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I Want to Know

Are effort and hard work valued and praised in your country? They are not in mine. Here we regard smart those who get their goals putting the least possible effort in them. If you cheat and you are not caught, you are smart, not a cheater.
I hate this mindset.
novembermoon · 51-55
Then here these people would cheat would be described as 精 (jing1) , meaning sly or cunning like the fox. Not at all an honourable trait. Confucius describes one who is not honourable as 小人 (someone low in stature and not respectable at all).Here, we esteem a lot the amount of effort put in by a person in order to overcome his difficulties in order to achieve success.

From young, kids learn idioms like
吃得苦中苦, 方为人上人- if you are able to eat the bitterest of the bitter, you will be the men among men

Stories are told of lazy people who 守株待兔🐰 - wait behind the tree for the rabbit to appear and in the end, they go home with nothing.

Kids' Chinese texts are full of these stories exhorting hard work. I like them a lot and still enjoy sharing them with the boy.
Cierzo · M
Novembermoon, I really like your mindset and hope you never lose it.
I am afraid we have swayed from the true meaning of work here, and it has become a trade of a wage for your time. Often the effort you put in it, the love for achieving a satisfactory result is out of the equation. Really sad.
I am so glad I can understand some of the characters you use ☺
Cierzo · M
Lemony, it is quite frustrating, and it makes me sound like a fool when I tell students that they must work hard.
SW-User
Makes it all worthless doesn't it?!

 
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