Asia is crazy about getting its young ones into the “right track for life,” beginning as early as possible. Preparatory in-womb Mozart for the baby is poetic and charming, even if unproven. One friend assured me her Malaysian pregnant mother ate a lot of hot peppers, since she felt she could begin the important taste bud schooling really early, in utero, to set the stage for the rest of her life. Sure enough, even in the first few months after birth, she was already able to handle hot stuff, given by her mother (of course), setting her up for a hot peppery lifetime, for which she thanks her adventurous mother. This lady became an adaptable missionary, and I can’t help but think the hot peppers had something to do with it. As a perinatal and neonatal doctor, all this quite intrigues me.

亚洲人疯狂的想他们的孩子尽可能快的进入“正确的人生轨道”。尽管未经证实，莫扎特胎教都被认为是诗意的和充满魅力的。我的朋友告诉我，她的马来西亚母亲在孕期吃了大量的辣椒，因为她认为她应该在非常早的时候，以至于在子宫里的时候就开始非常重要的味蕾学校的培训，为她往后的生活做好准备。千真万确，甚至在生后最初几月她就能够对付她妈妈（当然只有她）给予的辣辣的东西，让她一生能够适应辣椒，为此她感谢她的具有冒险精神的母亲。这个女士成了适应性非常强的宣道士，我忍不住想可能辣椒发挥了作用。作为一个围产期和新生儿医生，这些都让我着迷。

Everywhere, studying and studying is drummed into the Asian mind, and it seems that young couples in Asia all talk about how to get their children into the best schools, and even best after–school tutoring schools, to get maximum educational advantage. I was impressed that South Koreans, who have some of the hardest working students in the world, had to pass laws to stop kids attending tutoring schools late into the night. Literally way past 10 pm each night, when kids staggered home for a short sleep till the next day’s grind began again. Impossible to imagine that in most of the USA! Stop studying, Koreans, you work much too hard, and we can’t have such a small country beating most of the world!!

到处都一样，学习、学习的观点深深植入亚洲人的心灵，亚洲年轻夫妇都在谈论如何让他们的孩子进入最好的学校，甚至最好的课后辅导学校，去获取最大化的教育利益。南韩给了我很深的印象，它有一些世上最用功的学生，它不得不通过立法去禁止儿童去参加辅导班直至深夜。从法规的角度看，每晚10点以后，学生疲惫不堪的回家，短暂睡眠后，又要开始第二天的学习重荷。在美国的大部分的地方是难以想象的！别学了，韩国人，你们拼命学习，我们不能让这么一个小国家鞭策了绝大多数的国家。

I’ve always wondered about the Asian mystique of getting into a good school, but somehow never thought it applied to me. Only recently, I suddenly realized that my own parents must have literally also had a headache trying to find a good school for me.  Just like, I guess, modern day Asians.

我一直好奇于亚洲人进入好学校的奥秘，但从没有想到这事竟落到我的头上。也仅仅是最近，我突然意识到我的父母一定也为给我找个好学校而绞尽脑汁。我想这和现在的亚洲人别无二致。

And how did the school principal decide who to take into his school? There were no entrance exams then, so somehow, my parents had to prove to the principal of the excellent middle and high school my parents wanted for me, that I would do well, without the more “objective” evidence of exam results. It might seem strange today, but hey, that was 70 years ago.

校长是如何决定让谁进入他的学校的?当时没有入学考试，所以我的父母不得不向他们希望我就读的好的初中、高中的校长证明，虽然没有考试成绩这一更“客观”的指标作为参考，我能学得很好。这在今天看来可能很奇怪，但那是70年前的事了。

I’m certain the school, known locally as DBS, an Anglican Christian run English school, never accepted bribes, and that my parents, who were strictly law abiding, would have never done that anyway. I hear that bribery in various forms exists today, especially for a good school in Asia, but I never heard even a whisper about that sort of thing then. I’m guessing, somehow, they still had to build a case with as many “brownie points” as possible, with whatever approach was permissible.

这所学校在当地被称为DBS，是一所由英国圣公会基督教开办的英语学校。我敢肯定，这所学校从未接受过贿赂，而我的父母严格遵守法律，无论如何也不会行贿。我听说如今存在着各种形式的贿赂，尤其是在亚洲的一所好学校，但我当时从未听闻这种事。我想，他们无论如何，用任何被允许的方法去建立一个有着尽可能多的闪光点的范例。

My elementary school grades likely were OK, so maybe that helped. In fact, most of my elementary grades were at the girls’ school, DGS, sister school of DBS! In other words, in order to get into a boys’ school, which started at the 5^th grade, I had to go through a girls’ school…. pretty novel I think. I’m actually unsure why the girls’ school even allowed me in there. The story was, it was just after World II, so things were rather chaotic among the schools, and I got slipped into that school.

我的小学成绩看起来还行，这可能有所帮助。事实上，我小学的大部分学期都在女子学校DGS度过的, DGS是DBS的姐妹学校！换句话说，为了进入从五年级开始的男校，我必须通过一个女子学校….我觉得这很新奇。我真不明白为什么女子学校会允许我去那里。故事是这样的，那是在第二次世界大战刚结束，学界相当混乱，让我得以溜进了那所学校。

One year, I was only one of 3 boys among the girls. Not bad at all, and I “survived.” I’m guessing that being surrounded by females for those years helped me in my future relationships with females, maybe? At a minimum, I probably learned to be more “well-mannered.” Indeed, my survival there, at that sister school, somehow at least must have made a good impression on the boys’ school principal.

有一年，我是仅有的三个男孩中的一个。还好，我“活了下来”。我想那些年被女生所包围对我未来和女性相处有帮助，也许吧?至少，我可能学会了更加“彬彬有礼”。事实上，我在那所姐妹学校的生存，至少在某种程度上给男校校长留下了良好的印象。

I can imagine dad using my mother’s American birth as a case for novelty, maybe even “semi-expatriate status.” The school’s traditions were strongly British, in a then British colony, but prided itself on being non-conventional, being in essence a forerunner of today’s “international schools,” except that was not a fashionable term then. In those days, my mom’s “American English” was often considered foreign and strange, definitely second class to the upper-class British English.

我可以想象爸爸用我母亲的美国出生作为一个新奇的例子，也许甚至是“侨民”身份。在当时的英国殖民地，这所学校的传统具有很强的英国特色，但又以非传统而自豪，本质上是今天“国际学校”的先驱，只不过在那时“国际学校”还不是一个时髦的名词。在那些日子里，我妈妈的“美式英语”经常被认为是外国的和奇怪的，相对于上层的英式英语而言，绝对是二等的。

Certainly, I heard many off-hand comments by British teachers, who often laughed at “uncouth Americans,” which made me wince. Remember that the play and movie, “My Fair Lady” starts off with the English linguistics Professor Higgins declaring that Americans cannot speak English!

当然,我也听到过很多英国老师漫不经心的评论，他们经常嘲笑 “粗鲁的美国人” ,这让我很不舒服。 记住，在戏剧和电影“窈窕淑女”一开始，英语语言学教授希金斯就宣称美国人不会说英语！

What about “pulling strings?” I never heard dad flaunt his “doctor status,” so I don’t really think that helped my application. He had indeed been a surgeon at Queen Mary, flagship hospital of the (then only) University. But he was a humble person, and I suspect his frugal living, manners, and clothes would not have revealed anything except a very ordinary person. Nothing special there.

牵线搭桥怎么样?我从来没有听说过爸爸炫耀他的医生身份，所以我不认为这对我的申请有帮助。他确实在玛丽皇后医院当过外科医生，那是当时唯一的一所大学的旗舰医院。但他是一个谦逊的人，我想他俭朴的生活方式、举止和衣着只能显示出他是一个非常普通的人。没什么特别的。

One day in Hong Kong, a few decades ago, I saw the great, great, great, grandson of one of the historically most renowned foreign missionaries to China, come into the office of our medical mission. Normally he was always in American casual attire, no ties, often in shorts. Well, this day, he was so smartly dressed, tie, jacket and all, that I did a double take. “What’s up today? I never saw you so nicely dressed.”

几十年前，在香港的某一天，我看见历史上最著名的一位来华传道人的曾曾曾孙子走进我们的医疗服务所。平时他总是穿着美国的便装，不打领带，经常穿着短裤。呀，这一天，他穿得如此得体，领带，夹克和其他的饰品，使我又看了一眼。“今天怎么了?我从没见过你穿得如此精致”

Jamie explained, with some embarrassment, that he was trying to get his American-Taiwanese mixed son admitted to the reputedly best Chinese school in Hong Kong (one Noble Prize alumnus), and maybe he should dress up for the interview. He was wise to do so, since I hear how you present yourself for your child’s interview, makes a huge difference.

杰米有些尴尬地解释说，他想让他的美台混血儿子进入香港一所据说是最好的中文学校(有一位诺贝尔奖获得者校友)，也许他应该为面试盛装打扮。他这样做是明智的，因为我听闻在孩子的面试中，家长如何表现自己是会产生显著差别的。

This made me think that my own dad must have at least dressed up for that interview day also. Interviewing parents of the children might seem strange to Americans, but hey, you follow the rules. Later, I often felt a bit intimidated when many of my schoolmates were escorted to school in fancy Jaguars driven by elegantly dressed chauffeurs, so I can imagine their parental interviews by the principal must have been classy. In fact, I’ve always heard that wealth has been shown to be important in ultra-famous, though supposedly egalitarian, schools like Harvard. Multi-million dollar named buildings have clear implications. However, this concern was definitely out of our family’s league.

这让我想起我自己的父亲一定也为那天的面试精心穿戴。面试孩子的父母对美国人来说可能很奇怪，但是，嘿，你得遵守规则。后来，当我的许多同学由衣着光鲜的司机开着豪华的捷豹车护送到学校时，我常常感到有点惊心，所以我可以想象校长主持的家长面试一定很有气派。事实上，我一直听说，在哈佛这样号称平等主义的非常知名学校里，财富被证明是很重要的。数百万美元命名的建筑有着明确的含义。然而，这些事情绝对不是我们家族关注的事。

What about first impressions of the student? What might you conclude, from the photo below? The principal was a thoroughly British, scholarly gentleman, pretty stern-looking to me, and I don’t remember him being “impressed” in any way with me. But I had a flexible mix of English, since I spoke pretty fluent American English at home with mom, and had varied British, American and English-speaking Hong Kong friends that I had to communicate with. I suspect that my language skills were probably overall a positive point.

学生的第一印象如何?从下面的照片中，你会得出什么结论?校长是一个不打折扣的英国人，博学的绅士，在我看来，他看上去相当严厉，我不记得他曾以任何方式对我“印象深刻”。但我讲的是可以灵活变换的混杂的英语，因为我在家和妈妈说一口相当流利的美式英语，还有我必须和他们交流的各种各样的英国、美国和说英语的香港朋友。我相信我的语言技能可能总体上是一个正面的印象。

Actually, there was even a kind of affirmative action program in the school for Eurasian (mixed Western-Asian) children, who were discriminated against in society. My mother was American born, but of Chinese ancestry, so even though I was pretty much also a “mixed up” bicultural, even tricultural kid, I’m sure I didn’t really qualify.

事实上，学校里甚至有一种针对在社会上受到歧视的欧亚混血儿的平权行动计划 。我母亲出生在美国，但有中国血统，所以即使我是一个 混合双文化，甚至是三文化的孩子，我确定我真的不够格。

The headmaster finally accepted me, but felt I was too young, so I was diverted for one year to a Chinese school. Even after that, I was still the youngest in class, with its inherent pros and cons. The delay however was likely a good maturation step for me. Since my mother did not know Chinese at all, and I was decidedly English orientated, (British novels and storybooks, and American history and heroes), this move was probably more valuable than I realized.

校长终于接受了我，但觉得我太年幼，所以我被转到一所中文学校学习了一年。即使在那之后，我仍然是班里年龄最小的学生，这有其固有的优点和缺点。然而，对我来说，这种延迟可能是成熟的一个很好的步骤。因为我母亲根本不懂中文，而我又的的确确是一个以英语为母语的人(关注的是英国小说和故事书，美国历史和英雄)，所以这一变动可能比我意识到的更有价值。

In the Chinese school, all classes were in Cantonese Chinese, a language as different from the official Mandarin Chinese, as Portuguese is from Spanish. However, it was one positive step along my Chinese language journey. Later on, in my 50s, when I tried to learn (Mandarin) Chinese on my own, especially during my China medical mission phase, some words and phrases I picked up that one year in the Chinese school, probably gave me some unconscious childhood “language priming.”

在中文学校，所有的课程都是用粤语上课，这是一种不同于官方普通话的语言，就像葡萄牙语不同于西班牙语一样。然而，这是我学习中文的过程中积极的一步。后来，在我50多岁的时候，当我试图自学普通话时，特别是在我的中国医疗任务阶段，有一年我在中文学校学到的一些单词和短语，可能给了我一些无意识的童年“语言启动”。

Clearly, my school selection was really quite different from the modern-day Hong Kong/Asian hyper-exam driven system. Unimaginable today! Actually, I don’t even remember dad and mom ever really pushing me to study anyway, (strange parents), so exams might even have weakened my application!

显然，我的学校选择与现代香港/亚洲以考试为导向的体制有相当大的区别。今天难以想象的！实际上，我甚至不记得爸爸妈妈曾经督促过我学习，(奇怪的父母)，所以考试可能会削弱我的申请!

Getting into a good school in Asia, unfortunately, might indeed set you up for life. Hence the great pressure to get into the “best schools.” I guess that could be reality in much of the world, even in parts of so-called egalitarian America. Maybe it is “less important” in general in America, because the options are greater, but inequalities often begin, unfortunately, quite young.

不幸的是，在亚洲进入一所好学校可能真的会为你的一生奠定基础。进入“最好的学校”因此也会带来巨大压力。我想这可能在世界上很多地方都存在，甚至是在部分所谓的平等主义的美国。在美国也许总体而言不是那么重要，因为选择余地更大，但不幸的是，不平等现象往往在很小的时候就开始了。

When Jesus famously said, “don’t forbid the little children from coming to me,” it was part of a broader perspective, that all children are precious to God, and should be preciously nurtured. Which fits perfectly my baby doctor bias! Good schools are truly important, hot peppers in the womb, less so.

耶稣有句名言:“不要禁止小孩子来找我。”这是一个更广阔的观点的一部分，所有的孩子对神来说都是宝贵的，都应该得到精心的培养。这完全符合我对儿科医生的看法！好学校真的很重要，子宫里的辣椒就没那么重要了。