The Right to Choose

    At a Chinese kindergarten, a child was painting grass, but the grass in his painting is red. His teacher criticized him and told him it was wrong. Back at home, his parents asked why he used this color. The boy said: “Because the grass I paint feels happy, it is laughing and its face turns red.”

    “In a Western art class, such thought would be understood and even encouraged by their teachers, as it shows the vividness of the child’s imagination. But our teachers work with the mindset that for each question there is only one correct answer,” says Chen Mian.

    In fact, for some questions there can be many right answers. Currently China adopts a centralized educational system, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) controlling and guiding the management of all HEIs. Chen Mian believes such situation should be changed.

    Without concealing his inner agitation, Zhu Qingshi, president of the South University of Science and Technology of China, elaborates: “We face many restrictions running a school. Higher Education Law in the PRC stipulates that HEIs should be able to choose and compile teaching materials on the basis of its practical needs. The current model of using unified textbooks approved by the single authority goes against the development and modernization of China’s education,” argues Zhu.

    Shao Guopei, a mathematician, has spent almost all his life in teaching math, with 8 years spent in middle school and 30 years in university. While talking about the High School Math Education Reform initiated in 2004, he speaks with a heavy heart. “The most practical part of the curriculum – teaching the teaching skills themselves – was replaced in the textbooks by some recondite content, such as calculus and probability statistics. This has seriously weakened students’ practical math ability. In 2005, 90 CPPCC members proposed to put an end to this situation, but have failed to realize this till now,” says Shao.

    It’s conclusive that the complicated math course didn’t cultivate math talent. In 2009, China’s Tsinghua University held a math assessment test for its freshmen and the average score turned out to be 42. “It is hard to imagine this disgrace would have occurred in the past!” comments Shao.

    Any textbook will have its weaknesses and strengths. If teachers are able to choose textbooks based on the needs of students, their courses will have more vitality and clearer outcomes.

    If we have to include some abstruse concepts and marginal objectives in any of our courses, this is something that needs to be discussed. For example, Professor Chen Mian systematically asked 1,000 college graduates if they found L’hopital’s Rule in the Advanced Mathematics course useful in their daily work; besides the few engaged in math research jobs, the others all gave the answer “no.”

    “We are too strict with the students about their academic knowledge while ignoring more important things,” says Chen Mian. “The most important aspect of education is to help young people cultivate a rounded personality and strong and upright character,” he emphasizes.

    Authority Versus Expertise

    After the National Outline of Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) was published, wide public support was aroused for measures mentioned in the outline, namely debureaucratization in colleges and guarantee of college autonomy. Sun Xiaobing, director of the Policy and Regulation Department of MOE, restates what has been stipulated by law – that higher education institutions shall act on their own in making arrangements for their teaching activities, conducting research, readjusting remuneration for their staff, making enrollment plans, deploying their own property assets and funds, and conducting international exchanges. He emphasizes that the prerequisite condition for debureaucratization in colleges is the guarantee of these kinds of autonomy in HEIs.

    Actually the Higher Education Law was issued early in 1998, which means the autonomy of colleges should have been guaranteed by law for the last 12 years, yet it has been difficult to implement. How important is autonomy to HEIs? Zhu Qingshi believes the experience of the National Southwest Associated University (NSAU, 1938-1946), gives some clues as to why.

    Chen Lifu, then education minister for the Kuomintang government, demanded unified and standard management of the nation’s colleges. He instructed that any textbooks, examination papers, and teaching programs adopted by NSAU must undergo an approval process with MOE. NSAU organized a special meeting to discuss the order and finally decided to reject it. Feng Youlan, then dean of Studies of NSAU, wrote to MOE and pointed out that as MOE was the highest administrative authority while universities were the highest institutions concerned with practical experience, the two places shouldered different responsibilities and should therefore concentrate on their own fields.

    “In this way, NSAU stuck to its distinctive character,” comments Zhu Qingshi. Even though established and developed during a time of war and disorder, the university still made great contributions to society by cultivating over 100 of China’s most prominent intellectuals, including Deng Jiaxian, Chen Ning Yang, Tsung Dao Lee, Huang Kun, Liu Dongsheng, Zhu Guangya, Zou Chenglu, Peng Peiyun and Wang Zengqi.

    “Conditions were very harsh during that time,” recalls Pan Jiluan, a professor of Tsinghua University: “The classrooms were single-story houses built of mud and roofed with sheets of iron; the student dormitories were the same but roofed with straw. Sitting in the classroom in winter, one could feel the strong winds piercing the buildings from every direction.”

    Academic freedom and democratic management were the watchwords of NSAU governance. The university head and director of Student Affairs are directly appointed by MOE, but deans of each college were all elected by the staff. “Those deans played a pivotal role in their academic fields and were ethical people. Their dedication was an important factor in NSAU’s achievements,” says Pan Jiluan.

    “NSAU resisted control by MOE at that time, but MOE declined to impede its development by cutting back on the allotted funds or other resources. Today it’s a different story. Nowadays, if we don’t follow the centralized education system, we might very well lose funding or support. That is the biggest difference, and the one that worries me most,” says Chen Mian.

    Hands-off Governance

    In 2010, Education Minister Yuan Guiren said that MOE would reduce its involvement in the internal affairs of schools; anything deemed unnecessary interference would be stopped. He also gave his opinion on the difficulties enacting educational reform in China. “With the deepening of educational reform, there will emerge more voices, and more varied visions,” he says candidly. “The advancement of any reform would require the assistance of many supplementary reforms,” adds Yuan.

    The NPC and CPPCC sessions held in March 2010 may be considered the turning point of China’s higher education reform. During the two sessions, MOE clearly delineated the role of the government and the HEIs – HEIs are directly under the government, but they are individual corporate bodies, therefore have the right to run themselves according to their own needs. At the same time, MOE encouraged reforms in the managerial systems of the nation’s colleges.

    High-ranking Chinese officials have also noted the irrational structure of the higher education system. In the 2010 Government Work Report Premier Wen Jiabao put forward that the central government should encourage HEIs to adjust their curriculum design to the needs of society.

    Reform efforts also point to HEIs being given a longer leash with respect to administrative approvals. In recent years, the number of items requiring MOE’s administrative approval has been substantially reduced. “To realize less government interference, honoring legal freedoms and responsibilities is key,” sums up MOE official Sun Xiaobing.

    “We should let China’s education system develop as much variety as it needs, to be free as a tree developing its strongest branches. A solid academic foundation is core to it all, so we should create a responsive and flexible environment for our teachers and students to conduct research and apply themselves conscientiously,” appeals Chen Mian.