The author of this book is Harry Lewis, the former dean of Harvard College of Harvard University. He used "Excellence without soul" to evaluate Harvard University. The outstanding people of Harvard are well known, but Lewis believes that the sense of social responsibility can no longer be found in the school-running thought of this university, and the ancient ideal of general education has existed in name only. Harvard education is no longer committed to emancipating people's minds and spirits, but attaches importance to market fame and fortune. The students it trains, despite their excellent grades, can become celebrities in business and politics after graduation, but they can't find the soul of responsibility and values. The book lists all kinds of problems that Harvard is facing now, which shows that Harvard has deviated from its educational purpose to some extent. /kloc-In the university charter given to Harvard in 0/60, it was said that we should "develop outstanding academic, artistic and scientific achievements" and "create knowledge, educate young people, let them master the knowledge they have to master and point out the correct life path for them", but the author did not proudly tell us that they did achieve these goals. On the contrary, he said that the first 200 years of the school did not create new knowledge, but only trained a group of new priests for the church. However, Harvard is caught in a strange circle of "training students-students become teachers-training students", and the system is gradually closed.
What are the difficulties in personnel training? -China has a large population, but few masters. It's hard for former masters to appear, and the whole upper world seems to be supported by the older generation. Why is it so difficult to train talents in China at present? Perhaps we can find some clues in the book "Excellence without Soul" written by Harry Lewis, former dean of Harvard College. Harvard is undoubtedly "outstanding". As one of the most famous universities in the world, it ranks among the top ten universities in the world and attracts a large number of outstanding students to study every year. However, this so-called "Excellence" can only be truly outstanding if it has a soul, and this soul is the purpose of education. So, what is the purpose of education? In Lewis's words, "the basic task of undergraduate education is to help teenagers grow into people in their twenties." This kind of "growth" includes the cultivation of students' good personality, the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom, the exploration without direction, the understanding of self and the meaning of life, and the formation of goals and sense of responsibility. The purpose of education is to cultivate people, to train students into real adults, and to give them more things that can be left after time polishing. However, as one of the excellent universities, Harvard has gradually lost its soul and forgotten the mission of the university in its own development.
The purpose of students going to college is to find a job? Learn something? Hanging out in college? Serve the society? What do students really want in college? We can also ask many similar questions. Educational reform goes against the original intention. It should have been a reform to meet the needs of social and cultural development, but in the end it has become a tool to meet the requirements of students and professors as much as possible. In our current universities, an important standard that cannot be ignored is the scoring system, which can really promote learning, physical exercise, public welfare and social activities to a certain extent. But in some cases, academic research and achievements will play a contradictory role. As an educational means, the scoring system has become different from person to person, and even the phenomenon of "score depreciation" has appeared; As a training environment for college students, the school has failed to effectively assume its due responsibilities, and it is difficult to properly solve the campus case.
Although talent is not necessarily acquired in school, school is definitely a particularly important part of their success. These problems may be more prominent in Chinese universities. Colleges and universities in China are the only places to train talents, and an excellent teaching environment will undoubtedly be more convenient for teachers' teaching and students' growth. In China, some schools can't provide a good hard environment because of the shortage of funds, which undoubtedly brings great difficulties to teaching and scientific research. Imagine how a physics major can really apply his knowledge to practice and conduct a series of scientific research without the opportunity to carry out a large number of experiments. Soft, or institutionally, some schools pay more attention to teachers with outstanding research results, while those teachers with outstanding teaching contributions suffer from cold shoulder, which virtually promotes teachers' pursuit of research in their own professional fields and reduces their concern for students. In addition, the teaching mode or course content formulated by the school is also debatable. The development of talents must be all-round. If students are only educated in this major, their thinking will be limited. A school can only cultivate students' all-round thinking ability by strengthening the education of humanistic spirit and innovation and entrepreneurship while cultivating their professional ideas. This kind of general education is lacking in colleges and universities at present and should be carried out at present.
College teachers in China are teachers who educate and train students. An excellent teacher brings students not only academic gains, but also all aspects of life. Now, in the fierce competition environment, some teachers in colleges and universities ignore the task of cultivating talents, concentrate only on their own fields, and concentrate on research, hoping to publish articles and get more research results, so as to improve their professional titles and have no time to care about students' physical and mental development. This undoubtedly makes the profession of teachers lose a lot of connotations, and at the same time makes their students lack some guidance when exploring the future, making it more difficult for fsir to determine its own direction. Teachers should be aware of their tasks and that they are training successors for the motherland.
After all, all the external forces of college students in China are just pushing, and ultimately it is up to the students themselves. As the book says, Harvard students tend to choose simpler courses, and so do China students. Some students consciously choose the so-called "water" in order to reduce their academic burden and complete their studies. Although they have enough credits to graduate, what have they gained in the university and what contribution can they make to the development of the country? What's more, the university is regarded as a place to relax, and the dormitory is turned into a game hall and a cinema. Even if universities and teachers are good, it is difficult for them to learn from them.
College students should be enthusiastic young people with lofty aspirations. Only when college students in China truly realize the value of college students can they devote themselves to study, discuss and research at school, lay a good foundation for their future development and add more hope to the country.
The development time of higher education in China is so short, and the pursuit of high efficiency and high output teaching is so heavy, which will inevitably make our education fall into a more embarrassing situation, and make many universities forget the purpose of education and become empty shells without souls. This may be the fundamental reason why it is difficult for Master China to come out. Like Harvard, education in China needs the full cooperation of schools, teachers and students, so as to gradually get on the right track, cultivate more talents, enrich the upper world in various fields and make China's development last forever.