If you can't answer this question, you want to know the answer. Then you must see Wu Jun's Road to the University!
The author, Dr. Wu Jun, graduated from Tsinghua University and Johns Hopkins University, is a famous expert in natural language processing and search, and a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. His other works, Top of the Tide, Beauty of Mathematics, Light of Civilization, Mystery of Silicon Valley and Intelligent Age, are all books with Douban score of around 9, and have won many awards. (Yu He prefaces this book, which shows the importance of this book! )
Dr Wu Jun's books are easy to understand and enjoyable to read. The author's rich knowledge and unique insights often give readers new horizons. Liu Changming, president of Beijing No.4 University, said: One of the best ways to know a country is to know its schools. Young people, even if they don't plan to study abroad, the road to college is worth reading, because a broad vision is helpful to the development of life.
The book Road to University is divided into two volumes. The first volume first analyzes the concept of university from four parts: How did the university come from? What is elite education? What is the best university? What is the philosophy of the so-called best university? Then the author introduces two kinds of higher education: Newman education and Humboldt system; Then, combined with the author's learning experience, this paper analyzes his profound understanding of universities for us, and further analyzes the unfairness in the management of American private universities and the admission of famous schools. The second volume mainly introduces the school-running ideas, environment, history and many personal opinions of some famous American universities (this view is comprehensive and detailed, which will make you feel a lot).
In the preface, Dr. Wu Jun mentioned that by cultivating students in these universities, young people who want to apply for universities can think about how to learn from their experience and make themselves better through education.
The concept of university
What is a university? Why do you want to go to college? Everyone knows the word university, but not everyone will delve into its meaning. In my opinion, universities are not only places and research centers for cultivating talents, but also the birthplace of new ideas and new cultures. At the same time, it is also the home of young people, where they spend the best time in their lives. Teacher Wu Jun's speech is very instructive. Universities should not only learn professional knowledge, but also learn to communicate with people, broaden their horizons, improve their ability, walk with excellent people and have a good time ~)
What's more, many people simply understand the study in college as the study of knowledge, and ignore many other things, so that when they graduate, they find that they still lack the means to survive in society. (The author reflects that it seems that many college students, including myself, are facing these problems. There are many "famous college students" and "returned students" who can't find a good job! )
In the eyes of Asians, having a college degree is the only way to enter or maintain a higher social class, and it is also an indispensable means to obtain decent work and income. However, if you ask Germans, French and Italians this question and ask them whether they must go to college, many people will give you a negative answer, because in their view, going to college is an indispensable way for them to enter some professions (lawyers, doctors and engineers), but not all professions need to go to college. Artisans, chefs, winemakers, etc. )
First-class universities can certainly learn a lot of things that second-class universities can't. What are these things? This is what I want to talk about the concept of university, or the concept of higher education. Why is "school philosophy" important? )
The history of a university
The author introduces the origin of ancient universities from the aspects of the temple of Pharaoh in Mesopotamia, the Athens Academy in Greek and Plato's times, the Alexandria Library established by Alexander, and the Imperial College London in China. Then the author introduces the rise of modern universities from Bologna University in Italy to Paris University in France. The author said: It is very important for a university to have enough management freedom and academic freedom to become a world-class university.
2 nd elite education
The author shows us the purpose of higher education from Paris University to Cambridge and Oxford University.
The author said: The purpose of a university is only to cultivate people of insight, not to teach them the means of making a living. University education should be far away from future occupations and life skills, and should be taught in a natural way. I quite agree with the author. I always feel that our education is too utilitarian, and some people pursue fame and fortune too much.
In the Middle Ages, education was embodied in devotion to God, but now it is embodied in self-cultivation, which is a bit like the self-cultivation advocated by Confucianism in China.
Students should not only learn knowledge, but more importantly, how to apply knowledge to change society. In Newman's words, "I care not only about eternal truth, but also about practice and practicality." I have always understood business this way: the essence is to serve more people with less labor. Seeing this sentence here, I realized that we are essentially serving this society. )
Another purpose of university is to gain conscience. (Much like To Conscience by Mr. Wang Yangming)
In the view of these prestigious schools, if a 17-year-old young man can show a stronger sense of social responsibility than others, then it can be believed that when he leaves the university, he will become an elite of society more easily than those who simply get good grades. This is the essence of elite education in famous American schools.
The three best universities
The author talks about his own understanding.
Many university presidents in China believe that Tsinghua Peking University is roughly equivalent to the level of state universities in Zhongshan, USA, and American university professors basically agree with this statement. I used to think that Tsinghua Peking University was a world-class university, but I found that my vision was too narrow! )
When choosing a university, parents and students should "feel" those universities comprehensively from several angles according to their own needs instead of looking at the rankings.
Once there is any quantitative ranking method, those schools that pursue ranking will deliberately optimize in those aspects instead of spending a lot of energy to improve the quality of running schools. (It feels so right. What many universities pursue is not to do a good job in teaching, but more to evaluate the best! )
From the perspective of administrators and students, I think high-quality teaching needs several factors: the level of professors (and teaching assistants) and their investment in teaching, the teaching conditions of the school and the number of courses that students can choose.
When giving lectures, some masters with rich time and experience can inadvertently inspire people with content, but these professors in liberal arts colleges often can't.
What I want to say is that whether a university can make students live happily and stimulate their lifelong enthusiasm for learning is an important criterion to measure the quality of a university. On the contrary, if a student is "injured" in college (there are many such people) or has a negative view of life, it is a failure of education. There are so many people who are "hurt by learning". When I get home, I feel that many high school students have stopped studying and can't even understand a short article. )
A successful university experience should be like this: when students graduate from a university, it is not necessary to talk about the name of their alma mater every day; When a student graduates from a second-rate or third-rate university, that school will be proud of training such students in the future. This college experience will be perfect. (The author believes that no matter which school you study in, improving yourself is the key! Let's cheer together! )
Fourth, the concept of running a school.
The author has talked a lot, and I fall into three categories: 1, scientific research? 2. Teaching? 3. Leadership
The development of students is not only academic, but also how to grow from students to "social people". During college, learning curriculum knowledge is as important as understanding society. In order to ensure the growth of students outside their studies, the burden of university courses should not be too heavy, for example, it should not account for more than two-thirds of students' internships, and most of them are only about half like Yale, so that students can have enough time to develop freely. I always feel that the professional courses in our school are full, the actual effect is not good, and there is no time to do anything else. Students are always very tired.
Stanford University is different from traditional famous schools in providing students with a learning environment. Every class is broadcast live on campus closed-circuit television network and broadcast to Silicon Valley. Every class has videos. Therefore, students can not go to class in the classroom, but have breakfast in the dormitory. Even if you miss a few classes occasionally, you can borrow videos from the library to make up lessons. In short, no matter which way is adopted, a convenient study and living environment is necessary. I feel that having videos can be a good way to review after class, but this way is only suitable for a good university like Stanford. After all, people who can be admitted to Stanford are self-disciplined and love learning! In addition, Stanford's scoring system is very complete. On the contrary, it won't work in our country. What do you think is the reason? )
Universities should have not only masters, but also architecture. Good hardware conditions are the foundation of a good university. )
The most important thing aylott did at Harvard University was to change "teaching-oriented" into "learning-oriented".
Schools teach students what they want to learn, so Harvard University, which has about 1 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, now offers 6,000 courses. Although this educational idea is good, everyone can learn what he wants, but the shortage of educational resources in China is doomed to fail to reach this level. Although our education level is not high, I still think we can make ourselves better through hard work.
Two kinds of universities and two kinds of higher education.
Newman-style university
John, Archbishop and Educator of Oxford Movement in England? Newman believes that universities should be popular, rather than a place where small skills are carved, and regards this as the basic requirement for universities. (Newman-style universities are called generalist education)
"Gentlemen, if I had to choose between a university that is managed by teachers and can graduate with enough credits and a university that does not have professors and exams and allows young people to live together and learn from each other for three or four years, I would not hesitate to choose the latter ... Why? I think so: when many smart, curious, compassionate and sharp-eyed young people get together, they can learn from each other even if no one teaches them. They communicate with each other, learn new ideas and viewpoints, see new things, and master unique behavioral judgments. "
As Yu said-why should we try to get into a prestigious school? Walking with excellent people)
Two red packets system
Prussian German diplomat William? Feng? Humboldt founded the so-called Humboldt system (that is, what we call college education). This is the system we learned in China. This system is completely different from Newman's idea. Students must have a relatively spiritual understanding of a certain major when they graduate.
Today, it is difficult for us to evaluate Newman's general education or Humboldt's junior college education. Judging from the difficulty of finding a job and the speed of producing results, the latter is undoubtedly better. The institutional problem of Humboldt education is that although excellent executive talents (scientists, engineers and doctors) can be cultivated, it is difficult to cultivate leaders and industrialists with broad vision.
The only feasible way to give consideration to both general education and junior college education is to extend the education time and divide education into general education for undergraduates, quality education and junior college education for postgraduates. There is no other way. (If we can give consideration to both general education and junior college education, we will certainly cultivate a large number of outstanding talents. However, many China families spend a lot of money to send their children to third-rate universities in the United States, but in the end they have achieved nothing and have not developed well after returning home. )
Third, my college experience
Anyone interested in the author's learning experience can read this book. I will summarize my research on this chapter:
1, fragmentation learning.
Make friends with excellent people, communicate with each other and learn from each other.
3. Now students have better hardware conditions. Why are they not as good as their former students?
Reading and music can sometimes give us the strength to get out of trouble!
5. A good teacher will be of great help to students' life; Students should communicate more with teachers.
There will be a confused stage in the process of growing up, and what young people can really do is not to try their luck to find a bright road, but to try as many possibilities as possible.
7. It is not difficult to cross majors. You can learn more by reading more than two degrees.
8. Work experience contributes to research and study.
9. Be curious about knowledge.
10, it is possible to learn to balance love and study hard.
1 1. Mathematics is very helpful for the study of computer science.
12, good schools and good teachers contribute to the cultivation of talents. Not only learn professional knowledge well, but also learn a lot about learning and being a man.
13, get ready early, after all, many people have been one step ahead of you.
14, keep learning, after all, learning is a marathon, and many people give up halfway.
15, sometimes luck is as important as hard work.
16, people who can look at success objectively will continue to have good luck in the eyes of outsiders.
17, a good learner, with the growth of age, he will find his own interests, and then if he can still learn, he will be purposeful and targeted.
18. For those master students, it is necessary to find a good city, because there are many more opportunities there than in remote and backward areas.
These are just some of my personal understandings. If you are interested, I recommend reading them.
Cambridge and Oxford
The early American university system originated in Britain, but now the gap between British and American universities is very large.
In this chapter, the author tells the story of her trip to Cambridge and Oxford with her daughter.
Management of American private universities
Higher education is the most competitive industry in America. Most world-class universities are in America. The success of American universities depends largely on their unique management model.
In this chapter, the author introduces the management system of American universities: the faculty system, the meaning of professors' governance, the complex management structure, the separation of teaching and scientific research management, the decentralized management, the income composition of private universities, the importance of donations, scientific research funds and income, the financial expenditure of universities, the origin of boards of directors, and the role of boards of directors at all levels.
It is worth mentioning that American private universities are mainly funded by donations.
Private universities in the United States are independent academic and research groups from enrollment, teaching, scientific research to the construction of faculty. They are not influenced by the government in many ways, but act according to their own school philosophy. Therefore, they are more flexible and competitive than public universities.
Almost all good private universities adhere to their own school-running philosophy for a long time in management and keep pace with the times. It can be said that the first-class private universities in the United States are the best among all universities in the world in terms of management effectiveness and flexibility.
6. Application and admission of American elite private schools.
As can be seen from this chapter, all famous private schools in the United States are unfair in competition. Children from big families, alumni and professors are more likely to enter good schools, while the admission rate of children from ordinary families, especially our Asian students, is extremely low. Of course, there are profound political and economic reasons behind this: economically, Asians basically only use American universities without building them (only a small amount of donations). Politically, it is mainly manifested in indifference to politics and votes. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to improve the admission rate of Asian students in American private prestigious schools.
China entrepreneurs Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin donated money to Harvard and Yale to solve the problem of scholarships for foreign students in China, which is of great help to the two universities to recruit more students from China. Many people don't understand the kindness of Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, and think that they should donate money to universities in China first. But they don't know that the tens of millions of dollars donated by Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin have played a huge role in improving the status of Chinese people around the world, affecting American higher education and providing more fair educational opportunities for the whole Chinese community. It can be seen that some netizens are too one-sided, and the internet has become a place to vent. Therefore, rumors stop at the wise, distinguish right from wrong, and not blindly worship is an essential ability for our new generation of young people. )
7- 14 introduction of American private famous schools
Dr. Wu Jun personally visited these prestigious schools, took some photos with iconic features and wrote down his own unique views. These universities are: Princeton University and Yale University, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, John F? Hopkins University, Stanford University, Wesleyan College, Duke University, Washington University (St. Louis).
I have seen Dr. Wu Jun's Top of the Tide before, and I was deeply shocked by the author's overall situation after reading it. Although The Road to University introduces some famous American private schools. But you can still learn a lot from it, which can greatly broaden one's horizons.
The author mentioned in the postscript that one of the fundamental reasons why the United States can develop steadily and maintain its leading position in the world is that its advanced higher education system has not only trained outstanding talents from all walks of life for the United States, but also attracted the best people from all over the world to study in the United States, and most of these students stayed in the United States after graduation.
Finally, I ended with a sentence from teacher Wu Jun: On the way to college, a person does not walk fast, but walks long; A university does not refuse to give up every road, but insists on going for decades or hundreds of years after being able to identify a road. In this way, everyone will benefit from education for life, and universities will get better and better. Free truth!