的合作中获益并取得进步。他们充分发挥自己的长处来弥补队友的弱点。他们一点点地获得更好的 GPA，因为他们以不同的方式为团队做出了越来越多的贡献。因此，他们感到有收获，并乐于建立友谊。至于不快乐的学生，他们专注于自己的弱点，并试图赶上别人。这会导致挫折感，消耗大量的能量，从而妨碍进步和交友。”
我感谢这次讨论。根据我所了解到的，我们也许不需要 MVP 。
