What is the secret to getting into a prestigious school? Superior IQ, a wealthy family, or an elite “chicken kid” education? Among the answers given by the Chinese father Zhang Zhihong, his two children did not have these, but they were both admitted to major prestigious schools

What is the secret to getting into a prestigious school? A superior IQ and a wealthy family, or an elite " chicken baby " education?

In the answer of the Chinese father Zhang Zhihong, his two children did not have these, but they were both admitted to major prestigious schools when they were entering high school.

3 years ago, the eldest daughter Zhang Hongjie graduated from high school and received offers from 54 prestigious schools: Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Princeton, which made a sensation.

Later, Zhang Hongjie enrolled in the Department of Economics at Harvard and worked at an investment bank on Wall Street after graduation.

In March of this year, American universities released their rankings. Zhang Zhihong’s youngest son, Zhang Jiahua, was admitted to six Ivy League schools at the same time: Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, and Penn.

In addition, Northwestern University, Amherst College and the University of Virginia also sent admission notices to Jiahua.

Many schools such as Harvard also provided him with full scholarships, free air tickets and accommodation, and invited him to visit the schools.

As a restaurant chef with only a high school diploma, the media and the public are very curious, how does Zhang Zhihong raise two children?

When interviewed by reporters, Zhang Zhihong revealed: His family is quite ordinary. He and his wife did not provide expensive tutoring and tutoring courses for their children. The only thing they did was encourage and accompany them along the way.

And Zhang Zhihong is too busy working in restaurants all year round, The responsibility for educating the children mainly falls on his wife.

Growth is irreversible, it is better to accompany him sooner rather than later

In 1998, Zhang Zhihong, who worked as a chef, immigrated to the United States from Dandong, Liaoning Province. Soon after, his wife Sha Shujie also came to the United States with their 8-year-old daughter to reunite.

The family lived in Charlotte, a small town near the University of Virginia. Later, their son Zhang Jiahua was also born.

Zhang Zhihong said that as an ordinary immigrant family, they cannot afford to send their children to private schools, nor do they have the financial resources to send their children to various cram schools. The only thing they can do is to encourage and accompany their children along the way.

"We have always believed that it is important to accompany children.

Some children's parents only start to pay attention to their studies when they reach junior high school, but we have always paid attention to helping children develop their own interests since childhood.

My wife In the children When he was very young, he always read and studied with him, guided him, cultivated his interest in independent learning, and told him that no matter which university he went to in the future, 'my son will be the best. Come on, if you can't help your children to be self-disciplined in the process of growing up at the beginning, and you wait until they go "awry" and then point fingers, the results may be different.

Therefore, as a full-time mother, Sha Shujie has given her two children high-quality companionship and education since childhood.

She will not force her children to do anything they are not interested in. Instead, she will accompany them to read books, guide them to explore and discover their interests, and guide them to establish the habit of independent learning..

Zhang Jiahua, who grew up in such a free and tolerant family atmosphere, has a lively and cheerful personality and loves to play. At the same time, he also maintains the joy of active exploration and the self-motivation to learn while playing.

Not only did he have excellent academic performance in all subjects, but when he graduated from elementary school, he also won the U.S. Presidential Award with all A’s.Outside of class, he also participated in many club activities and was very popular among his classmates.

All these later became Jiahua’s bonus points when applying for university.

Righteous others first, righted yourself

Don’t compare, just be yourself

After their two children competed to be admitted to major prestigious schools, Zhang Zhihong and his wife received a lot of attention and questions from the outside world, including educational issues for the children of Chinese immigrants. Zhang Zhihong said:

"I have heard many parents ask questions. In fact, they have missed the point. They created problems for their children and then tried to solve them.

We take the opposite approach, Righteous others first, correct yourself first. First of all, we must set a good example for our children and help them develop self-discipline habits and develop their own interests.

We never discourage children, but try to give them a healthy and happy growth environment. ”

Wife Shashu. In the process of accompanying and educating his two children, Jie often emphasized: Don't compare with others, we just need to be ourselves.

As for what kind of careers and achievements their children will have in the future, the couple’s wishes are also very simple:

“It doesn’t matter how much money they make or their future. He hopes that Zhang Jiahua can learn to be a happy person and do things happily in college and in the days to come. Just be healthy and don't worry about life and family."

3 years ago, their daughter Zhang Hongjie was admitted to Harvard and Yale. The couple was overjoyed, but they did not expect their daughter to skyrocket. Instead, they hoped that she would live a happy and prosperous life. Too tired.

The unconditional support and love of their parents is the biggest motivation for the Zhang siblings to learn and progress!

With companionship, trust, and a normal heart, they carefully guided and encouraged a pair of children to embark on an infinitely broad life path under very limited family conditions.

What really widens the educational gap is the "cultural capital" of a family

Seeing this, many people may think that it is difficult to produce a noble son from a poor family, and it is difficult to cross social classes.

But Annette LaRue, author of the classic book "Unequal Childhoods," said: What determines a child's class is a family's "cultural capital."

We do not deny that if the parents have a wealthy economic foundation, they can indeed bring environmental, material and resource advantages to their children.

But compared to wealth, parents' thinking, vision, emphasis on education, and concern for their children's physical and mental health...these "cultural capital" of the family are the key to determining how far their children can go in the future.

As the saying goes: "Family is the harbor, parents are the guides!" Behind the cultivation of an outstanding child must be parents with great wisdom.

What Zhang Zhihong and his wife shared about educating their children seems simple and can be summarized in a few sentences. However, it takes a lot of effort to practice them unswervingly and persistently throughout the entire process of children's growth!

Just like Gao Xiaosong's mother said: "Education should be conceptual education!" As long as there are no problems in the general direction, the children raised will naturally not be too bad.