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Higher education: successful or not?
2005-09-27
China Daily
University education has always been a focus of public concern in China. Opinions remain divided on China's present education system. The views of Chen Ning Yang, the prominent physicist and the first Chinese American to win a Nobel Prize, triggered another widespread debate about China's current higher education system. Yang believes that China does a much better job than the United States in giving students a well-rounded education that starts in middle school. But it falls far behind in teaching students how to think creatively. His remark set off a barrage of criticism and rebuttal nationwide. Scholars and media workers have expressed their views on this topic.
China's success in education
Chen Ning Yang: China's higher education system is good, but could be better.
The whole world has reached a compatible view about the due obligations of colleges and universities, which count their three main tasks as educating youths, conducting top-end research and providing social service. Any measurement on the quality of China's universities should also be based on these points.
From the standpoints of educating young people, I believe undergraduate education is successful in China. I gave lectures in physics for an entire semester for freshmen at Tsinghua University in 2004. Before that, I had been a professor in the United States twice.
Comparatively, Chinese students I taught are more solid in their knowledge, more attentive in class and more hardworking than their American counterparts. This means an emphasis on middle school education is prominent in China. But in the research field, we have dropped behind our counterparts abroad.
The education attitude differs in China and the United States. Chinese education is characterized by a spoon-fed approach, even with a solid groundwork of basic knowledge, Chinese students are flinching at innovations. It is hard to tell which system is better, and the situation varies from person to person. The combined teaching methods would cover the weaknesses of both systems. In another sense, for those most capable students, the American model would be more effective.
Wen Yan (China Youth Daily): Good education depends on a variety of factors. There is no universal and easy way to educate. Therefore, the quality of education is not only decided by the education system, but also by the joint efforts of society, family, school and individual students.
There are indeed many problems and defects in the current basic education and higher learning in China, while there are indeed many advantages and merits in the US education system. But that does not necessarily mean that China's education reform should completely adopt the US system as a framework of reference.
There are huge differences in China and the US in terms of cultural tradition as well as social reality. The US possesses abundant natural resources and a powerful, comprehensive national strength.
Things are different in China, a country with a huge population and limited educational resources. The number of universities and colleges is far fewer than is necessary.
Under such circumstances, we cannot forcibly transplant the education system of the US to China.
We once failed by learning blindly from foreign countries. The education system of the country was established according to the pattern of the former Soviet Union. And now people tend to advocate the overthrow of the current system to set up a new one in accordance with the American system, which may not be suitable for China.
Education not successful
Shing-Tung Yau (mathematician at Harvard University): A number of problems exist in China's basic education system.
China's present postgraduate education mode could hardly bear a top-ranking title. If we are not able to purify and intensify academic studies, China's scientific and technological development will comparatively withdraw for 20 years.
Some may say that our elementary education is not inferior to that of the United States. But in practice, I've found that the real education level is under our expectations.
A decade ago, Chinese students registered at Harvard had no problems passing exams, but now it is changing. They were once listed in the top third for their higher test scores in the old days, but now except for those several extraordinary Chinese students, the average academic levels are lower.
The phenomenon shows that problems do exist in China's education system. Many undergraduate students are not well trained and do not study hard enough at school.
Qian Xuesen (aerospace expert): A man with innovative abilities should not only obtain the knowledge of science and technology, but also the high-brow studies of arts and culture. When I was young, my father sent me on painting and music courses, although I chose science as my specialty.
My artistic taste gave me a great break for my later scientific research work and opened up new ideas. I support the idea that one of the fundamental causes of the incomplete development of Chinese society is that few universities are set up to train innovative and creative students.
You Xiali (associate professor at Suzhou University): There is a crucial deviation from quality to quantity at most Chinese universities. More and more people recognize the popularization of higher education, but it should not mean a relaxation in our assessment standards. Mechanically, the teachers waste time and energy in repeated lectures teaching almost nothing new, and students are regularly at a loss for further self-development. Administration hardly recognizes the importance of creative training in an academic sense.
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