Chinese Mandarin - Focus on building character

Opinion / Li Xing

Focus on building character

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-12 07:48

I had an opportunity to take part in a television talk show on Sunday -
the chief guest being a prominent banker in Asia. However, the show was
not about economics and finance.

With distinguished professors of English and others sitting in the
audience, we started by harking back to the days when the national
college entrance examination was restored after a decade of suspension.

There was a lot of nostalgia about those days, 30 years ago. The students
of the 77-78 classes - whether enrolled in undergraduate or graduate
programs - were thankful for the merit-based tests that enabled them to
realize their almost lost dreams and fulfill their thirst for knowledge.

Meanwhile, the teachers shared fond memories of their students - their
passion, honesty and determination for knowledge - characteristics rare
in today's youngsters.

From the talks, I detected a divide between the elderly and the young
over the purpose of college education. The elderly emphasized how college
education could help broaden students' knowledge, shape their characters
and enhance their qualities. They lamented the fact that students today
can only sit in the classroom for a full two years of serious studies.

But the young seemed to be more concerned about what colleges have to
offer to enable them get good jobs. One complained that today's colleges
have not equipped students with enough specific skills to excel in the
competitive job market.

While I am sympathetic with the youngsters, I do agree with the
professors that college education should contribute to the making of a
fine person or a talent, above anything else.

College education should help students lay a good foundation so that they
will be able to come up with questions, search for answers and master and
improve the necessary skills on their own later in their careers. They
must acquire the abilities in college to adapt themselves to different
environments independently so that wherever they go after graduation they
will perform to their best.

It is a pity, however, that in the past 30 years no matter how much
education has advanced, it sometimes steers away from lofty goals. While
some high school students do not have time to prepare for independent
studies in colleges, colleges have not reorganized their programs in such
a flexible way for the early encouragement of undergraduates to freely
roam in a more broad-based, cross-disciplinary knowledge sphere,
especially relating to liberal arts and sciences.

Today's youngsters are trained to be reliant first on their parents, and
then their teachers, so much so that despite there being numerous
programs available in colleges, students still complain about the
deficiencies in skill training.

What is worse is that quite a number of companies, institutions and other
employers often look for specific skills in the resumes, overlooking the
overall quality of potential candidates.

If a banker graduated with a master's degree in English literature and
Shakespearean studies, could he still have got a job in the finance
sector today? I doubt it.

It was a pity that no one thought of asking the banker during the show
the secret of how he turned himself from a Shakespearean scholar into a
financial administrator and later a financier and a banker.

He said opportunities come only to those who are prepared. Hopefully,
current college education will reform itself to make every student as
prepared as the banker.

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/12/2007 page10)

Hot Talks

� Should Beida recruit more recommended students?

� Nude women and Peking Opera: pornography or art?

� War in Iraq lost?

� Costa Rica cut ties with Taiwan: Who's next?

� Will China follow USA "way of life"?

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

Chinese Mandarin