Goethe said that this is where he lost his heart.

Holderlin said that Heidelberg is the most beautiful German city he has ever seen.

The historical archives of the University of Heidelberg also recorded two poems by Princess Cece, which also praised Heidelberg. Unfortunately, I can't read German.

When describing his trip to Europe, Mark Twain wrote that he had never met such a peaceful and charming place, and Heidelberg gave people an unparalleled sense of beauty.

He had planned to stay in Heidelberg for only one day, but he stayed here all summer.

When we arrived in Heidelberg, it was the hottest time in summer.

Heidelberg University is celebrating its 625th anniversary.

The new building of Haida University (the main teaching building of liberal arts of Heidelberg University) has just undergone an overhaul. A group of Nobel Prize winners came here specially after the Lindau meeting to communicate with the young students here.

The news that the US military base is about to leave is also a hot topic. It is said that the school is considering turning it into a student dormitory.

In addition, a grand celebration party will be held on the lawn next to neckar. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Just like a line in The Student Prince of Heidelberg: Summer in Heidelberg is a season of romance and music.

Germany is an aging society. Only in a university town like Heidelberg can you see so many lovely young people.

Sometimes you think they love learning too much. On the bench in the open-air dining hall, on any lawn, one or two young people can be seen lying there with a pile of books in front of them.

But it's the same place. Once the party starts, you will wonder if they never study. It's so pleasant.

I was shocked by the free attitude of the students here.

Once passing by neckar, I saw a student holding a book, soaking his feet in the water, reading like no one's watching.

However, the University of Heidelberg has always been famous for its freedom.

From 65438 to 0849, the Department of Theology in Heidelberg awarded an honorary doctorate to James ·W·c· Pan Ning, an American slave who fled to Heidelberg.

At that time, it was illegal to teach black people to read and write in America.

Before coming to Germany, according to the common thinking of China people, I always regarded Heidelberg University as the best university in Germany, such as Harvard or Tsinghua.

When I asked the professors in Heidelberg this question, they either looked scared or laughed.

"No, no, no, thank you for saying so, but we are just good universities, not the best."

In Germany, "elite" is a suspicious concept.

Since 2006, in order to improve the competitiveness of universities, Germany has selected nine "elite universities", and Heidelberg University is one of them.

"This is just the choice of politicians." Professor Peter Mossberg, an expert in Heidelberg history, told me, "What Germans are really proud of is that each of their universities is unique, but the overall teaching and scientific research level is very similar, and there is no distinction between good and bad.

Wherever you go, you can get the best education.

This is different from the American university system. You can't compare Harvard with Yale and universities in the Midwest.

We believe that the unfair education system itself is a violation of human rights. "

This "decentralization" is also related to the high uncertainty of German history.

Compared with other European countries, in modern German history, the vassal regime was divided, the sectarian struggle was fierce, and the old and new order changed too quickly. It has never formed a center like London and Paris, occupying most of a country's resources.

On the contrary, every independent country wants to have its own universities, theaters and museums, so many small cultural centers have been developed.

As President Jin of the Chinese University of Hong Kong described in the book Heidelberg Line: "In Germany, the largest library is in Frankfurt, the most prosperous printing industry is in Hamburg, the most theaters are in Munich, the most museums are in Berlin, the most complete national archives are in Behnes, and the most abundant literary materials are in Mabel, a small town on the Neckar River.

There is more than one center of science, but it is scattered in Dusdorf, Gottingen, Heidelberg and Manz. "

Apart from the 625-year history, beautiful landscape architecture and romantic myth about Heidelberg, the only place that Heidelberg University is superior to other universities may be that Baden-Wü rttemberg, to which it belongs, is rich, invests more in education, pays professors higher salaries and can build better laboratories.

100 years ago, in order to let Benson, a famous chemist and inventor of spectral analysis, continue to teach in Heidelberg, the state invested heavily in building the best chemical laboratory in Europe at that time.

Benson has been a professor at Heidelberg University for six years.

Besides, it is just a "very good" German university, which is also the place that moves me most.

There is no college entrance examination in Germany. Generally speaking, students can apply for any major in any university as long as they pass the senior high school entrance examination.

Compared with the famous universities of British and American departments, Heidelberg University will not get the best and brightest students in a country or even the whole world, but it will get students with different styles, some are very smart and some are very mediocre, but uneven is the real social form.

"The mistakes made by Americans on many issues in recent years are all due to the assimilation of elites in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Both the Democratic Party and communist party went to Harvard and Yale and received the same education. They have no room for doubt. "Professor Mossberg told me.

In 1855, an American observer once wrote: "No nation has ever paid so much thought and hardship for the development of its university education system like the Germans-no nation has benefited so much from the services provided by universities, and no place can make them play such an important role in national life."

At that time, German universities were role models for Americans.

/kloc-in the 0/9th century, about10,000 American youths went to Germany to study. Several key figures who have influenced the development of modern American universities were students of German universities, and several universities that are in the forefront of American universities are mostly successful examples of reform according to the German model.

American educational historians believe that American students studying in Germany gained three kinds of intellectual wealth from German universities in the19th century: intellectual habits, intellectual methods and intellectual moral beliefs.

The habits of intellectuals represent the individual scholars and their academic independence, which is the most precious of the three kinds of wealth; The intellectual method represents the comprehensiveness and accuracy in thought and research, which seems to be the unique wealth of Germans, that is, mastering all the relevant factual materials that can be known; Knowledge and moral beliefs, convinced that what they do will add wealth to American knowledge and scholarship.

Even so, some things that only belong to Germany remain in Germany.

Professor Manfred Berg, a professor of history in Heidelberg, told me when talking about the fundamental difference between American and German university education systems: "American college students regard education as an investment in life, while for German college students, university is a right.

The state has the responsibility to let every young person receive a good university education, as long as he meets the basic conditions.

A degree from Harvard Business School can basically guarantee your future success in life, but Germany does not have this sense of belonging to the elite. "

What German universities pay most attention to is a spirit of independent thinking.

In the German concept, college students should be independent and master their own destiny. They are mature enough and don't need the guidance of teachers, because they can control their own lives.

They attend classes selectively and listen to different opinions, facts and suggestions, so as to make their own tests and decisions in the future.

In contrast, British and American universities are like a well-planned city, and sometimes even students' private lives are orderly.

But German universities, when you first come in, may feel empty and can't catch anything.

Nobody cares about you, and nobody tells you what to do. A wise man should find his own direction.

You have no guidance, but at the same time, it means no bondage.

Heidelberg philosopher Jaspers once mentioned in a book called "What is Education": "Universities should cultivate spiritual aristocrats, not spiritual vassals.

The former will think day and night, and will be thin for this reason; The latter requires the separation of work and free time.

The former dares to take risks, listens to the inner voice and follows its guidance to go its own way; The latter needs others to guide him and make a study plan for him.

The former needs the courage to face failure, while the latter needs the guarantee of success after his efforts. "