Reply to NYTimes: In South Korea, Questions About Cram Schools, Success and Happiness

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[quote=Anonymous]I’ve heard this more than once—high-achieving “excellent sheep” lamenting the childhood they never had.

One example: a Stanford graduate working at a FAANG company once complained to his manager about how much he hated the math competitions his parents forced him into starting in kindergarten. Today, he sits next to someone the same age from a state university, doing the exact same job for the same pay—and the state-school grad actually performs better.

Why? The Stanford grad spent his entire childhood locked inside studying, trained into tunnel vision after nearly two decades of nonstop grinding. The state-school grad, on the other hand, had a normal childhood—played multiple sports, spent time with different kinds of people, and developed broader perspectives. At work, he consistently comes up with better ideas.

Companies aren’t worksheets. They don’t hand you neatly defined problem sets. They solve messy, multidimensional business problems that demand creativity, judgment, and—yes—diversity of experience. Tunnel vision doesn’t prepare you for that.

Unfortunately, this is something the Stanford grad never had the chance to develop, and now he’s forced to learn it as an adult.

So the real question is: is grinding yourself into an inflexible robot without a reason without any passion actually a good thing? [/quote]

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