Tom went to see his grandparent with his father. In the train Tom often put his head out of the window. His father said, "Tom, don't put your head out of the window." But Tom went on putting his head out of the window.

    His father took Tom's hat quietly and hid it behind his back and said to Tom, "You see your hat is gone." Tom was afraid. His father said, "Well, whistle(吹口哨) once. Maybe your hat will come back." Tom whistled. His lather put his hat on Tom's head quickly. "Oh! It's wonderful!" Tom laughed and said. He quickly took his father's hat and threw it out of the window. "Now it's your turn to whistle, Dad!" he said happily.

    Doctor Seuss was born in 1904. By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the most famous and most successful children's book writers around the world. His books are very popular with young readers. They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.

    In 1954, Life magazine published a report about school children who could not read well. The report said many children's books were not interesting at all. Doctor Seuss read it and strongly wanted to help the children and decided to write books that were full of fun and easy to read. He used words with the same ending sound, like bike and like. He did not receive any training in art. However, he drew wonderful pictures for most of his books.

    In 1957, Doctor Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat. He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a 6-year-old kid could read it. It was a fun story and easy to read. Children loved it very much. Their parents loved it as well. Today it is still one of the stories they like best. The success of The Cat in the Hat made him really want to write more books for children. In 1960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words. The book is called Green Eggs and Ham.

    In 1984, Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize. He was honoured for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents. He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains. Millions of his books have been sold all over the world. People say his books helped change the way American children learnt to read. Up till now, his books are loved by people of all ages. Doctor Seuss once said, "I do not write for children. I write for people."

    Tom was a fat boy when he was ten. He liked watching TV very much. He watched TV at least 5 hours every day. Wherever(无论哪里) he went, he would be late.

    One day, he found a pair of special glasses in his post-box(邮箱). He also found a message saying, "With these you can see time."

    The boy decided to have a try. He put the glasses on, looked at his brother, a tall and thin boy, and saw a big box of flowers on top of his head. And it wasn't just his brother. When he looked at his parents, he also saw the flowers. The three boxes were very large and the flowers were very beautiful. Then, he looked at himself from the mirror. He saw the flowers, too. But his flowers went to the mouth of the television. Its mouth was big. His flowers became fewer and fewer.

    At last, he learned that watching TV was a waste of time. He could learn nothing from it. He decided he would never again let the television eat his 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.