With thinking, I began to search for information. I saw a video of Chai Jing interviewing Sir Leszek Krzysztof Borysiewicz, President of Cambridge University, on YouTube, 20 12. Impressed, some questions in my mind are slowly answered.
The following is Chai Jing's interview with President Oxfam, and my own feelings and thoughts.
(a) the authority of the client
At that time, the students were protesting against the rising tuition fees to the government authorities.
Jing: Mr. President, because of the rising tuition fees, you will also be protested by students in person. Does this make you nervous or embarrassed?
Le Sizhe: No, not at all, because this is academia. Here, we look forward to debate and encourage freedom of thought in universities.
King: But more principals may want to be respected and obeyed. Aren't you?
Le Sizhe: Then he won't come to Cambridge.
What a free and easy answer, even if it is protested, it encourages students to have dialectical thinking and allows different voices.
(B) on the success or failure of academic research
At that time, there was a Nobel Prize winner in Cambridge, Professor robert edwards, "the father of IVF". It is said that he studied 14 years before he saw the research results. In other words, he achieved nothing in the 14 years before his success.
Jing: Will this scientific process be too long?
Le Sizhe: As a university, the most important wealth of scholars is time and space; Time is the key factor, which allows scholars to choose the field they want to study calmly; By space, I mean giving scholars the freedom to control their research time.
Kim: Who can say that his research is valuable or worth waiting for?
Le Sizhe: You really need patience. In some fields, research results take a long time to be accepted. For example, scientists may have to wait 14 to 15 years to discover the benefits of some achievements. When we think of philosophers, such as1Wittgenstein in the mid-9th century, many of his theories didn't shine until today, which is a long process.
Jing: What if he fails?
Le Sizhe: The question is how do you define failure? Failure to win the Nobel Prize does not mean failure. They have also made outstanding contributions to the knowledge system of the school. And this will be reflected in Cambridge's lofty status.
Open an unknown field, who can predict and how long it will take to achieve what results? If it can be predicted so clearly, it is not unknown. And opening the unknown can make people's lives more convenient and rich. This requires scholars to explore endlessly with curiosity, courage, determination and perseverance.
Without this spirit, Edison would not have invented the electric light, Einstein would not have discovered the theory of relativity, the Wright brothers would not have invented the airplane, we would not have advanced drugs and medical technology to resist diseases, and we would not have such a colorful life.
Scholars who didn't win the Nobel Prize also helped Cambridge University expand its knowledge system. Just like society, everyone's efforts have enriched the system of this world; Everyone is a part of society, and every good deed will have an impact on this society, no matter how small or big; Everything we use now is created by ourselves. We use whatever we create, which means that everyone's behavior is affecting society.
(C) the relationship between students' breakthrough and creativity and school management
/kloc-one morning in 0/958, an amazing thing happened in Cambridge. An Austin car was found on the roof of the University Senate. It is said that some students put their cars on it, because it is a solemn and sacred place, but they not only went in, but also put their cars on the roof. It is said that the headmaster learned about it later, but he kept it a secret. Instead of punishing the students, he quietly gave them a box of champagne.
How this car was put up has never been known, because the hoisting conditions at that time could not put a complete car on the top of a slope more than 20 meters high. It was also the firemen who took it down bit by bit and broke it into parts.
This car with a roof has always been a legend in Cambridge.
Think of the statue of King Henry VIII's right hand leg (mentioned in the last article). Chai Jing continued to ask President Le Sizhe about this.
Jing: In such a solemn place, the legs of Henry VIII's desk have never been changed. Why?
Le Sizhe: We encourage students to argue and challenge stereotypes. We don't want to rely on the authority of position to impose our views on others and bind our thoughts and freedom.
Jin: But some students think that if students challenge authority in this way, they will become more and more indulgent and student management will become difficult. what do you think?
Le Sizhe: Indulgence is a wrong word. Students have the right to express their objections, which they often do, but there is a limit. Their views must conform to academic norms. After all, this is an academic community, which means that we must be able to accommodate different views in a variety of ways.
I'm afraid many parents and teachers are worried about this question asked by Chai Jing. In the management of students or children, we are afraid that we are out of control. We often use our authoritative position to manage students and children to prevent them from making mistakes, but we don't know the authoritative management, which is likely to constrain their ability to think boldly and inhibit their curiosity about new things.
However, President Le Sizhe's answer gave us a new direction. He said that as long as students abide by academic norms, schools must be able to accommodate different views.
As long as our students or children abide by social norms, can we also give them more time and space for independent thinking? Encourage them to break through some original traditions and concepts? So, will the students trained in this way become more independent and creative?
(4) Are they administrators or teachers?
As mentioned in the last article, all the colleges in Cambridge are independent, and they are not completely obedient to the school. Every college has its own rules. For example, Trinity College does not allow outsiders to enter during the examination season, so that students can review their lessons without external interference. Other colleges will also have different other regulations, which will be formulated by the college itself.
Jing: You are not the boss?
Le Sizhe: In many ways, from my point of view, I am a scholar. I think a school is not made up of administrators, but of teaching staff. I think this is the core of academic prosperity in Cambridge.
This point mentioned by Le Sizhe reminds me of the dean of our school, who is also a teacher of one of our subjects. But to us, he is more like a dean than a teacher. In a semester's class, he mostly invited other teachers or doctoral students he supervised to give us classes.
We are willing to invite lecturers from external professional fields to give us lessons. For example, he once asked a Finnish professor to introduce Finnish education to us, which coincided with the teaching plan of this class. After class, we felt very rewarding.
But some of the lecturers he invited had nothing to do with the course plan, and he was not in the classroom himself. As students and teachers, we can feel this intention. Of course, we can feel it without careful preparation.
President Le Sizhe said: The school is not made up of administrators, but teachers. There is a strong sense of resonance in my heart.
(5) Closed question test or paper.
About the exam.
Jing: There are almost no multiple-choice questions in Cambridge students' exams, and most of them are open. Why do you use this way?
Le Sizhe: If you only take closed questions and only answer yes or no, it will only turn the exam into a recitation exam. We want to do more than just a memory test. We want to know what students think and how to construct their own ideas.
Jing: What kind of students do you want Cambridge to train?
Le Sizhe: An ideal student should have high academic talent and the potential to study hard. At the same time, she (he) must be independent and have the ability to think freely academically; She (he) should be ambitious, spare no effort to push herself, and at the same time, thank you for changing the world.
I was surprised to study in England at first. There are no multiple-choice questions in our annual master's degree evaluation, which are all in the form of papers or statements.
After studying the theory of educational evaluation mode, it is said that each evaluation mode has its advantages and disadvantages, and I believe that the multiple-choice test mode also has its own advantages.
But when I was an undergraduate in China, I had multiple-choice questions in every subject. Most of these contents were asked by the teacher before the exam, and then everyone recited them within this range. Subjective questions are similar. The content memorized from books rarely gives full play to the topic of writing one's own opinions. In this way, students have no room for thinking. I don't think it reflects the advantages of testing as an evaluation method, but it helps students develop the habit of remembering.
When writing a paper in Britain, you will start to conceive a month or more in advance, and spend a lot of time reviewing the subject knowledge, because you need to know the subject knowledge to write a paper on the subject, and you need to go to the library to collect relevant knowledge to prove your point of view, and then conceive your own things. This is a process of learning knowledge, absorbing and integrating into your own knowledge system.
(6) Judge whether students are based on the number of papers or the comprehensive potential of students.
Hawking is one of the students in Cambridge. At the age of 2 1, he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Luger's disease) and was paralyzed. He had to sit in a wheelchair and gradually lost his language ability. No one knows what he can create. The doctor predicted that he might only have two years to live.
However, two years later, Hawking was hired as a professor at Cambridge University.
Jing: Professor Hawking is seriously ill, 2 1 year old. No one knows what he will create. In other schools, he may be chosen to leave. Why doesn't Cambridge do this?
Le Sizhe: This is an extremely clever brain, imprisoned in a weak body. This is what we need to face and deal with. Because, in the final analysis, what this university values most is the value that its brain will create.
Kim: But if he didn't achieve later achievements, would he get the same treatment?
Le Sizhe: Our choice always depends on a person's potential, whether he is a student or a school employee.
Kim: But the word potential sounds abstract.
Le Sizhe: It's abstract, but it's also a subjective phenomenon. Not everything in the world is as objective as possible. Sometimes, you have to trust your own judgment.
Jing: But some people may say that people's judgment will be wrong, but the figures in the paper will not be wrong.
Le Sizhe: I prefer personal judgment to the number of papers; Because the number of papers in different disciplines will be different, such as my subject immunology, we have published many papers. A philosopher may only write one book in his life, but the value created by this book may be far greater than 500 immunology papers.
Jing: Maybe those administrators who need the number of papers say, I'm in charge.
Le Sizhe: We don't play numbers games. I think this is an abuse of the essence of the university. Because in the final analysis, it is not administrators who teach students, but professors and lecturers who inspire young people with wise ideas. Cambridge's independent thinking spirit enables young people to create great achievements that can change the rules of the world game. No matter what major, we firmly believe that this is why Cambridge students and teachers will stand out in the world and will eventually pass on this quality and Excellence in the future.
By boldly exploring the potential of students from the outside, President Le Sizhe was particularly moved when he said that Hawking was an extremely clever brain and was imprisoned in a weak body. How wise it is for this university to dare to break through all restrictions and explore and cultivate talents.
This question-and-answer interview reflects Cambridge's philosophy and attitude towards students: they encourage students to break through old concepts and theories; They respect students and give them enough time and space to explore the fields they want to explore; At the same time, encourage students to think independently and innovate, and give them enough support and help.
It is Cambridge that has produced one great scholar after another. At the same time, these outstanding human minds also help Cambridge University to constantly build and update its own knowledge system, thus making Cambridge a success. As Chai Jing said: Cambridge's influence in international academic circles lies in its outstanding human mind. From Newton, Darwin to Hawking, this university cherishes and cherishes them.
postscript
People seek knowledge in order to make progress. In this sense, it is the soul of Cambridge to respect all methods, common sense and laws that can make human progress. -Chai Jing