Monty was the son of a horse trainer. When he was in his ninth grade, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

That night he wrote a seven-page paper saying that someday he would own a horse ranch¹. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a picture of a 200-acre ranch with all the buildings.

He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, “See me after class.”

The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, “Why did I receive an F?”

The teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You come from a poor family. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for other things. There is no way you could ever do it.” Then the teacher added³, “If you rewrite this paper with a more realistic² goal, I will reconsider your grade.”

The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.”

Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He said to the teacher, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”

文章大意：蒙迪是一个驯马师的儿子。他上九年级时，老师让他写一篇关于长大后想做什么的作文。

那天晚上他写了一篇七页长的作文，里面提到将来有一天他会拥有属于自己的养马场。他很详细地描述了他的梦想，甚至还描绘了一幅包含所有建筑的200英亩的大牧场。

他非常用心地去写这篇作文，第二天他把它交给了老师。两天后他拿回了作文。作文的第一页写着一个大红色的“差”字，上面还写着“放学后来找我。”

放学后蒙迪带着他的梦想去找老师，问道：“我为什么会得‘差‘?”

老师说：“对你这样的人来说，这是一个不切实际的梦想。你来自一个贫穷的家庭，拥有一个大养马场需要很多钱。你必须要有钱买地，还有很多其它的东西都需要买。你不可能做到的。”“但是，如果你重写一篇更现实一点的梦想，我可以考虑给你一个新的分数。” 老师补充说。

蒙迪回家想了很久，他问爸爸他应该怎么做。他爸爸说：“儿子，你看，这件事必须要你自己做决定。不过我觉得这对你来说是一个非常重要的决定。”

最后，男孩纠结了一个星期，把同样的一篇作文交给了老师，没做任何的修改。他对老师说：“你可以保留这个‘差’，我也将坚持我的梦想。”