Every Hong Kong parent should be asking themselves every day, 'how do I instil drive in my child?' In my six years working in education, I've been searching for the answer to this question. I have seen countless students who do well in school, yet have no drive. When I ask how that's possible, given that they are involved in sports, are presidents of clubs in their school, and read to the blind on the weekends, they point to mom and dad.
If children in Hong Kong lack drive, their parents have nothing but drive. But can a parent's drive compensate for the child's lack of one? The Amy Chuas of the world would say, 'yes.'
I recently sat down with 17-year-old Heather Pickerell. Heather, a graduating senior at German Swiss International School, was recently accepted to Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford universities. I cannot remember the last time in recent history a student applying out of Hong Kong was admitted into all of those great schools.
I was keen to meet this uber-achiever, who, at the age of 16, placed second in the world for debate. Who was this girl? Did she actually achieve all these things, or was her impressive resume the product of resume padding whereby students inflate hours spent on activities and even make up club participation altogether? And, most importantly, for a city that so emphatically emphasises education, why is Heather's success the exception rather than the rule?
Heather says her success boils down to four things: a powerful and genuine drive; the ability to stay perpetually focused; finding a passion and actively pursuing it; and being able to compromise her social life.
She spoke of being driven from an early age in an effort to win over her parents' attention towards her overachieving older brother. She joined the debating team because she was passionate about it and felt disillusioned when she saw her peers do the same just for their resumes. She recalled navigating the treacherous waters of college admissions by herself, without a tutor, and learning to live with negative comments from envious friends.