General of the root of the Road

 August 27, 2010
Gan Yang (School of Liberal Arts Dean, Humanities Advanced Research Institute,UGGs, Director of General Education)
with the previous year's fourth workshop a little bit different, mainly the composition of students. This year we more clearly favor undergraduate enrollment, the number of undergraduate students and half; in previous years, we first emphasis on recruitment of young faculty and doctoral students, and teachers of the Office of Academic Affairs, for the purpose of the early years in China General consensus of the university pool. I think this basically reached a consensus in recent years, the conditional universities have begun to emphasize small class to read and discuss classic, although do feel tired.
emphasis on recruiting this year, the workshop undergraduate, I was hoping to convey a message: The quality of the University, students themselves is the key, undergraduate university itself is the master. quite a long time, we talk about general education, including undergraduate students themselves, or university professors,UGG boots cheap, school side, regarded as a mere object of undergraduate students. This is a deviation. We assume that the school is full of professors, but if students do not want to take it, you can run well this school do?
I think The key is a college students own culture. University of China eighties no general education, then do not need education, because then the students themselves take the initiative in learning. So their students want to study is a very key issue. I now have some changes as the original University of Hong Kong I have been in the last year full-time to the Sun Yat-sen, this feeling is even more profound. According to my observation, is now only a maximum of fifty percent of the students they want to study, to say the least Seventy percent of college students may not want to seriously study, that is, to mixed credits, and then graduate. If this trend does not change, the teacher to teach will be very disappointed in the end do not want to taught. I think this is the biggest problem now facing the general education. I hope that undergraduate students from the main point of view, to think about what they can do college students. Students should stop merely complaining, but to come back to ask yourself problems. If the university atmosphere is good, if not master, you can make good reading, because information is developed. I do not agree, only half right, because, first, the master can be met without resort; Secondly, now master of this era Ninety percent of all counterfeit goods. We now Ye Hao Beijing University, Qinghua Ye Hao, CUHK Ye Hao, large amount of money you have spent a lot of foreign people coming back, spent a lot of money, but they made a number of Chinese universities contributed? many are not in place, students can not see their glances, no use.
Chinese universities now What is the biggest problem? I would like to say two things here. The first problem is that students refuse to study, even if it is a very good student. is a characteristic of Chinese college students willing to listen to lots and lots of classes, each semester elective 10, 12, more crazy to choose 15, 17, but no one lesson he is willing to work hard to read text. Each students will boast that we have to think independently, but how to think? not read there is no thinking, did not read the words that saliva, but was saying that the article reported on the butt, you think this is very thought? We first emphasize that the workshop therefore is to read from beginning to end, and read to have a certain quality and quantity.
second problem is that students do not discuss, even if the discussion is also not discussed, because you do not read will not be discussed without reading the discussion is based on saliva. China has always stressed that the traditional discussion of the past, the former college is a discussion of the basic system class system, we now see, school tradition. But now China's universities are generally not discussed in small classes, the Chinese University wanted to learn American University, American University, but chose not to learn the most basic one, that is, must have a small discussion of undergraduate courses.
General Education in China can be said to have been everywhere, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China University of relatively good on the surface can be very beautiful out of public elective or general education class single manual, but these beautiful man I never see, I only asked them two questions: First, one optional course, I want to watch it weekly course readings, read what the text, the number of each class down to read the text; Second, there is no discussion in small classes. Those who do not have this two points, I think that can not be regarded as a good general education, it is easy to become a mixed-credit course students only. So I think need some system of general education something to regulate it, the students do not want to read is a reality , but if there is a system of requirements may be doing relatively better, for example, you specify the course, students must participate in small discussions, it will encourage students to read a little more or less the book. In addition the discussion must be discussion based on reading progress weekly to the students have a basic reading requirements, otherwise the discussion becomes saliva. My own feeling is that Chinese students do very difficult to discuss the classes, which I discuss in this class is completely confined to undergraduate and graduate students in a purpose, I hope that this discussion of class can do better.
there is a question about the seminars, lack of communication, or will not communicate with each other as hard to communicate. If there is no communication between a university atmosphere, it is difficult to become a reading community. we'll come back the eighties in terms of universities, although many people different faculties and professional grade, but the people say immediately into the problem. At that time the north is a discussion of the community, if you can not discuss why the show that you are smart, you come to North doing? University, once such an atmosphere, to force everyone into the University of the owner, you have to own to create a school atmosphere. If you do not have good study atmosphere, even a very good professor, still can not solve the problem, the University is still not a good university.
Liu Xiaofeng (China Renmin University of text College, Zhongshan University professor of philosophy)
I commissioned by the organizing committee of this workshop, to brief and liberal arts colleges do look at Sun Yat-sen University, a classical Chinese People's class situation. classical liberal arts colleges and there are two common classes characteristics: First, read the book is useless; second, the number of people in the class small, liberal arts colleges is 30, and the classical class less, only 15 people. Therefore, in the outside world are bound to have some basic questions : First, read the book are all useless; second, is the elitism out. I asked these two points in a brief description.
First, strictly speaking, the University is free to read used books. Now the university to do a lot of new professional, think that these professional people trained more capable, but I found it completely in cheating people lie. I think the University of establishment of this new discipline , particularly in social science humanities mm Of course, now also moving in the direction of the social sciences is largely in the spoof mm. We can see two simple examples: the Republican era, not so much of our university subjects, then they trained person is not no use? But then we found a lot of big battles to fight, ah, ah, and so the national economic construction, all of these people do come out. I used to say when the Korean War, cited an example , the development of China's modern military, has experienced five Commander-style characters: Tseng, Li, Yuan Shikai, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. The five people inside the military only two technical education school, is the Yuan and Chiang Kai-shek, but rather that two people are the worst fighting in five people. Zeng is reading four books, Mao Zedong used to be a learning Kant, Wang Yangming, the war is very bad ah. So, how in the end we have to understand the ;? You say that is a practical subject, entirely in cheating people. We do liberal arts classes, classical classes is to make students learn knowledge, to foster knowledge from their predecessors.