Thoughts on the Education of Children: My Son's Junior High School Exams

The results for my eldest son's entrance exam for junior high school were announced on February 3rd. No matter what the result, I wanted to share in the outcome of the hard work that my son had put in for over a year and a half, so I decided that I would also go along. If he passed, we could celebrate together and if he failed, I could encourage him. My eldest son, a student in elementary school, must have felt an absurd amount of pressure for the past 18 months and, in particular, the past several days. Regardless of the results, I wanted to praise him for the hard work he had done.

There were three days of exams on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd. My son got up at six every morning, did some light review of his work while eating breakfast, and then left the house accompanied by his mother. Then, when the exams were over, he returned home together with his mother. Tired out, he had a nap at home and spent his time relaxing before taking a bath and going to bed early

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2010 03 11 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACK (0)

WEF Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos - (7) Scenes from the Fourth Day at Davos

Contrary to yesterday's sunshine, it was snowing today. It has been a zig-zag weather of sun, snow, sun and snow. I was flying home today, so I finished packing most of my bags and went to the main venue. There was one session at 9 a.m. that I didn't want to miss. It was the "Securing Cyberspace" session.

The one factor that motivated me to participate in this session was Google. One report says that Google had taken such a firm stand because it had received repeated cyber attacks from China, of which the last actually broke through its defense and caused some e-mails to leak from its Gmail account. The article refers to a security company called McAfee that has teamed with Google to investigate the situation and set up a defense.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt insisted yesterday that he would not speak about the subject here at Davos. It's probably because the company is undergoing some form of discussion with China. Still, I wanted to know. I wanted to know what is going on in cyberspace, and what companies and nations should do.

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2010 03 05 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACK (0)

WEF Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos 2010 - (6) Scenes from the Third Day at Davos

I left my hotel to attend the Harvard reception scheduled for 8:00 a.m. I was leaving the hotel a little less than an hour later than I had the previous day, so it was already light outside. Since it was no longer snowing, which made for a nice change, I stopped walking for a moment to enjoy the Davos scenery. My hotel's location atop a hill offered a panoramic view of the city of Davos. In front of me was the pointed spire of the church, and beyond it were the Alps. On the upper part of the mountain was a gentle slope where I could faintly make out a ski slope. Ski slopes in Davos extend over flat land on the peak of the mountain.

I walked down the hill as usual to the three-way intersection, turned in the opposite direction from the main venue and walked to the reception venue. I arrived at the hotel, but couldn't find the reception room. I asked the front desk clerk and he said he didn't know.

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2010 03 03 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACK (0)

WEF Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos - (5) Scenes from the second day at Davos

Partly because of jet lag, I woke up at 5 a.m. By the time I was done replying to my e-mails, it was already 6:30a.m. Wearing snow boots, cap, scarf and gloves I had bought for Davos and carrying a sizable backpack, I left my hotel room a little after 7 a.m. Outside it was still dark and sprinkling snow. It must have snowed all the night before; the ground crunched with my every step. I walked the descending street, checking my every step so that I wouldn't slip.

The hotel in which I stayed stood atop a hill two blocks up from the main street. In front of it was a church. Descend the narrow path between the church and the hotel, and you reach a backstreet where the shuttle bus stops. Go down that backstreet further, and you come to the main street with all its luxury brand shops. Turn left on the main street, keep going, and you reach Congress Center, the main venue. Walk about ten minutes and you'll enter a security check lodge. Come through the security checks - which are equivalent to those of an airport - and you finally arrive at the main venue. I checked in my coat, cap and scarf at the cloak and headed to the venue for the breakfast reception.

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2010 03 02 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | TRACKBACK (0)

WEF Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos - (4) The Real Fun of the Davos Conference

I woke with a feeling of discomfort in my stomach. It was probably because I drank everything at the wine tasting event last night. They were the highest-class wines, so I don't have a hangover, but I drank a lot, which probably caused the languor.

Today was the day of the important, pre-Davos Conference that I would be co-chairing. I was scheduled to take the podium for the Breakfast Meeting, which was the first of a series of meetings that would last for half a day.

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2010 02 12 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACK (0)

WEF Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos-(3) A Scene surrounded by Wine

I woke up early the next morning, so I replied to some e-mails. Because of the time difference, I had already received a lot of e-mails, even though it was still early in the morning. After I had written a number of replies, I went for a swim.

Nobody was in the pool that day. I warmed my body in the sauna, took a shower and entered the pool.

When I was checking out of the hotel, I decided to ask a brave question: "The pool on the ground floor - what is the correct way to use it, naked or wearing a swimsuit?"

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2010 02 09 | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACK (0)