In my last writing of yesterday, I attributed the weak competitiveness of Taiwan's young generation partly to the repercussion of that so-called "education reform".  Today, When I responded to Ms. Pearlz's comments by saying "It's sad but true.", the phrase I used was reminiscent of something that I witnessed in Taiwan not long ago.

One day when I went to a one-man-barber's in my neighborhood,  there was already a young customer ahead of me.  Patiently waiting for my turn, I could do nothing then but listened to the shopkeeper chatting with her customer, that young man.  From their conversation, I found the way that young man was talking was kind of strange to me: weird usage and knotty tongue accompanying giggles.  Judging from his peculiar behavior, I found he is obviously somewhat mentally retarded.  Later on, the barber finished her job on him, but he didn't pay the fee and leave; instead he sat in the shop waiting.  Ere long a middle-aged woman came and paid the fee for him, and she held the young man by hand and they left. 

I didn't ask her anything about the young man but the barber told me he IS a boy of "short"(pronounced in Japanese) and that woman is his mother.  What she said that shocked me most was that the young man is a poly-tech college graduate, but being unable to find any job and his mother still has to take care of him like a baby.  I said how come a mentally retarded person like him could have finished up with studying at college.  The barber shrugged, but she claimed what she said had been nothing but truth. 

I don't harbor any prejudice against the wretched person like that young man, not a bit.  However, people like him should be sent to specialized schools, and those inadequate students for colleges should be sent to vocational schools.  Isn't that the most basic thing a government should reasonably distribute its educational resources?  Shouldn't we educate our kids according to their different facilites?  What a waste it has been!

Well, all I can say is "It's sad but true".