Talent and Character 天才和情操

The talented are sought after and admired much more than the so-called ordinary people. Some have been treated as the elites and are given special privileges and positions. We do need the talented, and even a well known Chinese poet once said, “ I was born with talent for a definite contribution.” (天生我才必有用)

Do the talented always become the blessings for many?

Indeed, the talented or elites are equally flawed as the ordinary. I was told by a school principal about the elite class in his school. The class was made up of the outstanding students who were expected to become the excellent performers in the government administered examination. To that principal, the elite students are selfish although he might not have referred to all of them based on his observation. He noticed that the elite students did not ask questions in class but they rather chose to ask their teacher privately. The reason was that they did not want the important questions and answers to be known by their classmates or competitors.

Therefore, if we want to harness the talented to be a blessing for others, it is imperative to look into their character formation as well. When attending to the talented, our education system should not only focus on equipping them to be full of knowledge, but also to mould them with character.

Definitely the talented people without character or integrity will eventually ruin others for their own selfish agenda. But, the talented who have integrity will be a blessing for others.

天才会比普通人得到更多奉承和羡慕，有些会被看为精英而獲取特权和地位。我们
的确需要天才，正如诗人李白曾说：”天生我才必有用！”

天才的确会成为多人的祝福吗？

事实上，天才或者精英也一如普通人会有缺陷。一位校长曾告诉我有关他学校的精英班，班上都是優秀的学生，学校也期望他们会在政府管制的考试成为名列前茅。对于这校长，他大概是根据观察而認为精英生很自私，当然他可能不是指所有的精英均如此。他發现精英生不太在课堂上發问，而宁可私下问老师，理由是不想同学或竞争者知道他们的重要问题和答案。

所以，如果要使用天才成为他人的祝福，就必须也关注他们的品格朔造。当我们关注天才，我们的教育制度不应该只注重装備他们得到充分的知识，也必须朔造他们的情操。

肯定的天才缺少了品格或者情操将会因为个人自私的议程而损害他人。然而有情操的天才将成为别人的祝福。

It is not difficult to recognise the talents behind these structures, but it is hard to discern the character inside the talented people.
要透过这些结构發现人才不很困難，然而要看透人才的品格却非易事。