There are four people in Simon's family. They have different habits.

    ◆ Simon's father is a doctor. He works in a hospital. He likes reading books very much. There are many books in his bedroom. He doesn't like going to the cinema.

    ◆ Simon's mother is a music teacher. She likes listening to music, but she has no time to go to concerts.

    ◆ Simon's brother is seven years old. He likes watching cartoons. He usually watches cartoons when his parents aren't at home.

    ◆ Simon is a middle school student. He likes playing football. He often plays football with his friends after school. He likes playing computer games at home. But he doesn't like watching TV.

    Hello! My name is Coco. I am two years old. I don't know(知道)my mother's name. Look at this nice room, but it is not mine. It's my owner's. She is a nice girl. Her name is Jenny. Jenny is not always in this room. She is in her school during(在……期间)the day. Here is a photo on the desk. Jenny and her friend Alice are in it. This is a sofa, and it is a bed for me. Jenny likes green. Her quilt is green, and my quilt is green, too. I like bones(骨头). I like playing with(和……一起玩)Jenny and Alice. I like my family.

    Once there was an old farmer. He had a horse and the horse was almost as old as himself. One morning he set out(出发) with his young son to sell the horse before it died.

    The father and the son walked because the farmer did not want the horse to be too tired. They met two men on the road. They said, "Why are you walking, farmer? You have a horse. It's a long way to get to the market. "The farmer knew that this was true, so he rode on the horse while his son walked.                                          

    Then they met two old ladies. "What are you doing up there, farmer? Can't you see how tired your son is? "So the farmer got down, and let his son ride on it. Twenty minutes later, three old men stopped them. One said, "Why are you walking, farmer? Get up. It's too hot for an old man like you to walk today. "So the farmer got up behind his son and they went on riding.                                                      

    Sometime later, a young woman passed them. "Why aren't you walking?"She asked, "It isn't far to the market. Give your poor old horse a rest. " So the farmer and his son got down once again. It is a fact that you cannot please (使…高兴) all the people all the time.

    Reading Oliver James' Affluenza, I thought about what often happens at home. My 12-year-old daughter is in tears. "I have to take a test tomorrow. I don't understand any of it, "she cries out. After shouting and shutting her door, she calms down enough to go through her notes. The following day I ask her how the test went and she just says "OK, I got a nine".

    "Wow. Well done!" I say, before she finishes with "But I never get a ten!"

    According to James, this obsession with getting top marks has been a bad development, which encourages people to think of education in terms of work and money. To test this, I asked my daughter why she was so worried about her tests. She looked at me as if I was thick. "Well, if I don't get good grades, I won't be able to afford nice things like a car and stuff."

    I was quite surprised, because I don't consider myself a pushy parent. But James suggests and it leaves students feeling failures even if they are very bright. He points to the Danish system (体制) of education as a better model. Creating happy citizens who have good social skills is seen as more important than high achievements at school or the needs of business.

    For me, I cannot remember the last time I had to work out the area of a circle, recite a Shakespeare poem or grammar rules, yet I have lived a happy life. What I really needed to learn at school was how to make polite conversations, or how to avoid getting into debt or how to develop good personality.

    This is in fact similar to what Oliver James really has in mind. And he is looking for schools where students are encouraged to find and follow their own interests, something more like Tongjon.  Tongjon has been developed in some Korean private schools. It is quite different from the more rigid system of learning things by heart that is used in Korea, and indeed in many other school systems around the world.

    As the Russian poet Pushkin said," Inspiration(灵感)is needed in geometry(几何学)just as much as in poetry", and inspiration does not come from endlessly revising for tests or getting worried about them.