Chapter 16 Chapter 15 What is University?

Yeah, what is a university? Is it the green space, classrooms, library within the wall...? ! Is it the stern principal, the gentle teacher and the hurried students? probably.But it doesn't seem to be all... 100 years ago, a sage of education in China said: "A great scholar studies advanced knowledge; a great scholar covers a large ceremony and gathers schools from all schools." In the past 100 years, another celebrity said: "A university student is not called a building, but a master." At the end of 100 years, some people shouted: "University scholars, on the Internet and on the information superhighway, everything is virtual."

What a university is is still a confusing definition. Let us see what the Italian Bologna who founded the world's first university 900 years ago said.Oh, how simple he said: "University, everyone, come and learn." This seems to be the most appropriate and popular classic definition at present. Yes, a university should be a learning place where many people (rather than one person) come together to form a collective, learn from each other, and conduct joint research to form a certain place, a certain environment, and a certain course of study. Yes, this is the concept of "university" that we usually accept.But this is only the knowledge and understanding of Westerners.

The Chinese are completely different. University, in the minds of Chinese people, is a completely different scene: ——120 years ago, when the Qing government allowed Yung Wing, Yan Fu, Zhan Tianyou, Sun Yat-sen, Chen Tianhua and others to cut off their braids and go to Western universities to study, the universities were regarded by these insightful people as "opening their eyes to see the world" Later, they used this window to transplant modern Western technology and culture to China, and at the same time brought bourgeois enlightenment ideas back to the motherland, and sounded the battle horn of the Chinese democratic revolution in a short period of time.

——100 years ago, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others "signed a letter" to discuss the establishment of the "Beijing Normal University", with the intention of promoting the "innovation and reform" of the crumbling Chinese feudal society.As a result, the later "Beijing Normal University" really became the cradle of China's great changes in the past century. ——80 years ago, a young man in a long gown in Shaoshan Chong came to the university next to the Aiwan Pavilion on the bank of the Xiangjiang River with an umbrella in his hand, and then went north to the "Red Mansion" library to study hard for the sake of familiarity. Read a Cal.Marx's Communist Manifesto.The university in Mao Zedong's heart is to seek the liberation of 400 million compatriots.

——For more than 40 years later, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and others went abroad under the sunshine of the Republic to attend Lenin's classroom in the suburbs of Moscow. At that time, the university in their hearts was that the new Chinese people could go upstairs and downstairs, electric lights and telephones... … ——In the next 20 years, with a sound of spring thunder, the dull land of China reappeared with life.As the "delayed generation", the university in their hearts is the recovery of knowledge and dignity. ——After that, in the last 10 years, university has become a life course and a step that the new generation must go through.Because of it, you can go abroad, get promoted in the officialdom and find an ideal job...

Heh, in just over 100 years, in the same country, the concept of university is quite different in people's minds.In fact, in the hearts of Chinese people, no matter what dynasty or generation, there is still an eternal concept, that is: university is a family status, a university is a salary, and a university is a golden signboard to honor ancestors, benefit future generations, and change one's own destiny. Some people say that this is the foundation of the university.Yes, it should be admitted that for the vast majority of Chinese people, university is indeed such a concept.No matter how you whitewash and cover up, after witnessing the 100-year glorious history of the "Beijing Normal University", the Chinese people firmly believe that this is an unshakable and changeable concept.

I have read a book about the "university dream" written by the "champions" who were admitted to Peking University.Several people mentioned this passage: This is truly a sacred place.Over the past hundred years, several generations of the best scholars in China have grown here.Abundant knowledge, brilliant intelligence, solemn and fearless independent thinking.All these, combined with the upright personality and the brave fighting spirit, constitute a special spiritual charm. Science and democracy have become the immortal soul of this holy place. Professor Xie Mian's words have inspired many young students to apply for Peking University, and also inspired countless young students to bravely climb the "ivory tower" of the university.

Universities are holy places.It is a sanctuary of spirit and soul for those who have knowledge. Universities are holy places.For ordinary people it is a sacred place of fortune and fortune. So about the university, there are the following shots: One of the shots: Ten years ago, the title of "10,000-yuan household" was only reserved for the first batch of successful land contractors and upstarts who relied on smuggling and remittances.One day, a middle school teacher who had some achievements in mathematics, physics and chemistry was suddenly stopped by a student's parent: "Teacher, as long as you are responsible for tutoring my son well and can be admitted to university, the 10,000 yuan will belong to you." !" The parent didn't say a second word, he dropped the big bulging envelope, and drove away in a small car.

My goodness, so much money!For the first time in his life, the teacher saw so much money, and he was really terrified.If he was greedy, it would be better to say that he was overwhelmed by so much money.From then on, he struggled hard for three months, and then the student really passed the college entrance examination and entered a key university.The parents of the students happily gave the teacher 2,000 yuan as a reward, and said triumphantly, "University is for the rich." Shot two: In front of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, among the crowds of first-timers, Xiao Yang from Hunan has taken the exam for the seventh time this year, and was not admitted for the first six times for some reason.For more than six years, despite the strong opposition of his family, he left his hometown and rented a private house in the capital near the Academy of Fine Arts. Elementary art tutoring.His mother died of illness and he didn't go home. His partner wiped away his tears and concentrated on going to class.

When I took the exam for the fourth time, a teacher from the Academy of Fine Arts accidentally said that if you really pass the exam, you may not be able to afford it, so just give up.He almost got into a fight with the teacher.Later he made good friends with the teacher. In April 1998, Xiao Yang and more than 1,500 art students competed together for 80 enrollment targets of the Academy of Fine Arts, but lost again.Some people were afraid that he would not be able to bear this cruel blow, so they went to look for him in his rented room as soon as the re-examination results came out, but the room was already empty.Later, someone saw on his desk a note left for the landlord saying: "I will temporarily go back to Wuhan to work there in order to earn more money, and I will take the exam next year. Because university is more important to poor people... "

Lens Three: One early morning in early July 1994, in a small mountain village in a certain county in Jiangxi Province, someone suddenly exclaimed: "Come on, someone jumped to the pond and died—!" The awakened men, women, old and young in the small mountain village all came out of their houses and hurried to the small pond that had just been filled by the flood.Before the eyes of the villagers, they clearly saw a female corpse in a red flower dress floating on the pond.When a few brave men turned the woman's body over, everyone exclaimed: "Xiao Qiong, why is it Xiao Qiong!" Yes, it is Miss Xiaoqiong.A 17-year-old girl, the only female high school student in the village, died suddenly in a pond.Xiaoqiong's father shouted: "Xiaoqiong, it was my father who killed you!" and passed out on the spot. Everyone in the village knew that Xiaoqiong was going to take the college entrance examination in a few days, and everyone kept praising her as the most likely to become the first "number one scholar" in the village.However, Xiaoqiong's face has been very ugly these days. It turned out that her father firmly disagreed with her taking the test. He hoped that her daughter would stay and plant 20 acres of hillside land with him.The father said to his daughter: "What's the use of a girl studying so many books? The most important thing is to marry a good family. Tomorrow, I will ask someone to find you a better husband's family!" Even if Xiao Qiong knelt down to intercede, she felt doomed.Her younger brother later found the suicide note left by his sister, which said: "Brother, we mountain people have only two ways to go, one is to stay in the mountain to die, and the other is to go out of the mountain to survive. University is your only way of life." , Sister used her life to guide you..." You should understand and understand what kind of university is in the eyes of Chinese people! University may be an easy and inevitable choice for a few people, but for most people, it is a kind of pursuit, a kind of struggle, and a kind of whole meaning of life. The university in the eyes of the Chinese people is not like the "university and university" that foreigners say is "everyone comes to learn".There are 1.2 billion people in China, limited campuses, and too little education funding make universities the toughest competitive battlefield.If you cross the score line, you are the "Pride of Heaven"; for those who stand outside the line, you will lose your dignity and value until your whole life. But the Chinese understand the definition of a university better, "universities, universities, everyone come to learn".Because we are socialist, because we are the masters of the people, and because we are undergoing a great modernization drive, we have the right to go to university more than anyone else.Socialist universities belong to everyone, and everyone should be able to attend our universities.As a result, Chinese universities are more competitive than any other country, even more intense than the universities themselves - people regard university as the only "single-plank bridge" to change the destiny of life.So there are the sayings of "Black July" and "Red September", and "Everything is inferior, only reading is high" has become an eternal truth. The rich know from the very beginning that it is natural and inevitable to go to college. After the poor people understand it, they firmly believe that it is necessary and necessary to go to university. Twenty years ago, when China resumed the college entrance examination, the number of college students enrolled was more than 100,000, and then increased to more than 300,000, and then to more than 600,000. However, facing the "sprint team" of nearly 200 million primary and middle school students, this number is still too much stress.In recent years, the number has increased to about 1 million.In addition to the students in school, the current number of students in Chinese universities has exceeded 5 million.Such a large reserve of senior talents is not inferior to that of developed western countries.However, it is still a small number for the Chinese. There are a total of 200 million students. After 6 years of primary school and 6 years of middle school, only one million people can enter university. It is undoubtedly an extremely painful thing to be able to cry and sigh outside the university gate.This is true for countries and nations. China is a country of dragons.It is only right and proper to hope that your child will become a dragon.Few are willing to be bugs, unless they have no other choice. This fierce competition is inevitable.But on the other hand, China is a developing country, and its GDP per capita is still more than 100 in the world.Such a poor country is running nine-year compulsory education for 200 million people and higher education for more than 5 million people, commonly known as "big education for poor countries".The National People's Congress called for more education funding every year, but the principal and teachers of the school still called for not enough.When will it be enough, unless the system is completely reformed, unless the country is really strong.But there is still a way to go, and the reform must be deepened.Therefore, on the basis of summarizing experience and lessons and summarizing opinions from all sides, the State Education Commission proposed in 1992 the idea of ​​gradually implementing the integration of public and self-funded enrollment in colleges and universities, and gradually improving the school-running mechanism and employment mechanism. In 1993, Shanghai International Studies University and Southeast University took the lead in conducting a pilot project of combining fees.In the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Outline of Educational Reform and Development in China", which established the university fee system from the administrative regulations of the highest authority. In 1994, 40 colleges and universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Fudan University and Zhongshan University began to charge fees.After that, in 1996 and 1997, all colleges and universities across the country, except for some special majors, fully implemented the charging system.It's just one stone hitting a thousand waves!For many years, the concept of being a "national person" after entering university has been deeply rooted in the common people, and many people cannot accept this reality.But the determination of the government has not wavered in the slightest. The Prime Minister of the government has made it very clear: ordinary higher education, ordinary high school, and vocational education at and above the secondary level are non-compulsory education. It is a common practice in many countries in the world to pay fees for schooling, and we are no exception. insist on doing so.Only then did the Chinese people realize that paying to go to school seems to be an inevitable trend, let alone university, even after high school, they have to pay fees! How much do you pay? 1,000 yuan per academic year, and 2,000 yuan per academic year, and some popular subjects cost more than three or four thousand yuan... This is not counting the living expenses of the students themselves.My God, a college student costs at least four to five thousand yuan a year! What is the concept of four or five thousand yuan?That is the annual savings of more than half of the middle and lower income families in China.That is the entire annual income of two fifths of the peasant households.How could this be possible, after sending the children to college, how could the whole family have to go hungry!Too much, too much for the country! The country said, not much, absolutely not much.It actually costs at least 10,000 yuan per year to train a college student. The government only collects about 20% of it, and the other 80% is still borne by the state.not much? Not much, but... But we can't afford that much money even if we sell everything.Said the poor people. "In the past, going to college was hard work plus genius. Now there is one more thing to add, which is money." They said. Diligence + Genius + Money = Going to College This is the formula for today.Because of this "formula", there are "poor students" that have never been heard of before in Chinese universities, and their number, momentum, and intensity have already been related to the success or failure of China's education reform.Some people say that education reform is the last bastion of China's planning system, and university fees are the key to the success of education reform. We should now understand why the problem of impoverished college students has attracted so much attention from the government and society!We should now understand why the "Hope Project" is carried out in universities, and although this "Hope Project" and the "Hope Project" of nine-year compulsory education have the same four words, the content and gold content are completely incomparable.In a popular saying: the "Hope Project" in elementary schools is paving the way for our nation to get out of poverty and ignorance, and the "Hope Project" in universities is a high-speed train for our nation to achieve great rejuvenation. You should now have a new understanding of Chinese universities.What is it? It is the backbone and pillar of our nation, and it is the responsibility and obligation of all our people! It is the future of each of us and the hope of the great rejuvenation of our motherland!