Thanks for the invitation of Dongrun Foundation, and it is my honor to be here for the activity in Tsinghua University today. I agree with the purpose of Dongrun Foundation, which is teenager training, that is why I accepted Ms. Dongmei Kong’s invitation happily. I admire Ms. Dongmei Kong’s patriotic feeling, social responsibility and sense of mission. As an educator, I would like to contribute my little power for training the teenager with Dongrun Foundation.
The theme of the Forum today is Innovation and the Future of Education. As a higher education worker, I believe the traits of the young people, who are our training target, are shaped to a great degree in their childhood and boyhood. Teenagers’ roles to the country and nation have been precisely explained early by Mr. Qichao Liang: the future today doesn’t depend on the others but our teenagers. Wise country depends on wise teenagers, prosperous country depends on prosperous teenagers and strong country depends on strong teenagers. However, how to train the teenagers to be wise, prosperous and strong is the problem needing to be thought carefully by our whole society and every family, especially the education workers.
I believe all of us agree with this opinion that the innovation talents shall be curious, concentrative, skeptical, creative, etc. Teenagers, especially children, are born to be curious and imaginative. Einstein said," Imagination is more important than knowledge itself. Knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world." It is no doubt that teenagers shall unfold their wings to fly, but is it possible if there is no sky for the wings? Is it possible if there is no family education for activating and protecting the children’s curiosity and imagination? Is it possible if there is no elementary and secondary education for finding and training the children’s interests? Is it possible if there is no higher education for encouraging and praising students to doubt, criticize and inherit? No!
However, it makes us feel sorry that our current family education and primary and secondary education kill the children’s curiosity and imagination to a certain degree. Some parents impose their ideas and choices on the children. In these years I’ve heard many students told me it is their parents who forced them to choose their majors and jobs. A few days ago, I received a student on the dean reception day. She confided to me that," To be admitted by the university, especially the outstanding universities such as Peking University is our powerful target in the middle school, but once we are admitted, we are confused for what we shall do next." I will be criticized if I say her words in Tsinghua University today, but you shall know these words are told by the student from Peking University. If they were the students from Tsinghua University, they must tell Dean Yingyi Qian that, "Dear Mr. Qian, admitted by the university, especially the outstanding universities such as Tsinghua University is our goal in the high school." The student who told me these words is very brilliant, she was an exchange student and went to Harvard for one year, and did internships in many famous international companies and institutes, but she told me actually she is not very clear about what she wants to do in future.
A few days ago, I also saw the report about the questionnaire survey of "hollow people" mentioned by Mr. Lo Yang just now. It is said the questionnaire survey is made by the expert of the Psychological Health Education and Consultation Center of Peking University, it seems like the questionnaire survey is widely spread. The questionnaire survey shows about 30% of the new students in the first year, including the undergraduate and postgraduate of Peking University are disgusted with study or believe study is meaningless. Also, 40% students believe life is not meaningful, and think the current life is just the process to develop according to the others’ logic. There are also extreme cases that the students gave up themselves. I was astonished when I saw this report and could not believe it. Then I called the teacher who is in charge of student work of our College, and asked if he knew this survey. He said yes, but he said some psychology peers didn’t agree with that, and believed the design of the questionnaire survey was not rigorous. Some students also reflected some indexes were designed with negative tendencies. However, the fact which cannot be doubted is our students were too much be loved, be cared and be chosen from the family education to the primary education, and from the middle school education to the college education. Thus, let alone innovation, some students even do not have the fortitude, the wisdom or the courage to choose in their daily lives and work.
Take Peking University which is familiar to me as the example, about 10 years ago, our university opened a Peking University—Yale class. One of our overseas returnees is the teacher of the class. After one semester, he shared his experience in the teacher experience exchanging meeting of our school, and said according to his observation, if compared with the students from Yale, students from Peking University at least have three defects: firstly, they were not initiative in study. Students from Yale were very initiative in study, they asked and answered questions and carefully read the reference documents given by teachers, while students from Peking University showed insufficiency in these aspects. Secondly, they don’t have high innovative and critical spirits, and are not good at or brave to express different opinions to some existing theories and opinions, which are fully accepted by them on contrary. Thirdly, they don’t understand the reality enough and are weak in the ability for linking the theory with practice. But in fact in China, many students or teachers from the other universities or the students coming to Peking University for further study said the students of Peking University are so brilliant.
Why this happens? Concluding from my teaching experience of over 30 years, these problems are reflected by students but rooted in the teachers, our education system and our culture in the deeper layer. Why are the teachers responsible for this? Because there are many teachers who are still used to reading according to book, and simply pass the knowledge on but not pay attention to the elicitation method. Why is the education system responsible for this? Because our students are taught to be obedient to teachers from the primary school to the university. During their growth, they are always taught: Be obedient to parents and teachers. To be obedient is a good kid, or else, you are a bad kid. Guidance and tolerance are not sufficient. The thinking and education way do have problems for cultivating the innovation talents. Why is our culture responsible for this? Chinese traditional culture tells us to respect seniority, respect teachers, respect the old; this is the fine tradition of China and shall be fostered and enhanced by us. But on the other hand, particularly for education, it inhibits the students’ spirits for doubt and criticism to a certain degree. Challenging the teacher or authority may be blamed as disrespect. In the American class, the students are very active for asking. If the teacher doesn’t know the answer, he or she may say I don’t know or I am not sure. It is natural, and the teacher doesn’t feel embarrassed. But on the contrary, the teacher shall be almighty and know everything in Chinese students’ eyes, I am a student but you are a teacher, you are not qualified as a teacher because you don’t know this. Under this condition, many teachers dare not to encourage students to ask questions.
From here we see that we do need to significantly reform the present education idea and training way. Besides keeping up with the times, upgrading the knowledge system and training the students’ living and development ability, the university shall also provide many eternally immutable things rooted in the nature of the higher education, such as the training for intelligence quotient, emotion quotient, spiritual quotient and cultivation, especially implanting the innovation consciousness and critical spirit for the students. I deeply agree with the words told by Kasper, the former president of Stanford University, "The main task for a university is doubting and challenging the basic assumptions and convention." Besides the teaching idea, content and method, reforming the education management system is also very important. For a long time, all Chinese colleges and universities are discussing for establishing the world leading universities as soon as possible. But to me, although there are many reasons that make Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, etc., the world-class universities, respecting and obeying the natural development rule of education is the key factor for their development. The high education in China will no doubt develop much better if there are fewer assessments of the one-size-fits-all-kind type but more developments of diversification in our high education, less administrative intervention but more academic freedom and less eager for quick success and instant benefits but careful considerations before making a decision, and there are both teaching for systematic knowledge system and training for innovation ability, academic inheriting and new breakthroughs, and tolerance for exploitation and awe to truth in our high education, which will also play a significant role for training the innovation talents.
At last, I want to talk about my cognition of science, which includes natural science and social science and scientists. I believe science is beautiful but lonely. The scientist shall be dedicated and lonely. But the government, public and media of a society shall not be indifferent and lonely to science and scientists. There is no distinction but absolute value difference in work. At the beginning of Chinese economic reform, there was severe problems in the treatment for brain work and physical work in China. The statements such as “the people selling tea eggs is richer than the one researching missiles”, “the people holding the razor is richer than the one holding the scalpel,” etc., truly reflect the reality at that time. Now the conditions have been greatly changed but not enough. Our government shall further provide better conditions for living and work to the researchers. Our society shall give more courteous receptions and respects to the scientists.
In a few words, I believe for training the innovation talents, the family education and school education enabling the teenagers to unfold their wings to fly shall be available, and the social environment and system guarantee enabling the researchers to devote themselves to research and display their advantages with respects shall also be available. If there are a lot of innovation talents, our national economic development and social progress can be essentially ensured.
Thanks to Dongrun Foundation again for giving me this chance to share my thinking about the problem for how to train the innovation talents with you in Tsinghua University. Thank you!