Studying in America is a trip to the top universities in America.
◇ The gold medal winner of an international Olympic physics competition was sent to the top domestic universities after graduating from high school. He took 10 courses in one semester and passed the exam easily, because these courses can get credits as long as they pass the exam at the end of the semester. He applied for MIT when he was a sophomore. Although he only took five classes a semester, he felt extremely busy, because the teacher asked to read a lot of books in each class, and there were many experiments to be done in some classes, so he couldn't keep up with it if he took it lightly.
◇ MIT 150th Anniversary Exhibition150 The exhibits are all students' inventions, including radar, the first real-time computer, the first artificial prosthesis, a better weather tracking system, transistors, stroboscopic photography, and various weird inventions with no practical value. Because in the eyes of nerds at MIT, the so-called great inventions are probably conceived in absurdity.
In Harvard, young teachers are under great pressure and demanding academic research, which is a difficult process that must be experienced to become tenured professors. And once they get tenure, the assessment pressure will be reduced. The school believes that the professors employed are excellent and have strong development momentum, and their academic ideals and habits will make them consciously pursue higher academic prestige.
Last month, I went to the United States to attend the Harvard China Forum. I visited Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Wesleyan Women's College and Boston University, had in-depth talks with China students from famous American universities who attended the forum, and observed American universities at close range. Although we have a cursory look, the little things we can see still convey the internal logic of running American higher education leading the world.
University study is difficult and professors are strict.
During the Harvard China Forum, I was invited to participate in the China Education Review and the North Shore Forum organized by Harvard and MIT China students. In the three-hour activity, questioning and interaction accounted for 2/3, and I feel that students here especially like to discuss problems.
On the Harvard campus, wherever you go, you can see small meeting rooms and activity rooms specially prepared for students' discussion. It is also common to see groups of students gathering in cafes and student activity places for heated discussions. According to students from Harvard College of Education, the China Review of Education is held every Saturday without interruption. The person in charge will discuss the theme with you every time, and then send the activity arrangement to all students by email before the activity.
After giving a lecture at Harvard, I wrote a sentiment article, saying that the learning atmosphere at Harvard is very strong. After the article was published, a Harvard student sent me an email, saying that it was true that middle school students in Harvard campus had heated discussions, but it was not that students liked to discuss, and there was nothing they could do, because the teacher had such a request, and if they didn't attend the seminar, they might soon be unable to keep up with the course.
What he wants to tell me is that the learning atmosphere of the university is brought about by the strict requirements of the school for talent training and the emphasis on teaching, rather than relying solely on the students' consciousness. This is quite different from the repeated emphasis on the construction of study style in domestic universities in recent years. In the construction of study style, schools and teachers repeatedly educate students to take the initiative and love learning, but students just can't take the initiative and will skip classes.
In fact, when I visited several American universities, all the students who accompanied me talked about this. An international student from China, a sophomore at MIT, told me that he won the gold medal in the international Olympic physics competition and was sent to the top schools in China after graduating from high school. After entering the school, it is no problem to choose ten courses a semester, because as long as you pass the final exam, you can get credits. In this way, when he was a sophomore, he felt really sorry for himself, so he applied for MIT. When he arrived at MIT, although he only took five courses in one semester, he felt extremely busy, because the teacher asked to read a lot of books in each course and did a lot of experiments in some courses, so he couldn't keep up with it if he took it lightly. It is common for students to stay up reading in the library at night.
That's true. Although some domestic universities have repeatedly stressed the need to improve the quality of undergraduate education and set strict requirements on students, most of them just talk about it. Paying attention to undergraduate education means that professors must be required to spend a lot of time on curriculum design and teaching. However, under the reality that universities emphasize papers, topics and funds, our professors are unwilling to spend unnecessary energy in this regard. Such an educational and teaching environment can destroy students' good expectations for universities almost overnight. Many high school graduates walk into the campus with beautiful university dreams, finish the first class, and return to reality from their dreams-the original dream university is like this. As for students' lack of seriousness in university, the university attributed the reasons to students' incorrect learning attitude and failure to enter university.
Proud school performance and low-key celebration
At MIT, the student who accompanied me on the tour was Liu Huan, an international student from Shanghai. He was an undergraduate at MIT. He showed me around their robot lab first. To tell you the truth, I really don't believe this is the world's top laboratory. The experimental equipment is far from as advanced as I thought. The latest research achievement is to test the robot's ability to grab objects. Liu Huan also showed me an experiment they did in college ―― robot watering flowers and picking tomatoes. He said it was an experiment that impressed him deeply, but I felt like a child playing a game.
Liu Huan, a professor in their robot lab, is world-famous, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they like teaching. When I was a sophomore, two professors came to discuss with him and listened to his ideas for an hour.
On the way, Liu Huan told me that MIT was celebrating the 50th anniversary of/kloc-0. I couldn't believe my eyes. There is no atmosphere of celebration in such a big campus. The buildings are really clumsy, like the legendary factory. I didn't see two banners hanging until I walked to a landmark building in MIT. The name of the school engraved on this building is MIT, which is literally translated as MIT. There is no university or even college in the name of the school. Liu Huan joked that the name of this school is a technical school or technical research institute in China. I think if we put it in China, MIT would have become a necessity, colleges would have become universities, and science would have come before technology. Otherwise, it would not be enough to show the status of the school and affect its development.
MIT's 0/50th anniversary exhibition is the highlight of the celebration, which is displayed in their museum, a low-rise building. Unfortunately, I closed early that day and I couldn't go in for a visit. But from the outside, there are no colorful flags and banners, and there is no introduction from the leaders who highlight the school training at the door. The overall feeling is also very low-key, although there are as many as 76 Nobel Prize winners in this school and more than 40 in Harvard.
The 150 exhibits on display here are all inventions of MIT students, including radar, the first real-time computer, the first artificial limb, a better weather tracking system, transistors, stroboscopic photography, and various weird inventions with no practical value. It is really in line with MIT's bookworm temperament to exhibit such an absurd invention on the anniversary. Because the nerds at MIT know that the so-called great inventions are probably conceived in absurdity.
The celebration meeting of MIT was held in Boston Exhibition Center. There was no atmosphere and no festive banner. At the beginning of the celebration meeting, the professors solemnly entered the venue wearing doctoral uniforms. There was no host for the whole celebration, and no important guests were introduced. In their speeches, the president and professors paid attention to the development of MIT in the future 100.
Professors who teach undergraduates and 40 Nobel Prize winners.
Harvard's academic research results are very good, and the number of scientific and natural papers published in one year exceeds the sum of papers published by all universities and research institutions in China. Since its establishment, it has trained 40 Nobel Prize winners. If such achievements are put in China, everyone will think that the school has high requirements for teachers' papers. Because in recent years, some universities in China have neglected undergraduate teaching on the grounds that teachers should engage in scientific research, and even cited the examples of foreign universities. Otherwise, how can they produce so many papers and Nobel Prize winners?
Observing Harvard University's attitude towards academic research has at least four characteristics:
First, talent training is the core of the school, and academic research only serves talent training. In other words, the purpose of first-class research in schools is to cultivate first-class talents. Therefore, tutors will often conduct research with students to cultivate their ability in the same research, instead of giving them tasks and giving them no education and guidance.
Second, there are different requirements for different teachers, not across the board. In Harvard, young teachers (assistant professors) are under great pressure and have high academic research requirements. This is a difficult process to get tenure, and once tenure is obtained (many associate professors are tenured professors), the assessment pressure will be reduced. The school believes that the professors employed are excellent and have strong development momentum, and their academic ideals and habits will make them consciously pursue higher academic prestige. This requirement for different teachers also reflects the law of academic research, because 20-40 years old is the golden age of academic research, and young teachers can devote more energy to academic research.
Thirdly, the academic leave system can make teachers focus on their own interesting research for a period of time and alleviate teachers' occupational fatigue. The reason why professors in American universities can teach students and make a lot of achievements at the same time is closely related to the academic vacation system. During the paid vacation of half a year or one year, teachers have relatively concentrated time to think about academic issues systematically, and they can also use this time for academic exchanges or books.
Fourth, in the academic arena of American universities, the protagonists are often young people, including undergraduates, graduate students and young teachers. Whoever has the ability is the speaker of the forum. Assistant professors (that is, our lecturers here) can take doctors, while those well-known professors spend more time on teaching, forming a virtuous circle of talent training and academic research.
Universities without gates and 100 libraries.
Visiting the library is almost a compulsory course in universities, and this time at Harvard is no exception. To my surprise, the visit took a whole day, and many libraries haven't arrived yet. Before I came to Harvard, I had heard a lot about the Harvard library, but I didn't think so much. Even Andrew, a doctor from Harvard College of Education whom I visited, doesn't know how many libraries there are in his school. Generally speaking, there are about 65,438+000 libraries. These libraries are scattered all over the campus, and the buildings are not high, so it is very convenient for students to walk into the library they want to go to.
Of course, Harvard libraries don't win by numbers. Its rich library, comfortable environment and in-place service have opened my eyes. In Yanjing Library, many China scholars who are exchange students and visiting scholars here told me that they found a lot of materials that domestic libraries can't find at all. There are computers with free internet access everywhere in the library, which can be used for free. Andrew also specially took me to see a piece of equipment in the library-scanner, which students can use for free. Just take some time to scan all the books and save them on their USB flash drives, and then take them back and read them slowly. This is almost unimaginable in domestic universities. Students have to pay for copying books in the library. Some students don't want to spend money, so they secretly tear off the needed parts. This is also a common sight.
In recent years, some great changes have taken place in domestic university libraries, one of which is great. The big library is magnificent, but it is inconvenient for students to use. It's a long way from the dormitory or the teaching building to the library, and it's quite laborious to find the books they need. There are many books that can't be found. In addition, the functions of domestic university libraries have quietly changed and become students' study rooms. Last year, a university library made statistics on the utilization rate of collection resources, and the results showed that the zero borrowing rate of newly purchased books was 40-60% (the zero borrowing rate was calculated by the zero borrowing rate of new books in that year (album number)/the total number of new books in that year (album number) 100%), and the borrowing situation of newly purchased books was so pessimistic, which showed how miserable the overall borrowing situation was.
It is often said that professors and libraries are the two most important resources of a university, and Harvard organically unifies them, thus showing us a university scene with a particularly rich learning atmosphere. Although there is no school gate in Harvard, the school bus stops in front of the teaching building and library, and occasionally there will be car horns, but you won't find it noisy and impetuous here. When you walk into the library, you walk into the hall of learning.
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