With over 300 years of history, Harvard University, US, welcomed its first-ever Chinese commencement(毕业典礼) speaker. On May 26, He Jiang, a 2016 PhD（博士学位）graduate, gave a speech that stood for the graduate students at commencement. It's one of the highest honors for a Harvard graduate.
In his speech, he told a story about his childhood. He grew up in a poor village in Hunan. Once a spider bit him on the hand, and his mother had to set his hand on fire to cure him. There were no doctors in the village, and this was the only cure a rural woman knew.
When he got older, he couldn't help but think about why there wasn't a better cure at that time. And he thought out the answer —- the unequal distribution of knowledge in the world.
“Even today we haven't been very successful in bringing knowledge to where it's needed most,” said He. “Even basic life-saving knowledge we can get easily in the modern world is often unavailable in poor areas.” According to the China Children and Teenagers Foundation, there are still around 3 million children in China lacking education, and most of them live in rural areas.
“One of the biggest problems for rural students is that they lack chances as well as motivation(积极性). It disturbs me that many people in rural areas think studying is useless.” Said He.
But He Jiang knows how education can change people's lives. “I just hope my experience can give those rural students a bit of encouragement and hope,” said He.
