Chapter 3 3. Freedom, the Life of Academics

When I was a student, each teacher taught differently, and each school was also different, so there was a lot of freedom.For example, in the general history of China, each teacher can teach according to his own set. Of course, the Kuomintang also has its own ideological standard. It is neither a materialist view of history nor an idealist view of history. "It is the "people's livelihood principle" in the Three Principles of the People, which was advocated by Minister of Education Chen Lifu.I don't know if there is a market for this official theory, but when I was in middle school, no teacher taught me that. I just remember that a classmate won the first place in the exam, and the school rewarded him with a copy of Chen Lifu's "Only Life Views on History". I don't think he will watch it, neither of us will watch it, so we are not affected by it.Another example is Chinese, the teacher can teach whichever text he likes to teach, choose a few poems by Li Bai and Du Fu today, and choose one from "Historical Records" tomorrow, such as "Biography of Assassins", or choose a piece of "Xiaoyaoyou" by Zhuangzi Generally speaking, there is no standard textbook.There is no standard for the questions of the college entrance examination, but after liberation, the whole country has unified regulations, a unified model, standard textbooks, and "standard answers" for the exam.But I think there should be no "standards", including natural sciences, and I don't think there is a need for a standard. If everyone thinks in the same way, how can science progress?Including Einstein's theory should not become the standard, otherwise it will never be surpassed.

After liberation, we learned from the Soviet Union and implemented the "five-session teaching system". Classes lasted for 50 minutes, first five minutes for review, and then a few minutes for whatever. The regulations were very careful.In contrast, the teachers of the Lianda University are absolutely free to teach. What to say and how to say are all in the hands of the teachers themselves.For example, General History of China is a public compulsory course in the whole school. There are many people attending the class, and it is divided into two classes. Mr. Qian Mu and Lei Haizong each teach one class, each has its own theoretical system, and the content is quite different. They all talked about the end of the Song Dynasty. The "Outline of National History" was Qian Mu's lecture notes back then. At the end of the semester, he said: "My book is about to be published. After the Song Dynasty, you should read it yourself." Another example is the compulsory modern Chinese history in the second grade. The war talked about the Reform Movement of 1898, but did not talk about the demise of the Qing Dynasty or the founding of the Republic of China.In fact, the modern history of China should be from the Opium War in 1840 to the 1940s, which is exactly one hundred years, but the teacher only talked about it for fifty years, which means that he only talked about the first half.Mr. Xiang Da taught Indian history. In two semesters, he only talked about the relationship between India and China, which became the "History of Sino-Indian Cultural Exchange".My wife has attended Mr. Chen Shouyi's Western History at Peking University, and he hasn't even finished talking about ancient Egypt in a year.I remember Feng Youlan said in his memoirs that when he was a student at Peking University, an old gentleman taught the history of Chinese philosophy, but he only talked about "Book of Changes" a year, and he didn't even touch on a hundred schools of thought.It can be seen how casual the teachers were in the lectures back then.I think this has one of the biggest benefits: Teachers can bring their insights into the classroom.

Academic freedom is very important. In other words, the vitality of academics lies in its freedom. Otherwise, everyone would be handed out a standard textbook and just read it for themselves. The teacher would read the text as the announcer, and the students would not be truly inspired.For example, learning history, which year Confucius was born and died, how he traveled around the world, etc., are in every textbook, and there is no need for teachers to explain them. The role of teachers is to put forward their own opinions to inspire students and communicate with them.I was only nineteen years old when I was in the second grade. The introduction to political science was taught by Zhou Shiqiu, a young teacher who had just returned from the United States. His first class left a deep impression on me.He asked: "What is political science?" Political science is the study of politics, of course, so, what is politics?Sun Yat-sen has a classic definition: "The politician is the affairs of the people; the ruler is the management." So "management of the affairs of the people" is politics, which is the official classic definition.But as soon as our teacher came up, he said: "This definition is completely wrong. You eat in the cafeteria, and someone manages the food account; People's affairs, but are they politics?" This is a rebellious thing, how dare he say that?But I think what he said makes sense.Some teachers like to talk nonsense and even curse in class, but I like to listen to it very much, because there is his style, his interests, and a lot of his real thoughts.For example, Feng Youlan scolded Hu Shi in class, saying: "Hu Shi will be finished in 2007, and there will be nothing else in the future, and it will not play much role." This is not seen in textbooks.

Of course, there are also teachers in the United Nations University who teach in a very systematic textbook style, such as Mr. Pi Mingju's modern Western history.Pi Mingju is the grandson of Pi Xirui, a master of Confucian classics in the late Qing Dynasty. His lectures are very systematic and organized. For example, if we talk about the Vienna Conference today, then the whole class will be the Vienna Conference. Although there are some gossips sometimes, it is not too far-fetched.Mr. Pi has a characteristic. He only talks about one topic in each class, and he happens to be able to finish this topic at the end of the class. It is said that only Jiang Tingfu can do this before. Later, I also wanted to learn to do it when I was teaching, but it failed very badly. , because it is inevitable to say a few more sentences or to say a few fewer sentences, and it cannot be finished within fifty minutes.In addition, Mr. Shangpi’s class must be handed in homework, just like when we were in middle school, but I still think the homework he left is very good: draw a map.In modern history, from the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 to the First World War in 1914, exactly one hundred years, six political maps of Europe are required to be drawn in one semester, and twelve maps must be drawn in one school year. Of course we I also copied it from a ready-made book, but I think it is really useful.In the past, we didn't have a specific geographical impression of the redivision of political maps, but after drawing it once, it became very clear.This should be the case including Chinese history, but apart from Mr. Pi, no other teacher asked for it.

It is much better for students to talk about their own opinions than to stare at one angle.Students broaden their minds and gradually form their own judgments. They don't necessarily have to agree with the teacher's point of view. This is a natural thing, and they can openly oppose it.I remember that there was a mathematics department exam, a classmate used a new method, but the teacher thought he had done something wrong, so the classmate posted a small poster in the school, saying that he went to the teacher and took a certain magazine Show him the new solution on the Internet, thinking that his own is not wrong.Another example is Mr. Qian Mu's "Outline of National History". I disagree with many opinions in it, not only now, but also at that time.Mr. Qian has a deep affection for traditional Chinese culture, and always feels that those things are very good, a bit like beauties in the eyes of beholders, who only see its beautiful side, but never talk about its less beautiful side.I admit that there are indeed good things in traditional culture, but they are not as good as what he said.No one is perfect, there are always advantages and disadvantages, and culture is not perfect, and it also has dark, backward, and corrupt parts, such as the theory of blood.In the feudal era, when taking the imperial examinations, three generations of resumes had to be written. Great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and fathers had to be innocent for three generations. .This is a decadent part of traditional culture, but Mr. Qian does not seem to face it squarely. He only talks about the beautiful part of traditional Chinese culture, thinking that this is the sustenance of China's lifeblood. This is his limitation.In addition, Mr. Qian was born in an old school, so he does not know enough about world history, especially the knowledge of the modern world. However, in my opinion, the most important feature of China's modern history is its participation in the world. At this time, the most important task China faces is How to modernize and how to be in tune with the modern world, so the policy of retreat is no longer feasible, we must be open, including our thinking and understanding, and have a world perspective.Mr. Qian doesn't seem to pay enough attention to these things—this is a nonsense about seniors, but seniority should not be considered in academics, otherwise students will only be confined to the circle of teachers, and one generation will not be as good as the next generation, and there will be no progress.

A few more small things.Logic was compulsory at that time, and I took the class of Mr. Jin Yuelin.Mr. Jin was very involved in his lectures, but I don't know anything about logic. Although I have been in school for a year, I don't know what I am learning.I just remember a classmate from Hubei, who was very old, always debated with Mr. Jin in class, and said, "Ah, Mr. Jin, what you are talking about..." We are not at that level, so we can only listen to the two of them. debate.I think this is very good, there is an academic atmosphere, and you can give full play to your own ideas. If you have to listen to the teacher in everything, and the teacher's words are like instructions, then it is not academic.There is also a classmate from the Faculty of Science, surnamed Xiong, who disapproves of all physicists' theories and thinks they are all wrong.Mr. Zhou Peiyuan was teaching mechanics at that time. This classmate Xiong would argue with Mr. Zhou every time after class. Mr. Zhou said: "You don't understand at all! You don't even understand the basic concepts!" But this classmate always refused. Rao, there are still a lot of people listening around. Every time I pass by the Faculty of Science, I see them standing in the yard arguing, and it becomes a scene in the classrooms in the southern district.

There are also frequent discussions among classmates. One is that the school is small and we meet each other almost every day; , so the only fun is chatting.Zheng Linsheng from the Department of Physics and I were classmates in middle school, and later lived in a dormitory. When I was in the United Nations University, I taught English in Qiushi Middle School, and he was there. Later, he went abroad. He returned to work in the Institute of High Energy Physics in 1956, and now lives in Zhongguancun. , we meet once in a while, and that is a good friend for life.Zheng Linsheng once pointed out that my ignorance of modern science was a major shortcoming of mine when I was at the General Assembly.Sometimes he talked to me about some physics views on the universe, especially epistemology. I remember talking about Faraday once.Faraday was born as an apprentice and had no formal education, so he did not understand advanced mathematics. This is fatal to those who study physics. However, he discovered the lines of magnetic force and expressed electromagnetic phenomena in another way, and later became the father of electricity.These kinds of conversations inspire me a lot.In fact, we don’t have to use the original model to understand and express the world. For example, in the past, we talked about orthodoxy and benevolence and morality when we talked about history, but this is only one aspect of understanding history, and we can completely change it.Aristotle said: Poets may be truer than historians because they can see the depths of universal humanity.So sometimes I think that perhaps artists and writers have a much deeper understanding of history than historians.The ancients said: "Knowing each other is precious." If you don't understand people's hearts, but just know when a person gets up and eats, it doesn't mean that you understand him.However, professional historians often stop at professional historical events, and have not been able to penetrate into the depths of people's souls. No matter how much they know, it does not mean that they understand history.Many of my ideas are inspired by the conversations with my classmates, and some of them even accompany me all my life.