This is a good survey, but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted. More than 30% of college students think that going to college is to find a good job that suits them, not high, but low. In 2006, Changsha Evening News reported that there were four college graduates in a village in Hunan, and three of them could not find jobs. Even if these three unemployed college students have any ideals, I'm afraid they can't serve the country. If the vast majority of college students agree that going to college is to find a good job, and if the vast majority of college students deeply realize that going to college today is to develop their careers tomorrow, the employment situation of college students in China will be saved, China's economic development will be faster and the country will be stronger.
The interests of family, society, country and nation must be realized through occupation. Going to college is the main way to get a good job in today's society. The ancients said that "the way of a university lies in virtue, in being close to the people and ending in perfection", and some so-called scholars said that a university should be moral. In fact, the "university" here should be divided into "big" and "learning", which refers to the noblest knowledge, rather than the "institution of higher learning" with specific material forms as we say today. Should the pursuit of the noblest knowledge be the fundamental goal of today's universities?
I'm afraid not. From its birth to today, universities in the modern sense are constantly changing in their mission, the identity of people receiving university education and the purpose of people studying in universities.
/kloc-Newman, a great educator in the 0/9th century, wrote a great book called "The Ideal of University", in which he emphasized that the purpose of university is "rational cultivation" rather than moral education. Secondly, universities focus on imparting knowledge, not expanding knowledge. These two statements are common today, but they didn't focus on blockbuster at that time.
Because earlier universities were born in this way: a long time ago, they can be traced back to Confucius in China and Plato in the West. Some studious people often discuss profound problems such as mathematics, philosophy, astronomy and politics around a wise man. With more and more people, the discussion can't be carried out in an orderly way, and the discussion has become a lecture. After the lecture, many eager students were reluctant to leave for a long time and got together for several years. Accommodation and lecture venues have become a problem. Fortunately, some disciples are rich at home, and some powerful people appreciate such activities, so they donate money and land to build houses, and the venue for lectures can be fixed. But donations usually have some ideological bias, in other words, they should serve the ruling class. For example, in the west, the church is usually the most generous donor. Therefore, ancient "universities" were inseparable from religion, which was in the form of temples at the earliest and churches in the thirteenth century. Theology has been the main content of college entrance examination and university teaching until19th century.
Newman's view that "university education is rational rather than moral" came into being after capitalism dominated. At the same time, Newman has a saying: If the purpose of a university is the invention of science and philosophy, then I can't see why a university should have students-this can better understand the difference between spreading and expanding knowledge.
So what does Newman's university teach? Taking Oxford and Cambridge in the19th century as representatives, they taught liberal arts, trained gentlemen and practiced the "general education" advocated by many educators today. In his view, universities exist neither to make people have knowledge (non-research), nor to prepare for work (non-professional), nor to make people more noble and sacred (non-moral). In his mind, the gentleman that universities should cultivate refers to "educated and knowledgeable people". That is, a handsome guy who is mature in mind, understands philosophy, history, art, chemistry and physics, is polite and cultured, and meets the standards of "upper class".
In today's view, such universities don't know what "meaning" they have. The dominance of British universities was taken away by German universities at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. German universities advocate that universities should be "research centers". This is not unrelated to the national strength competition of European countries at that time. After the bourgeoisie gained the dominant position in an all-round way, the strength competition between countries was unprecedentedly fierce, and the bourgeoisie took over the operation of the university. Therefore, universities are required to develop more efficient machines, more deadly weapons and so on, and attach importance to basic theories and applications. Peking University founded by Cai Yuanpei is modeled after German universities.
In 1950s and 1960s, the United States took over Germany's right to speak in higher education. The United States has gradually established a "comprehensive university" system. Universities are not only the center of scientific research, but also the important goal of cultivating professional talents, and play a new role as a think tank for the state, society and enterprises.
Whether it is liberal arts education, research centers or comprehensive universities, they all have the same background: only a few people go to universities. Only powerful sons and nephews or outstanding elites are eligible to enter universities, but this prerequisite has quietly changed. When studying the development stages of higher education in Martin Trow, the ratio of the number of students to the number of school-age youth is taken as the core variable, and the development of higher education is divided into three stages: a country's higher education can accommodate 15% of the school-age population as an elite higher education stage; Accommodate 15%-50% for mass higher education; More than 50% is universal higher education. In 1970s, only the United States entered the stage of higher education popularization. In 1980s and 1990s, the United States and Canada entered the stage of higher education popularization. Since the 1990s, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in the United States has reached 50%, that of Japan is 46%, that of Germany is 30%, and that of South Korea is 55%.
According to the statistics of UNESCO, in 2004, the number of students in higher education in the world reached 65.438+0.32 billion, and the gross enrollment rate of higher education in the world increased from 654.38+0.99% to 654.38+0.8% to 24%, among which 38 countries and regions exceeded 50%, and the highest in South Korea reached 87%.
In 2005, the total enrollment of higher education in China exceeded 23 million, and the gross enrollment rate of higher education reached 2 1%, which will reach 27% in 20 10. In 2007, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in Shanghai and Beijing exceeded 50%, and Jiangsu Province plans to reach 40% by 20 10.
China Modernization Report 2006 thinks that the popularization rate of higher education in China will reach 80% after 2050, which is very noisy. I don't think this is a scholar's grandstanding. As the population growth slows down and the birth rate of newborns decreases, as long as the enrollment scale of universities remains unchanged, the enrollment rate of 80% will naturally be realized.
What is a university and why do you want to go to it? These two issues have been debated constantly, and people with different identities have different views. However, as a college student, we should be very aware of this. The higher and higher enrollment rate of universities shows that this is the need of social and economic development and the basic requirement of social and economic development for workers. The most fundamental purpose of going to college is to find a suitable job in the future, and all ideals can only be realized through career.