The Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship (傑出人才發展基金會) and a local publisher yesterday released a book, Sixty-seven letters from outstanding scholars to the younger generation" (傑出學者給年輕學子的67封信), which compiles advice from the nation's top academics, in all fields, to encourage students to study.
The 67 scholars who
co-authored the book are all the recipients of Outstanding Scholar Awards and have demonstrated high caliber academic performance abroad or locally.
At the book-launch press conference, the foundation's chairman and Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) -- also a Nobel Laureate in chemistry -- said that Taiwan's economic achievements have brought society abundant human resources and fortunes for its people.
"If we could combine two of these assets, the prospects of Taiwan's future academic development are promising," Lee said.
"Back in 1994 when I had just came back to Taiwan from the US, my American colleagues asked me, `Why would I want to go back to Taiwan?' since the US has the best laboratory research environment in the world," Lee said.
"I replied that Taiwan is a place where people can challenge their dreams. What Taiwan has got to help people realize their dreams is its people's talents," Lee said.
Lee, who wrote the preface to the book, said, "The best way to learn from other people's
experiences is through reading, such as autobiographies, which offer practical role-model learning experiences to the readers."
Lee also presided over a ceremony yesterday to donate 2,000 books to local high schools, public libraries and universities.
Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (
"For many students in Taiwan, their enlightenment began at university, while many students in the West it began at senior high school.
"I hope that by looking at more books and getting inspiration from these outstanding scholars, we can enable more of our high-school students to gain wisdom and inspiration at an early age," Huang said.
Huang added that he wished the writers of the books could not only produce insightful thoughts for the young generation, but could also reach out to students by making speeches at campuses.
The book was co-published by the Commonwealth Publishing Co (天下文化) and the Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship, the latter of which is dedicated to improve the nation's educational, high-tech, scientific and socio-cultural development.
Over the years, the foundation has brought back to Taiwan many high-caliber academic talents from abroad and is working to improve research conditions by asking the government to make more incentives through raising salaries and and giving appropriate education to the researchers' children.
RSS