The grandiose and impetuousness of "first-class universities"
Text / Liu Daoyu
Published in the 973th issue of China News Weekly on November 23, 2020
No matter in the pedagogical dictionaries or in the literature of those high-level universities in the world, the word "first-class university" cannot be found.
In European and American countries, the best universities are generally called famous universities, prestigious universities, research universities, and top universities.
There is also a dedicated term in the United States, namely the Ivy League University (IVY League). According to the US University Rankings announced on September 17, 2020, all of the top 15 Ivy League private universities are listed, which can be described as dominating the list. .
An accepted fact is that 2⁄3 to 3⁄4 of the best universities in the world are in the United States, and 75% of Nobel Prize winners are in the United States. These are the most precious resources of the United States, and the United States is also powerful in economy, technology, and military. The root cause.
What is a "first-rate university", and what does it mean and what does it mean?
It means that the university no longer has an educational concept, it means that the university concept has lost its original meaning, it means that the university is transforming into a company, it means the industrialization and administration of the university.
"First-class universities" do not mean that they are high academic level universities, that they are recognized by academia and society, that administrative assessments are fair and reasonable, and that they can contribute to higher education in our country. Play a good demonstration role.
It has been more than 20 years since our country proposed to build a world-class "first-class university". Universities and various media have also carried out a series of publicity, but with little success.
On the contrary, there has been an uproar of exaggeration and impetuosity, as well as the unhealthy trends of comparison between universities.
As a result, universities are desperately competing for master's degree and doctoral degree, and the evaluation of professor qualifications is also downgraded, so that the professors are too busy to fill the number and the doctoral students inject water.
At the same time, during the struggle for "first-class universities", fake teaching evaluations, 985 university review bribery, and academic corruption have been repeatedly banned. Shouldn't these arouse our thoughts?
Practice has proved that this kind of administrative means to promote the construction of the so-called "first-class university" in accordance with the planned economy thinking mode not only failed to achieve the expected results, but also led to academic corruption.
Therefore, we must learn lessons, follow the laws of education, and establish a rigorous and realistic academic attitude. A high-level academic university can only be formed naturally in practice.
Education and scientific research have a common law, that is, we must pay attention to the process instead of the result.
Zeng Guofan is considered a great talent in the Qing Dynasty. He has a well-known saying: "Don't ask about the harvest, just ask about the hard work." This is his motto hung in the study, and it is also his motto for academic self-discipline.
On the surface, people may think that he only asks for hard work, not for harvest.
In fact, it is not. What he meant is that if the seeds are selected, the cultivation is done, and the field management is done, don’t worry about the harvest, it will be harvested one day.
There is an old Chinese proverb: "You can get it unintentionally, and you can't get it right." Looking at the top universities in developed countries, aren't they all formed naturally after quiet cultivation?
Education is a business that cultivates people for a century. Whether it is cultivating talents or engaging in original basic theoretical research, you must take a long-term plan. To endure loneliness, any ideas that seek quick success and quick gain are not desirable.
About ten years ago, during the Centennial Anniversary of Tsinghua University, I published an open letter to school leaders in the "Kan History" magazine, asking them to follow the example of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to reflect on the anniversary.
It seems that they didn't listen to my unfaithful words, so that their impetuousness and vanity broke out again, and they actually claimed to have fully built a world-class university.
It’s not too late to make up for it. I sincerely hope that they will understand the well-known saying "don't ask about harvest, just ask about hard work".
Lao Tzu said in the "Tao De Jing": "Light will lose your roots, and irritable will lose your ruler."
I hope Tsinghua University will guard against arrogance and rashness and uphold the spirit of sitting on the bench for ten years.
He is engaged in original basic theoretical research, in creating his own school of science, in creating classic works that have been inherited for a century or even a thousand years, and set an example for other universities in our country with practical actions.
China News Weekly, Issue 43, 2020
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing