News review: President of Peking University called "American education a mess", and students said it might be framed.
Related comments: Why do China students use dollars to jump into the "fire pit" of American education?
"American education is in a mess" and "China education is very successful", which surprised President Zhou.
As we all know, American education, especially higher education, is not perfect, but it is not a mess. Not only that, its advancement and success are recognized all over the world. Just as the data quoted by a British magazine in an article entitled "Why American higher education is so successful": "At present, 70% of the Nobel Prize winners in the world work in American universities"; "About 30% of the scientific and engineering papers in the world and 44% of the most frequently cited papers come from American universities"; "In the world university rankings, the top 20 universities in the world are occupied by the United States 17".
If the American education, which is full of masters and rich in world-class universities, is a "mess", then which country's education is not a "mess"? According to this standard, should China's education still be such a "mess" as "there is no first-class university" (Xu Zhihong, former president of Peking University) and "outstanding talents will never be cultivated" (Qian Xuesen's question)?
While questioning the "mess" of American education, the author calmly and carefully analyzes its specific context and intention. I don't think it is necessary to take this shocking statement too seriously. Listen to President Zhou's speech in Changsha No.1 Middle School, and you can see the clue-"Peking University is the best university in China", "Missing Peking University will really lose money", while American education is "a mess". Behind these words, the meaning of "enrollment" is quite strong.
As we know, in recent years, "enrollment competition" has almost heated up. Famous universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua have to face not only the challenges from other universities, but also the increasingly fierce enrollment competition from Hongkong, Europe and America. Not long ago, an online survey in Sina.com showed that more than 50% post-90s students indicated that they would choose to study abroad if conditions permitted, and the College Entrance Examination (Weibo) was no longer their only choice. According to the data released by the Ministry of Education, the number of people who gave up the college entrance examination in 20 10 was close to 1 10,000, of which 2 1. 1% chose to give up the exam because of studying abroad.
Under this enrollment background, President Zhou's theory of American education is not so much a serious educational viewpoint and objective evaluation as a "propaganda strategy" and "enrollment advertisement" of his university. What really deserves our attention and consideration are the following points: First, is it in line with Peking University's status as "the best university in China" to raise its status by deliberately "belittling" American education? Secondly, is Peking University enough to attract students to apply for the exam, especially those high school graduates who have abandoned the exam to study abroad? Thirdly, if "the best universities in China" are so arrogant and immersed in their own success, is the education reform in China still necessary and sustainable?