Chapter 10 American University Apocalypse

introduction Compared with when I first returned to China in 1998, many universities in China today have made considerable progress in terms of infrastructure, teaching environment, teaching staff, and school-running philosophy.But we must see that our universities are still unable to attract world-class talents like the first-class universities in the United States, and there is still a certain gap with the first-class universities in the United States in terms of curriculum, teaching quality, and scientific research results.It is necessary for us to carefully study the internal laws of American universities and the entire American education and scientific research system, and it is necessary to humbly learn advanced teaching experience and school-running concepts from American universities.Education is the foundation of talents, and talents are the source of science and technology.Only by continuously learning and continuously improving the quality of education in Chinese universities can our talent pool become the real cornerstone of technological development, and China's technological strength can be maximized.

In order to better introduce the experience of American universities to students and teachers, as well as the relationship between the American education system and scientific research, I wrote the article "Apocalypse of American Universities" in 2004.The article listed five reasons why American universities can achieve great success, and also talked about some problems in the American university education system.In my opinion, the biggest advantages of American universities are: professors can receive the highest respect and the best treatment; the country encourages and supports universities to carry out scientific research; there is a good mechanism for scientific research conversion and teacher promotion; teachers are enviable in the United States industry, etc.The content discussed in the article is very targeted, and it also provides some useful suggestions for Chinese universities.

Articles have been published in "Science and Technology Daily" and other media successively, contributing a little to the reform of Chinese university education.Because I wrote many articles, including this one, that focus on university education and help young students, "Southern Weekend·People Weekly" selected me as one of the most influential people in 2004 and gave me a high praise.At that time, the organizing committee commented to me: "I am concerned about the reform of mainland universities and mainland college students, teaching them how to behave and how to be a real Chinese."

Today, the strength of American universities ranks first in the world.Higher education in the United States is not only a welfare provided by the country to citizens, but also an excellent driving force for creating social wealth.Research by the Carnegie Group of the United States shows that 50% of the economic strength of the United States is obtained from its education system.With world-class higher education, the United States can have a large number of independent intellectual property rights, outstanding scholars with far-reaching influence, a strong knowledge economy, and become a technological power.

However, American higher education is not perfect.In the past 100 years, the United States has many measures, policies, systems, and ideas worth emulating, but in the past 20 years, it has also shown a situation of increasing abuse. The purpose of this article is to analyze the important contribution of universities to the development of the United States, discuss the fundamental elements of the success of American universities, and the disadvantages that have emerged in the past two decades. "Lao Tzu" said: Those who know others are wise, and those who know themselves are wise.I hope that this article's analysis of the successes and failures of the American university system can provide a reference for those who seek the improvement of China's education system.

Five Reasons Why American Universities Are Successful As a world-recognized scientific and technological power, the United States has more than 50% of the world's academic papers, Nobel Prize winners and patents.The most important reason why the United States is strong is that it has a large number of world-class universities, which attract the best students from all over the world to study in the United States. Once their studies are completed, many of these students stay in the United States and become a technological powerhouse supporting the United States. pillar of status. 85% of the best universities in the world are American universities (according to the ranking of world universities by Shanghai Jiaotong University, there are 17 American universities in the top 20).The United States uses the world's best universities to attract the most potential students from all over the world to study in the United States, and then uses its powerful enterprises to keep most of these talents in the United States.American high-tech companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Apple are full of top talents from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and other countries.These exotic elites have provided a solid talent base for the development of technology and industry in the United States.

There are five reasons for the success of American universities: (1) wise policies and officials; (2) flexible and free teaching methods; (3) strict teacher recruitment, promotion, and management systems; (4) stable thinking in progress; (5) The miraculous rise of private universities. (1) Wise policies and officials In 1862, the United States was starting to develop the west. In order to provide education opportunities for farmers and workers in backward areas, a farsighted senator, Justin Morrill, promoted the implementation of the "Land Grant Act", which provided free land for the establishment of new " Land-grant universities".This bill allowed each state to acquire 30,000 acres of land, and the "Act" also allowed universities to sell these lands and use the land sales as school funds.

With the increasing social wealth of the United States, the country's funding for universities has also gradually increased.Seeing the success of research universities in Germany, Morrill and other senators pushed for the implementation of new bills that increased funding for research and teaching new disciplines, in order to promote "research universities" that place equal emphasis on research and teaching. Despite these wise policies and ample funding, American research and universities lagged behind those of Europe in the early 20th century.At this time, what the United States needs is an opportunity.History did not keep Americans waiting too long.During World War II, under the leadership of Vannevar Bush, director of the US National Defense Research Council, 6,000 scientists secretly conducted a large number of scientific research work (including far-reaching research on the atomic bomb, radar, decryption algorithms, missiles and penicillin).At the end of World War II, Vannevar Bush was transferred to the director of the National Office of Scientific Research and Development.He submitted a report to President Roosevelt called "Science, the Endless Frontier" ("Science, the Endless Frontier"), expounding a set of mechanisms he designed to support technology and use technology to create wealth. The main contents are as follows :

* Substantial increase in research funding.Scientific research is necessary for national prosperity and human progress, and the government has the responsibility to support and fund this field.From 1940 to 1990, research funding in the United States increased 4,000-fold. In 2000, the U.S. federal government spent more than $38 billion on scientific research. * Decentralization of national scientific research to universities. One of Vannevar Bush's main proposals is "Federalism by Contract". The essence is that the federal government does not set up research institutions, but assigns scientific research tasks to universities or private companies by signing research contracts.He has signed more than 200 scientific research contracts with 41 universities/research institutions and 22 companies.Except for a few secret defense projects in the United States, the vast majority of scientific research funding is provided by the National Science Foundation, National Sanitation Foundation, high-tech organizations of the Department of Defense, and the Office of Naval Research, and distributed to research universities and other institutions through competition. laboratory to operate.

* Guide the industrialization of national defense scientific research.Many technologies invented during World War II have huge commercial value. Vannevar Bush advocated that universities (such as Lincoln Labs of MIT and Jet Propulsion Lab of Caltech) should do the next research work of these technologies, and then through defense contracting Manufacturers (like Boeing, Lockeed, BBN) industrialize these technologies.This series of measures has spawned world-class universities and companies, and consolidated the United States as the world's number one technological power. The U.S. authorities followed suit, and the three points in the Bush report set the tone for modern U.S. scientific research policy.

The open scientific research advocated by "Science-The Endless Front" is completely different from the centralized scientific research concept of the Soviet Union.In terms of national defense technology, the Soviet Union has stars and bombs, which is not inferior to the United States.But the Soviet Union's centralized scientific research was isolated from society, and the more advanced the weapons, the poorer the society.In the end, the entire country fell into economic panic, and it was inevitable that it would lose its status as a technological powerhouse.In the open scientific research in the United States, universities are responsible for innovation and enterprises are responsible for industrialization. Every invention can give full play to its potential, and at the same time it has brought tremendous impetus to universities and industries. These wise policies of Bush have made the university rich in funding (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received 100 million US dollars in funding in the early days of the implementation of "contract federalism"), and the university is full of talents.Since then, not only American universities have caught up and surpassed Europe, but American high-tech (aerospace, medicine, computer, operating system, network...) has also rapidly industrialized, creating incomparably huge wealth.On the other hand, after successful entrepreneurship, university professors and graduates reintroduce their knowledge and wealth into the university, forming an endless virtuous circle. Here, we cannot forget the heroes of this great progress: wise officials. Vannevar Bush is one of the most remarkable examples.He himself is not only a government official, but also a strategist and an outstanding scientist with unique vision.He successfully developed the "Differential Analyzer" (Differential Analyzer) in 1931, which is the originator of the electronic computer.He wrote the article "As We May Think" in 1945, which predicted the functions of future computers, databases, digital cameras, speech recognition, Internet, etc. Some people call him the father of computers. Vannevar Bush was the vice president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded the famous Raytheon company, and one of the founders of the US patent system.If Vannevar Bush hadn't been in office, he might well have won the Nobel Prize.However, as a strategic government official, his contribution to American society far exceeds that of most Nobel Prize winners.His example shows us that the progress of education, scientific research and economy not only requires a lot of funding and enlightened policies, but also requires officials with master wisdom. (2) Flexible and free teaching methods The teaching method in the United States is very flexible, and the style is quite different from that in Europe.Teachers and students exchange ideas and learn in a straightforward atmosphere.Whether in elementary school, middle school or university, American teachers generally do not instill a lot of knowledge into students, but use rich and vivid methods such as experiments, cases, discussions, and interactive exchanges to improve students' learning enthusiasm. In American universities, teachers encourage students to pursue their interests instead of chasing "hot spots", and the enlightened school rules also allow students to transfer departments according to their own interests.When I first entered college I wanted to work in law or politics.It took me more than a year to realize that I had no interest in law, and my academic performance was only average, but I fell in love with computers.I programmed crazily every day, and soon attracted the attention of teachers and classmates.Finally, one day in my sophomore year, I decided to give up the credits I had earned in the top three Columbia University law departments in the United States more than a year ago, and transfer to the anonymous computer department of Columbia University.If it wasn't for the enlightened school rules that allowed me to transfer to another department, I wouldn't have any achievements in the computer field today, and I might just be an unsuccessful and unhappy lawyer in a small town in the United States. In American universities, teachers also pay great attention to cultivating students' independent thinking ability and encourage students to boldly put forward their own ideas and suggestions.When I was studying, I proposed a technical solution that was completely different from my instructor's thinking.My mentor at the time said, "I don't agree with you, but I support you." His encouragement eventually propelled me to success along my own path.This educational concept of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and encouraging innovation could not be better to reflect the advanced nature of American educational thought. (3) Strict teacher recruitment, promotion and management system Most colleges and universities in the United States have first-class teachers, which can be described as a gathering of masters.In American society, a university professor is a career that intellectuals dream of, with high social status and favorable treatment.Favorable remuneration guarantees the quality of teachers, excellent teachers bring students' respect for teachers, and students' respect improves teachers' social status. As a result, remuneration continues to increase, thus forming a virtuous circle of university teachers. At top universities like MIT or Stanford, thousands of people apply for a professorship at the same time.When a young teacher defeated thousands of competitors and entered Stanford University as an assistant professor, he only got a seven-year letter of appointment. After 7 years, he has a 50% chance of getting "tenured employment" and being able to stay in the school for life.But there is also a 50% chance that he will not get "tenured employment" and must give up his goal of becoming a professor, or even lose his job.Under such harsh conditions, there are still thousands of people applying for a position. We can imagine how desirable it is to be a professor in the United States. The "tenure track" system serves two purposes.First, make sure the professor is qualified.Obtaining a "tenured" professorship is extremely difficult.Applicants need to do a number of independent scientific research, publish articles in high-level journals, successfully supervise doctoral students, and then go through a strict faculty evaluation system, which is objectively evaluated by peer professors and carefully weighs the actual contribution to scientific research. Comments, etc., before they can prove their "tenure-track associate professor" qualifications.Such a high threshold not only guarantees the quality of professors, but also guarantees their social status.Second, guarantee freedom of thought.Once a "tenured job" is obtained, the school cannot dismiss the professor because of extreme thinking or attacking the school or the government, which is equivalent to providing a "lifelong" guarantee. In addition, the management of American colleges and universities emphasizes focusing on education and basic research, discourages universities from running businesses, and discourages professors from taking too many horizontal projects, so as not to affect the quality of teaching.University professors already have generous salaries, and they can also spare one day a week to do expensive "consultant" work, and they can even choose the opportunity to stay without pay and start a business in the society.Therefore, American professors have no worries, can distinguish between public and private, and devote their time at school to scientific research and teaching. (4) Seek stability in progress Before the 19th century, European universities mainly trained priests and politicians.In pre-modern society, people believed that the world was stable and fundamentally known. If there were still unknown parts, they could be deduced from the known knowledge, because order was consistent and ubiquitous. of.The future is taken for granted in a sense that history repeats itself, and it was never imagined that this stable world order was in danger of being overturned.In this historical context, the purpose of education is to impart fixed knowledge.The most important quality of a university is stability. Since the 19th century, the world has undergone profound changes.The industrial revolution, information revolution, and medical revolution have brought people hope; nuclear weapons, terrorism, environmental crises, and energy crises have brought people fear; the two world wars have shaken the arrogance of human beings to their own wisdom and reason... , morality, belief, philosophy, and science have undergone profound changes, and human beings have begun to realize that the future will no longer be a repeat of the past.This trend of the times has had a profound impact on education.Since then, the direction of education is no longer to repeat rigid knowledge or truth, but to innovate.And the most important quality of a university is no longer conservative stability, but the pursuit of progress in the face of risks. At the turning point when the old world became young due to innovation, American universities seized the opportunity, under the banner of "progress" and under the leadership of educators with strategies in mind, they surpassed European universities that focused on "stability" (Universities in Germany are an exception).The United States is a multicultural melting pot, and American universities dare to innovate and are willing to imitate for the sake of progress.A good example is that in the 19th century, inspired by the great success of research universities such as the University of Berlin in Germany, American universities quickly integrated the German model into American local education. Coupled with policy support, they quickly surpassed Germany. Achievements of research universities.Another example is that MIT recently made 2,000 courses (including textbooks, speeches, notes, exercises, answers, etc.) public online for free with a total funding plan of 100 million US dollars.This not only represents MIT's aggressiveness in embracing network technology and distance education, but also shows that it is not afraid of risks and has great confidence in continuing to be the world's engineering leader. American universities provide a model worth emulating in dealing with progressive and stable relationships.Let’s listen to the words of Clark Kerr, President of the University of California: “Progress and stability are both important, but I firmly believe that progress is more important than stability, because only progress can bring real and long-term stability. Therefore, when there is a conflict between the two, we should Give up stability and pursue progress." In the past 100 years, the United States has followed the concept of "seeking stability in progress" as its standard, and finally surpassed the old European universities, attracting the attention of the world.This concept is the key to the success of American universities. (5) The miraculous rise of private universities. Universities in the United States can be divided into five categories: * Private Universities - Universities built on the basis of endowments from aspiring and successful individuals, are privately owned and governed by a board of trustees.Such universities are not for profit, shareholders are not allowed to obtain profit sharing, and all proceeds are used for the development of the school and the improvement of scientific research and teaching. * Public universities, such as state universities, are fully funded by the government to meet the basic needs of citizens to receive higher education, reflecting the fairness, justice and convenience of the use of educational resources. * Ecclesiastical universities - for religious purposes, owned by the church, supplementing the basic educational conditions of society and serving religious purposes. * Public community colleges – offer low-tuition, two-year degree programs aimed at students who would otherwise not be able to attend a top-ranked university.In order to save money, some students go to a community college for two years before transferring to a public or private university. * Private vocational colleges—the basic purpose is to make profits, which are equivalent to enterprises or companies. These universities generally charge higher fees and have lower educational standards, similar to many existing private universities in China. A striking phenomenon is that about 85% of the best universities belong to the first category above, that is, private universities.This can also be seen from U.S. News and World Report's ranking of No. 2: Overall Ranking (U.S. News & World Report) undergraduate business school project 1 harvard harvard MIT 2 Princeton stanford stanford 3 Yale University of Pennsylvania Berkeley 4 MIT MIT illinois 5 Caltech Northwest University George Institute of Technology 6 Duke Colombia michigan 7 stanford Duke Caltech 8 University of Pennsylvania Berkeley Pudu 9 Dartmouth chicago texas 10 Washington University Dartmouth Carnegie Mellon A leading school in high-tech subject areas Biological Engineering computer science computer engineering 1 stanford Carnegie Mellon MIT 2 harvard MIT Carnegie Mellon 3 MIT stanford stanford (Note: The italics in the figure are public schools, and the others are private schools.) These private universities are often referred to as "research universities", which not only provide high-quality education, but also do first-class research.Despite government funding for public universities, the gap between private and public universities is widening.Private universities are not just successful institutions, they are at the heart of industry: Silicon Valley owes its rise to Stanford, and the high-tech industry around Boston owes it to MIT. Why can the United States break the past dominance of public universities?What makes private universities the core force of American higher education?The success of private research universities in the United States has the following four important conditions: *Aspirational philanthropists: Every private university in the table above was founded with donations from patriotic philanthropists (eg, Carnegie, Mellon, Stanford, Rockefeller, Harvard).Among them, Rockefeller not only donated to many universities, but also provided research funds. Before the government saw the potential of microbiology, he spent a lot of money to support Caltech and other schools to create this important discipline, allowing the United States to seize the opportunity for the development of the discipline. * Strong private endowment: After years of painstaking efforts, first-class private universities have cultivated a large number of successful and outstanding alumni, and these alumni donate generously to the school, helping the school accumulate wealth beyond the enemy. This is the so-called endowment (endowment).Take Harvard University as an example, its fund is as high as more than 10 billion US dollars, and it makes profits every year.With this money, the school provides full scholarships to outstanding students, recruits the best professors with the highest salary, puts courses online for free, and establishes a science park... * A talented principal and a distinctive university: the two complement each other and are inseparable.The talented principal leads the school to achieve excellence with independent school-running policies and distinctive school-running characteristics.Every school has its own personality, they are not old-fashioned goods produced by a boring production line, and they cannot be ranked by linear thinking from the first to the last.A classic example is Daniel Gilman. As the first president of Johns Hopkins, he idealized a research university and created miracles in a short period of time.In addition, there are also talented principals and computer department heads who cast Carnegie Mellon into a school with the purpose of IT revolution; Caltech's principals and vice-presidents Noyes, Milikan, Hale turned the mediocre Throop Institute It has been transformed into a small and compact university of science and technology; MIT is close to Harvard, so it is determined to develop engineering, and finally achieves a positive result; the pride of Northwestern University is its world's number one business school; Berkeley has established a world-renowned free and open style of study... …Each school with its own characteristics attracts unique people, who can give full play to their full potential in a suitable school environment, forming a situation where everyone can make the best use of their talents and their strengths. * Flexible and efficient operation: Private universities are much more flexible and effective than public universities in terms of cost control, operational efficiency, attracting students and responding to social needs.Private universities are not restricted by U.S. government policies, and do not have to wait for annual funding every year, because private schools are funded by foundations and can operate as flexibly as private companies.They can dig research masters with higher salaries, provide research start-up funds, and they can create new disciplines. This kind of flexible operation is the unique feature of the market economy, so private universities can achieve high-quality teaching , Cultivate high-quality students.Moreover, a freer environment is also more attractive to talents.A university's success or failure depends on its ability to attract outstanding talents, and outstanding talents yearn for an environment of flexibility and freedom.