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Education of China published the essay of our Vice-President Hui Zhaoyang on its sixth section on May 7th. The essay is as follow:
“Four Regressions” Inspired by American Universities
Hui Zhaoyang
“In the progress of ‘Double World-classes’ Development, high schools should transform ideas and work through “four regressions” including the regression to common sense, the regression to obligation, the regression to original aspiration, and the regression to dream.” The other day the author visited American colleges and universities. Through in-depth studying and thinking during the twenty-one days of visiting nine different types of American universities, the author was deeply aware of the essential practical and strategic significance of the “four regressions” by Education Minister Chen Baosheng. During the period the author had deeper comprehension on the development history, layer type, management system, operating mechanism as well as development status especially in education idea and specific practice of American higher education. Considering the problems and disadvantages existing in domestic higher education, the author believes that we can learn the American one from following aspects.
The first is to regress to common sense. We should strengthen liberal education and lay solid foundation for the all-round development of all students.
Laying solid foundation for students’ all-round development, which American higher education has always been insisting on, is exactly what domestic higher education is lack of. Though there are controversies, American colleges attach great importance to liberal education and regard it as the most significant and fundamental method of talent cultivation. Basic methods are: to focus on value shaping, including civic awareness training, healthy personality cultivating and life goals establishing; to focus on abilities nurturing, meaning the qualities and abilities of diligence, tenacity, courage, curiosity, imagination, critical thinking and so on; to focus on core knowledge obtaining, including history and modern knowledge, native and world knowledge, liberal art and science knowledge, etc.
However, reflecting on some of our colleges, it can be seen that under the influence of exam-oriented education and careers education, they do not put quality-oriented education and all-round development of human being in terms of the curriculum provision; they overemphasize on teachers’ scientific research ability and ignored their improvement of educational and teaching capability in staff arrangement; they also link some index like employment rate and postgraduate rate to student enrollment, specialties setting, teaching assessment and performance assessment, with too much administrative intervention. The students cultivated have no comprehensive knowledge structure and have tunnel vision and weak social responsibility. Therefore, to greatly enhance liberal education and improve the overall quality of education should be regarded as the top priority of deepening the reform of personnel training and curriculum system, which calls for being changed at its most fundamental.
The second is to regress to original aspiration. We should make the utmost of the important role that basic unit development and professional teachers play in academy to shape stimulated internal impetus to the sustainable development of universities.
The author has seen, observing and thinking of American higher education, that in America colleges the opinions of full-time teacher and academy are a decisive factor in terms of setting up curriculum and carrying out teaching plans, which is totally different with the management pattern of our higher education.
In American universities, schools serving as basic academic organization enjoy extensive academic autonomy in regard to schoolwork, big authority in academic aspect, such as teaching reform, curriculum, degree awarding and academic activity. They have relatively independent power to promote or demote staff and finance power. The schools can determine junior researcher recruitment and have great influence on the employment and promotion of associate professor or higher. Even the university will negotiate with teachers in advance when appointing and dismissing department head.
However, administrative power dominates in domestic colleges. The principle not only represents the highest administrative power but also is the core of academic power. The academic power is replaced by administrative power to a great extent, except the situation where several fields like professional title evaluation and degree awarding are in the charge of academic institution. At the same time, as basic unit, schools have to operate under the centralized leadership and general deployment of the college. They are lack of relevant liberties in the aspects of personnel, finance and resource allocation and are not fully stimulated in terms of educational vitality.
Full-time teachers and academies are the main force of cultivating talents. Directly getting in touch with students, they fully implement the Party’s education policy directly and specifically and carry out the fundamental mission of moral values establishment and people cultivation.
The third is to regress to obligation. We should cultivate students’ ability of critical thinking and help to enhance their basic qualities of distinguishing between right and wrong and being realistic and innovative.
From communications and visits, the author finds that American universities of all forms of education at all levels pay great attention to developing students’ learning style and method and infusing multiculture into them. They think highly of the interaction and communication in class and cultivate student’s rational and objective thinking ability.
American colleges have established “student-oriented” educational concept. They take elicitation teaching method, intervention case method, teaching method of critical thinking driven by projects and “jigsaw” learning method to bring the enthusiasm of students into play. They guide and encourage students to rationally think all sides as well as query and challenge those conclusions that are usually recognized. Especially they focus on nurturing students to give new explanation and judgment to their questions and challenges in analytical, creative and constructive way.
The fourth is to regress to dream. We should root deeply in China, blaze new trails and keep forging ahead to make our universities satisfy people.
Educational dream is exactly the dream of serving and prospering the country, which is featured by “Double World-classes” Development. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out in the report at 19th CPC National Congress, we should remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind. In order to realize the people's yearning for a better life, we should continue to strive for it. For higher education, this original aspiration means regressing to educational nature and raising the quality of cultivation; this mission is rooting deeply in China, blazing new trails and keeping forging ahead to make our universities satisfy people.
Currently Chinese higher education has come to a crucial period of transforming from quantitative development to connotation development and moving towards a powerful country from a big country in terms of higher education, the development rate and quality of which make the word admired and amazed. We have reasons, confidence and hopes to hold on that the great dream of strengthening our nation through higher education will certainly come true after our long-term efforts. Put in perspective, however, there is still distance from the overall development of our higher education to a world-classes level, due to different concrete national conditions, management system and the history and stage of the development. Neither can we undervalue ourselves and abandon ourselves to despair, nor be overbearing or unrealistically optimistic. What we should do is to proceed with confidence, do solid work, look for the truth and be practical, as well as forge ahead. We should lay emphasis on connotation development and embodying our distinct characteristics, endeavoring to set out on a path of higher education development with Chinese characteristics. (The author is the vice-president of Xi’an University of Science and Technology.)
XI'An UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY Department of International Cooperation Exchanges.All rights reserved Address：Xi'an Yanta Road No. 58
