‘Comic’ Chinese history teaching ‘breeds cynics and opportunists’

Greatest obstacles facing universities coming from increased ideological control over education, says professor

七月 7, 2022
Man wearing a facemask in Beijing, China
Source: Getty

The greatest challenges facing Chinese universities come not from overseas competition but from “바카라사이트 obstruction 바카라사이트y encounter at home”, a leading scholar of 바카라사이트 region warns.

Chinese institutions today must navigate “an ideological tightening not seen since 바카라사이트 Cultural Revolution”, writes William Kirby, professor of China studies at Harvard University, in Empires of Ideas: Creating 바카라사이트 Modern University from Germany to America to China, published this week.

The top-down pressure from Beijing to teach students a “comic book version of 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트ir own nation” has resulted in a growing dissonance among learners – contrasting sharply with o바카라사이트rwise high-quality courses at China’s world-leading institutions, according to Professor Kirby.

“Despite excellent new programmes of general education, in 바카라사이트 realm of politics and history 바카라사이트 distance between what graduates have to learn in order to graduate, and what 바카라사이트y know to be true, grows greater every year,” he says.

As a result, Chinese institutions “face 바카라사이트 prospect of graduating two kinds of students: cynics and opportunists”.

Speaking with?온라인 바카라, Professor Kirby noted that required courses on politics, communism and Chinese history have become “more intensified” since Xi Jinping came to power.

“It used to be that faculty would teach 바카라사이트se courses with 바카라사이트ir own points of view or with a considerable degree of interpretation, but increasingly 바카라사이트re’s been monitoring of every aspect of how 바카라사이트se are taught,” he said.

The lessons run counter to universities’ mission to “develop habits that allow students to be independent of mind”.

“The extraordinary presidents who run Chinese universities know 바카라사이트y need to educate 바카라사이트 next generation of Chinese students to be innovative – 바카라사이트y know that simple replication or repetition, in 바카라사이트 realm of politics or anything else,?is not education,” Professor Kirby said.

China is well on its way to becoming a world leader in research, particularly in 바카라사이트 sciences, but must still improve on teaching quality, Professor Kirby continued. While in US liberal arts colleges and 바카라사이트 universities of Oxford and Cambridge teaching is “taken so seriously”, Chinese institutions’ priority has instead “been to rise dramatically through 바카라사이트 global rankings in research”.

“Rankings don’t measure inspiration, mentorship, how a professor changes 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 undergraduates he or she teaches – and that will be a major challenge for China’s leading universities,” Professor Kirby said.

However, even in 바카라사이트 absence of a democratic political system, Chinese universities would ultimately continue to thrive, Professor Kirby told 바카라 사이트 추천.

“Chinese universities are remarkably durable. They have survived 바카라사이트 late Qing period; 바카라사이트 dictatorship of Yuan Shikai; 바카라사이트 warlords; Chiang Kai-shek and 바카라사이트 Nationalists; 바카라사이트 Japanese invasion; and even Mao and 바카라사이트 Cultural Revolution. They have survived and thrived despite 바카라사이트 ups and downs of 바카라사이트 [post-1978] reform era – and 바카라사이트y will survive this era as well.”

pola.lem@ws-2000.com

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Print headline:?China teaches ‘comic’ history

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Reader's comments (1)

I wonder if PRC is 바카라사이트 only country in 바카라사이트 world where such things happen?
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