"It seems to me incumbent upon this and other schools' graduates to recognize their responsibility to the public interest...unless the graduates of this college...are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion... then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible."
John F. Kennedy, at the ground breaking for the Amherst College Frost Library, October 26, 1963
The Thoughts of a Thirteen Year Old
"What am I studying for?" The thirteen-years-old Wenbo ponder.
I have little desire for luxurious holidays or designers' clothes, and my family is not in desperate needs for money. To make my life even easier, my parents never demand high grades from me. Since the first day of my schooling years, I have worked hard out of my vanity to look superior to others. As my fervor for the No. 1 title start to wane at the age of thirteen, I find myself lacking motivation to study hard.
Without personal desire or family pressure to motivate me, I shift my eyes to the outside world. Polar bears falling from the cracked ice packs, bare tree stumps, stinking waters with a layer of oil on top... when these images from the Singapore Daily News scream and grimace at me to a point which they haunt my dreams, I realize that this agony I feel is why I should study, and study hard. Only with a vast range of knowledge will I be able to help repairing the damaged Earth: Sciences are the building blocks of green technologies; Social Studies are the writing tools of international environmental policies; and different languages are my best friends knocking on the doors of people from everywhere in the world and telling them how important sustainable living is.
People ridicule me when I tell them my newly-discovered purpose of studying. Even my mother laughs and calls me "The Savior". But deep inside I know that I've hit the jackpot. With a genuine passion imprinted in my mind, knowledge is no longer dry and tasteless ď it has become a piece of sizzling-hot, sauce-dripping steak that I desperately want to devour. I studied for making myself look good before and it didn't last long; now I study for making Earth look good and I hope it will stay with me right to the end.
("Study for all the Lives on Earth" was my motto when I was thirteen and it still is. Personally, I cannot think of a better reason for me to study hard. I am applying to Amherst ď one of the nation's best liberal arts college ď because it will best prepare me for a future battling with environmental crises.)
"What am I studying for?" thirteen year old Wenbo wonders.
I have little desire for luxurious holidays or designer clothes, and my family is not in desperate need of money.
Only with a vast range of knowledge will I be able to help repair the damaged Earth: Sciences are the building blocks of green technologies; Social Studies are the writing tools of international environmental policies; and different languages are my best friends knocking on the doors of people from everywhere in the world and telling them how important sustainable living is.
("Study for all the Lives on Earth" was my motto when I was thirteen and it still is. Personally, I cannot think of a better reason for me to study hard. I am applying to Amherst - one of the nation's best liberal arts college - because it will best prepare me for a future battling the environmental crises.)
Wow, nice essay!
Good luck in school!!
:)
