I’ve been waiting to post on this to see if or how much I would hear about this news story around campus since the event occurred four of five days ago. I’ve heard nothing about it, but the incident has received a lot of coverage from blogs and from the press in Hong Kong and
“Yesterday afternoon, -------- University principal Mr. ---------- expressed his worries about current university education conditions during an interview with a student reporter. He indicated straightforwardly that the university education system is in effect ‘pouring s*** into the students minds.’
“Principal ---------- indicated that the 1900s-1940s could be considered the golden age for Chinese education circles. During this short period of time, China’s universities trained large quantities of outstanding talents for society, amongst them great thinkers and educators, righteous political revolutionaries and anti-Japanese resistance heroes, and the backbone of scientific knowledge and national elites. But this flourising situation began to deteriorate following the Liberation and especially during the 1990s. Today’s various institutions of higher learning, including -------- and ------- University, no longer have the educational goal of fostering talent. Serious academic corruption, dry and irrelevant to society curriculum, and rote memorization teaching methods will lead to students developing rigid ways of thinking, losing interest in the curriculum, losing confidence in the college and even
The post went on to list three things that any “real university” should foster in its students: “independent skill,” “unique thinking methods,” and “the spirit to challenge authority.”
An article from United Press International, based out of
“The interesting thing about this item was that it was widely circulated on the Internet, where it was received with almost complete approval. People expressed their excitement, surprise and comfort at reading such comments from a supposed school official, whom they took to be unusually brave.
“The school removed the original from its Web site the same day it was posted, replacing it with a notice expressing “strong outrage and condemnation” over the article. The discovery that it was a hoax disappointed many readers – although many had already guessed it must be a spoof.
“A lawyer warned that the hacker who posted the article, if discovered, could be sentenced to more than five years in prison. He could be accused of harming the school’s computer system and misusing the president’s name to damage his reputation, he said.
“However, several media critics advised the school to be more magnanimous, claiming the hacker’s intention was not to humiliate the president. It was merely a radical attempt to bring his concerns about university education to public attention.
“Damaging the school’s information system and misusing the president’s name are illegal and inappropriate, the critics conceded. But, they argued, the president in the story had aroused people’s respect rather than giving him a bad name. The strong clarification released by the school, on the other hand, made the university look bad, some wrote.”
I’ve now read through several dozen blog comments responding to both the initial post and subsequent articles written by both the Chinese and international press. In all, perhaps the most surprising comment was written by a graduate of my university (supposedly) who, during his or her second year, did no work whatsoever in any class but was able to bribe all of his or her professors into giving him or her passable grades for each course. I’ve imagined in my head several times now what I would do if ever approached with such a bribe, thinking to myself about how I would manage the abject fury that I would want to unleash in the face of such brashness.
Needless to say, regardless of the fact that I don’t know too many people here, I’ve heard no talk even amongst my colleagues about this incident. I’d like to put it out there to hear your thoughts on the matter.
On Monday of this week, we had our teacher’s orientation at the Department of Foreign Languages, followed by a delicious lunch at one of the 15 restaurants located on the university grounds. All of the folks I’ll be working with this semester seem energetic and intelligent, which has gotten me even more excited to throw myself into things full bore. It’s difficult sitting inside thinking about and writing syllabi when the weather is so nice outside, but I’m sure I’ll get out later to shoot around on one of the dozen courts next to my building with the new basketball I bought two days ago, which reads, below the brand name, “New Beijing Great Olympic.”
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2 comments:
Mmm... Here I see China teetering on the edge of the same mistake it made a couple times during the Olympics. That mistake, in China's case, seems to be overreacting to small issues. They then go from small local attention to worldwide attention. Is it smart to refuse a visa to a man who supports Darfur? No, that man ran a program directed at drawing attention to Darfur and China's role in the problem there. Did he draw attention for his efforts? Some. Was he headlines all over the USA when China chose to refuse him entry? Yes.
This doesn't mean that these issues shouldn't be brought to the forefront - I agreed with many things your anonymous writer said - but it amazes me that the Chinese government is not more savvy about burying these things. If you don't make it a scandal? If you don't make threats against the writer? Not a big deal at all.
International news and politics are a fascinating subject. The way news is published, publicized, and attacked in any country says a lot about its ability to self-promote on the world stage. Which, in turn, effects how it behaves on the world stage.
What struck me about this incident, though, is the fact that it seems to have been very well buried by the government--for every story about a refused visa to Darfur, there must be hundreds if not thousands of others that are not told. I mean, even amongst my colleagues, who have access (albeit quite expensive access, by Chinese standards) to unadulterated internet, I haven't really heard anything about this. The gov't is only one part of the equation, however; I don't want to sound like an incredible cynic here, but I'm beginning to get the impression that many people in China don't have the desire, much less the resources (e.g. a computer with internet, knowledge about proxy servers), to dig into these controversies, and even if they did, the gov't has become very good at rooting out these dissenters and keeping them quiet as well.
One has to hope that, in the wake of the Olympics and the type of intense scrutiny that China was under throughout that time, things have changed a bit in terms of how the country handles these small but telling issues. We'll see...
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