Chapter 27 5. Students who do not attend class

There are two classes in the sixth and second classes of the Department of Philosophy, with a total of fifty students.Among them, there are four students who basically do not attend classes, namely Cao Qiuchi and Fang Xiaozao in class one, Guo Shiying and me in class two.We often skipped classes, usually those public classes shared with other departments.The school has a rule that you will be expelled for the number of absent classes, so it is best not to be discovered.We couldn't escape the small class, so we sat down in a remote corner and read our own books in class.Shiying likes to write things in class, sometimes they are poems and casual thoughts, and sometimes they are descriptions of classroom situations with cold eyes.We always choose adjacent seats, and he often shows me his writing, and sometimes I respond to him and chat with each other on a piece of paper.

In a dialectical materialism class, I was immersed in reading when I heard the teacher call my name.I stood up reflexively, and blurted out, "What are you doing?" The students roared with laughter, but the teacher was too angry to speak for a long time.He finally suppressed his anger, ordered me to sit down, and called another classmate to ask him to answer the question he had just asked.It turned out to be a class question, but I didn't hear it at all. Someone must have filed a complaint, and the department intervened.One day, Chen Zhishang, who was the dean of the grade, called me into his room and showed me a note, which said: "Your grade student Zhou Guoping never listens to lectures in class, and he refuses to change after repeated admonitions. I hope to strengthen education." The signature is "Department Headquarters Office".Chen is also from Shanghai, and has always been quite friendly to me. At this time, he was also a little angry, and blamed him: "Look, how many times have I told you, but you still don't listen, what should I do now?" Advice: "Students have great opinions on the four of you, saying that you have become special people. Of course, you have a strong ability to accept and learn more than others. The problem is to have a priority, and the key is to learn Marxism-Leninism well."

In fact, the problem is not whether what is learned is Marxism-Leninism or non-Marxism-Leninism, but lies in the rigidity of the entire education system from the teaching content and methods.The main purpose of university education should be to cultivate students' ability to think independently and learn independently, but in our classrooms, it is only instilled, and what is instilled is not necessarily knowledge, at least the knowledge content is very low, mostly dogma and nonsense.I believe that no intellectually lively student, even if he forces himself to do so, will be able to take seriously a poor subject.Under such an education system, the best way for any student with a little talent is to deal with the courses with as little energy as possible and set aside as much time for self-study as possible.Now I encourage the students in school to fight for freedom from education, which is actually based on my own past experience.

Of course Peking University has professors with real knowledge like Feng Youlan and Zhu Guangqian, but our junior students did not take turns to listen to their classes.In the environment at that time, even if they took classes, they might not be able to freely impart their knowledge.Cheng Naiyi, who took our psychology class, was a first-level professor, a thin old man who always spoke in a guttural voice, hiccupping while speaking.I believe he was just dealing with us, talking about how to fight amoeba malaria in psychology class, and exhorting us to chew our food slowly to avoid indigestion.Among the teachers, I like to listen to Zhang Shiying's class. He was a lecturer at that time, teaching the German classical philosophy part of the history of Western philosophy.He obviously put a lot of effort into the topic he was talking about, and he spoke very clearly in Mandarin with a strong Hubei accent, with less nonsense and more solid content.A lot of nonsense in the classroom is the rule, but the methods are different.The old lecturer who taught party history was said to be a party member during the Great Revolution, and later left the party. Facing hundreds of students in the lecture theater, he stroked his mustache and talked about his glorious history.He said it in this class, maybe he forgot, and he will say it in the next class.As a distinctive feature, when referring to Mao Zedong, he never referred to him as Chairman Mao as was customary at the time, but always referred to him as Comrade Mao Zedong to show his equal status, which is quite cute.What I can't stand the most is the formal logic class. The content is very simple and can be understood at a glance, but the lectures are endless.Associate Professor Li, who taught the class, was a short and fat man with a belt loosely tied to his big belly. He often lifted his trousers subconsciously during class, which made the students snicker.He has published several pamphlets, and he has gained a little reputation, and he often publishes articles on the late Mohism in magazines, so every class must talk about the later Mohism.This shows that he still does a little bit of research, which is better than most of the faculty who don't do research.What makes me unbearable is the way he lectures, so endless repetition, nonsense.In one class, I couldn't bear it anymore and wrote a poem entitled "Dedicated to Logic Class"——

The professor uses dry language Talking about boring lessons, every empty dogma Repeat for ten minutes. "The so-called direct reasoning is such a class of reasoning, Such a class of reasoning There are some characteristics. "The characteristics are as follows, It is such a kind of reasoning, Such a class of reasoning That's direct reasoning. "Our formal logic for direct reasoning all that needs to be studied is Doctrines about direct reasoning. "The study of the principles of direct reasoning Its main function is to enable us to understand The doctrine of direct reasoning..."

Enough, dear Formal Logic, Please don't mock reason, most logical mind Will also be tortured to go crazy! Forgive me for transcribing here this unpoetic poem, which itself consists of a string of nonsense, but I am not exaggerating in the slightest, as is the case with actual lectures.If you feel bad when you read this poem, you can understand my mood in class. However, most of the students are attentive in class and take notes carefully.In class, you can see many hands writing non-stop, for fear of missing every word the teacher said.They spent almost all their spare time checking each other's notes, organizing them carefully, and then re-transcribing them.The only use for these notes is for memorization before the exam, and then they are completely forgotten.Exams are of course necessary, but I have my own way.Most courses have handouts or textbooks. If not, I will borrow the notes of my classmates, read them through before the exam, and make an outline. It only takes about two or three weeks.I have a good short-term memory, and I can generally remember key points, pass exams, and get good grades.After the exam, of course I forgot, and I went to the same goal as other students. The difference is that I minimized the cost and won a lot of free time.

The Philosophy Department offers basic natural science courses in the lower grades, and advanced physics in the first semester.Before the exam, I also read through the handouts, listed 20 or 30 questions I had, and asked the teacher for advice.It was a middle-aged man whose wife had moved on not long ago. Perhaps because of this, he looked haggard and his face was covered with wrinkles.After reading my list of questions, he was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, and told me about his student days in a low and sad tone.He said that when he was in college, he was as smart as me. He was supercilious and didn't listen to the teacher's lectures. Now he is no longer able to do anything.He also said, I am indeed very smart, the questions I raised cannot be raised by others, and I hope my future will be better than his.Listening to him say these things made me feel so guilty.He obviously knew that I was not paying attention to his lectures, and this gave me the illusion that I was responsible for his misfortune. I left the dimly lit small room with a heavy heart.In the exam, I answered very smoothly.Shiying sat next to me and tugged at the corner of my clothes. I understood and moved the test paper closer to him.However, he didn't copy very well, and he scored more than 30 points, while I scored more than 70 points.This score is among the best in the whole grade, most of the students failed, and Shiying's score is not the lowest.This event seemed to have left a deep impression on him, and later he told me many times that I should study science instead of liberal arts.