中国大学教学质量是世界一流吗？

Not long ago, Prof. 杨振宁, made a tour in some Chinese prestigious universities like Shanghai Fudan University.  In all the speeches he delivered during his tour, he reiterated with unflagging patience that, for some China's best universities,  in terms of the education qualities, they have already surpassed  their Western counterparts. "Your university, for instance, is much better than an American one, at least for the undergraduate stage."

 

Good news for all Chinese parents!  Great good news for all Chinese young college students. We feel so encouraged and so proud of our universities.

 

In addition, Prof. YANG has all authority to give this kind of assessments, because he is an insider himself,  as he used to being a professor in some American universities, a Nobel Prize laureate in physics. He knew what he was saying.

 

Is it true? Do we really have to believe in this?

I have no doubts about the good willingness of Prof. YANG. He may have intention to please,  and compliment Chinese host universities.  he may want to encourage our young students and help them build confidence. Or maybe, he knew that most of young students saw his marriage with a bad eye,  so he tried to assuage their hostility.

 

Anyway, whatever the motivations, no one can deny his good willingness and good intentions.

 

But he was wrong.  At least, he was partly wrong. He failed to give us a whole picture.  If you really believe in his statement, you are stupid.

 

It is very easy to prove that he was wrong. If we observe closely what our college students usually do during a typical ordinary day and what they, American students usually do, we will discover that his above encouraging statement  is so far from the reality.

 

You don't need me to tell you what our young students usually do in their university during a normal, typical , ordinary day.

 

Sleep late, get up late, play at video games, chat through QQ, read BBS, pursue a beautiful classmate girl, play cards, try to memorize English words, prepare English exams like TOEFL...

I can still continue it and this list can be very long.

But, at the same time, what is happening for most Western students?  I think all overseas students know the answer.