Carl Wilhelm's Education []

Author: Li Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Did I complete my son's education? I did indeed complete my son's education. In the past, some people claimed that I had completed my son's education, and I always denied it. But now, I had to admit that I had indeed completed his education. When my son was 11, some professors at G?ttingen thought I no longer needed to accompany him. He did wonderfully well on his own, focused, knew how to take notes correctly, and I was finally free. But I still worried a lot. I had to prepare for every class in advance and review with him afterward. Later, when he was at G?ttingen and Heidelberg, I stopped doing these things for him. But before letting him study completely independently, I adopted a gradual approach. There were several times when he solved academic difficulties on his own and earned the respect and applause of others. He also received many honors and was recognized as a true expert. Our highest authority—the King and his ministers—believed he could be granted a two-year government scholarship. By then, my son was 16 and fully capable of taking care of himself. It was only then that I decided my son's education was over. I finally decided to seriously consider my own health. However, to avoid making hasty or ill-considered decisions (which I always feared), after careful thought, I wrote to the respected leader, expressing my hope to live with my son for another year. This would give him a chance to fully prepare for his sacred mission, just as he had prepared for every major change in his academic life before. After the leader's agreement, with the help of relatives and friends, I left home and the city where my son had lived. I have been away from my son for 17 months. During this time, I have only seen him once. That was when he was on his way to Switzerland and Italy, stopping briefly in Vienna. At that time, my son was still young, and to prevent him from facing society too early on his own and to make the transition from parental protection to complete independence less abrupt, I had him stay with his mother or trusted friends. They came from all social classes and were born in different eras. I provided him with financial support, recommending that he travel to places like Leipzig, Dresden, and the surrounding areas during appropriate seasons—places like Freiburg, Münster, Naumburg, Jena, Weimar, Erfurt, Gotha, Sondershausen, Thal, Eisenach, Cassel, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, and Salzwedel—to expose him to various natural and artificial arts, visit major libraries, meet scholars, and gain life experience—in short, to accumulate experience and prepare for his future. After four or five months of traveling, I would have him go to Berlin to see his mother. The purpose was to continue his theoretical preparation. Everything he did was beneficial to him. In May of that year, he began his greater journey. After spending two months with me in Vienna, he left. Now he is on the other side of the Alps. I can no longer guide him. I must face reality—I have completed his education. Of course, education is lifelong. We are always learning from our surroundings, life changes, our friends, even our opponents—this kind of education never ends and cannot end. When I began my 17-month journey, my son was physically and mentally very healthy, which was wonderful, and he was working comfortably and easily. He had never been sick, not even when he was young. P12-13