How deep is the misunderstanding of vocational education blocked by famous schools
The Yantai Research Institute affiliated to the China Agricultural University, a "double first-class" university, has recently been caught in a turmoil.
According to "China News Weekly" report, on May 18, the school's official website released the vocational undergraduate admissions brochure, and on May 22 it was announced that it would be closed, with only 5 days in between.
On the evening of May 18, students from the Yantai Research Institute found that in the latest admissions brochure on the official website of China Agricultural University, the name of the Yantai Research Institute was changed to the College of Industrial Technology, and three vocational education undergraduate majors were added: facility horticulture, modern animal husbandry, and e-commerce.
This caused dissatisfaction among students and parents.
This five-day "pilot" vocational undergraduate program in double-first-class colleges and universities has been suspended.
"Double first-class" construction of colleges and universities to run vocational undergraduates is an active exploration of implementing the new vocational education law and building vocational education into a type of education equal to general education.
Why is this exploration opposed by students and parents?
Some analysts pointed out that the school was too hasty and did not listen to the opinions of students and parents.
Aside from this factor, this incident once again shows that the social recognition of vocational undergraduates is not high. Even vocational undergraduates held by "double first-class" universities are considered to be lower than ordinary undergraduates and "pull down" the status of schools and qualifications.
In the context of social discrimination against vocational education, how to build vocational education into an equal type of education with general education needs to seek a new path.
Judging from the information reported by the media, if the school just changed the name of the Yantai Research Institute to the Institute of Industrial Technology and claimed to cultivate high-level applied talents, it would not cause much dissatisfaction among students and parents.
What caused dissatisfaction among students and parents was the addition of three vocational undergraduate majors.
Students and parents worry that this will lead to the misunderstanding that they are receiving vocational education, which will affect their future development.
It can be seen how deep the "misunderstanding" of vocational education is.
The report mentioned that the dean of the research institute promised the students that "Agricultural University will never offer a vocational undergraduate degree", and the exploration of developing vocational education has encountered such a situation, which is embarrassing.
Judging from the school-running orientation of colleges and universities, almost all local undergraduate colleges, as well as many majors in comprehensive colleges, carry out vocational education, but they are reluctant to explain that it is vocational education, and package it as academic education that pursues academic qualifications .
This is actually a misunderstanding of running a school.
In 2014, the Ministry of Education promoted the transformation of 600 local undergraduate colleges to vocational education. However, there are not many local undergraduate colleges willing to promote the transformation, and public opinion generally believes that the transformation of vocational education is "downgrading".
In order to solve this problem, in 2019, the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of a new type of vocational undergraduate colleges, vocational and technical universities, hoping to convey the information of vocational education and undergraduate level to the society.
However, because of the inherent prejudice against vocational education, vocational undergraduates are still one level lower than ordinary undergraduates in the eyes of students and parents.
So, how to change this situation?
In this regard, some people believe that the root cause is that the word "vocation" has been stigmatized, and it is suggested to change the name of "vocation" to "technology" or "application" to eliminate discrimination against vocational schools.
Obviously, this is a cure for the symptoms but not the root cause. "Occupation" can be stigmatized, and "technology" and "application" can still be stigmatized.
The new Vocational Education Law adjusts the positioning of vocational education from the previous "stratified education" to "typed education".
However, if the layered thinking continues, "type education" will be "layered type education", and the newly established vocational undergraduates are lower than ordinary undergraduates, and vocational education at the master's and doctoral levels is also lower than ordinary education at the same level. .
Whether the vocational education of integrated development and the training of applied talents can be recognized depends on three points.
The first is the evaluation and enrollment methods of the vocational education college entrance examination system.
If the majors in the comprehensive colleges and universities that cultivate applied talents are recruited through the vocational education college entrance examination, the vocational education college entrance examination allows all general and secondary vocational students to apply for the examination, focusing on examining the skills of students, and introducing process evaluation, which will make the vocational education college entrance examination construction. For the college entrance examination that is equal to the ordinary college entrance examination, and promote the reform of high school education methods.
The second is the quality of applied talents training.
Colleges and majors that cultivate applied talents should adhere to the employment orientation, further promote the integration of production and education, and school-enterprise cooperation, and create a high-quality and distinctive applied talent training system, which will reverse the academic orientation of school running and students’ planning and academic development. .
The third is the way out for applied talents.
The employment orientation of employers based on academic qualifications and prestigious schools has a great impact on the choice of education and schools by students and parents. Students and parents are worried that they will be discriminated against by being labeled as "vocational education students", and such discrimination must be eliminated.
In other words, this is a systematic project that requires all-round linkage.
Xiong Bingqi Source: China Youth Daily