Faced with the question of carrier development, a student tends to be disturbed with two problems.  The first one is whether he is truly interested in the job he is doing.  The other, however, is whether he possesses the potential to deal.  I have ever been puzzled by such dilemma, but it was the story that I heard of that released me.

Researchers in computer science worldwide appreciate the contribution made by Christos H Papadimitrion, and regard Papa as a prestigious engineer in his field.  In late 1970s, he was employed in Harvard University, giving lessons to undergraduates.  At the end of semester, an essay was assigned to each student.  After the essays were collected, Papa was impressed with one of student’s talent, because he did think that paper written by the student was incredibly wonderful.  To his surprise, when he was to invite the student to his faculty, it never occurred to him that the student dropped off!  He managed to contact the student and request him to stay, but was rejected.  However, the student agreed to have the essay published.  Therefore, the essay was in Discrete Mathematics.  Leaving Harvard University, the student flew to New Mexico.  There, he established his enterprise and at last became a well-known leader.

The student’s name was Bill Gates.

He performed outstandingly in computer science when he was only an undergraduate, but he quit it, and established himself as a successful businessman.  Yes, although he find himself suitable for business, he did not ignore his duty even just before he quit.  On the contrary, he performed better than others in the field which he was to leave.

I heard of the story from my teacher in college.  When telling the story, the professor was in a solemn looking.  Nowadays, we are always taught to develop our “own” interest.  Admittedly, everyone has the right to choose to do what they intend to do, but the “interest” somehow is so overemphasized that it has become an excuse for students to leave lessons skipped and homework finished recklessly.  Those who bragged about “interest” will take Bill Gates’ dropping off from Harvard as an example to illustrate that only doing what one likes can he develop his potential into maximum.  However, it is right Bill Gates’ experience that reminds us of the fact that how can one succeed in his so-called interest if he does not even have the sense of responsibility to do the job excellently at hand?  Remember, the invaluable potential is your sense of responsibility to do everything well, even if you will soon quit it!

旁听钟扬老师的课能学到不少东西，^_^

http://www.lawroad.net/space-11098-do-blog-id-15279.html###

我终于把钟老师说的这篇翻出来了，哈哈 。看样子，我得先灌几篇计算机的水再说～