"Whydowehavetolearnallthisdumbstuff？"

OfallthecomplaintsandquestionsIhaveheardfrommystudentsduringmyyearsintheclassroom，thiswastheonemostfrequentlyasked．Iwouldansweritbytellingthefollowinglegend．

Onenightagroupofnomads （游牧民） werepreparingtoretirefortheeveningwhensuddenlytheyweresurroundedbyagreatlight．Theyknewtheywereinthepresenceofagodlybeing．Withgreatexpectation，theyawaitedaheavenlymessageofgreatimportancethattheyknewmustbeespeciallyforthem．

Finally，thevoicespoke，"Gatherasmanypebbles （鹅卵石） asyoucan．Puttheminyourbags．Traveladay'sjourneyandtomorrownightwillfindyougladand itwillfindyousad．"

Thenomadssharedtheirdisappointmentandangerwitheachother．Theyhadexpectedtheinspirationofagreatuniversaltruththatwouldenablethemtocreatewealth，healthandpurposefortheworld．Butinsteadtheyweregivenasillytaskthatmadenosensetothematall．However，thememoryofthebrillianceoftheirvisitorcausedeachonetopickupafewpebblesandstorethemintheirbagswhilevoicingtheirdispleasure．

Theytraveledaday'sjourneyandthatnightwhilemakingcamp，theyreachedintotheirbagsanddiscoveredeverypebbletheyhadgatheredhadbecomeadiamond．Theyweregladtheyhaddiamonds．Theyweresadtheyhadnotgatheredmorepebbles．

ItwasanexperienceIhadwithastudent，whomIshallcallAlan，earlyinmyteachingcareerthatillustratedthetruthofthatlegendtome．

WhenAlanwasintheeighthgrade，hemajoredin"trouble"withaminorin"suspensions （停学）"．Hehadstudiedhowtobeabullyandwasgettinghismaster'sdegreein"thievery"．

EverydayIhadmystudentsmemorizeaquotationfromagreatthinker．AsIcalledtheroll （点名），Iwouldbeginaquotation．Tobecountedpresent，thestudentwouldbeexpectedtofinishthethought．

"AliceAdams-‘Thereisnofailureexcept…'"

"‘Innolongertrying．'I'mpresent，Mr．Schlatter．"

So，bytheendoftheyear，myyoungpupilswouldhavememorized150greatthoughts．

"Peoplenowadaysknowthepriceofeverythingandthevalueofnothing．"