Keywords: Guo Bingwen; Balance; University teaching
The idea of "Four Balances" was put forward by Dr. Guo Bingwen, one of the most famous educators in China in the first half of the 20th century (1879- 1967). Guo Bingwen summed up his life's experience in running a school in one word "Ping": "Ping is the best motto for learning and managing things." In running a university, he believes that we should strive to achieve four "balances", namely, the balance between generalists and professionals, the balance between science and humanities, the balance between teachers and facilities, and the balance between domestic and international. The four balances are a high generalization of Guo Bingwen's school-running philosophy. It permeates and manifests in many aspects of Southeast University teaching.
First, the balance between generalists and professionals.
Guo Bingwen believes that universities should set up a variety of disciplines and train all kinds of talents: "Teachers' disciplines pay attention to general education", but they don't ignore application; "Professional courses pay attention to professional education", but they don't ignore the foundation. "The two complement each other and cannot be neglected." "But they are not completely separated. The advantage of a comprehensive university is that generalists and professionals can adjust each other, so that generalists will not be idle and professionals will not be narrow-minded. All college students should be honest and approachable founders. "
In this regard, Guo Bingwen and Cai Yuanpei, who served as the president of Peking University at the same time, have different views. Cai Yuanpei believes that "a great scholar is also a person who studies profound knowledge", and the so-called "learning" means "learning" in the academic field. Cai Yuanpei believes that there is a difference between "learning" and "technique", that is, "learning" is the theory of learning and "technique" is application; "Learning" is the foundation and "technology" is the branch. Therefore, to run higher education well, we must have a correct orientation, a reasonable division of labor and a scientific naming. For example, engineering, agricultural science, medicine and other "technical" disciplines are mainly applied and should be called "higher specialized schools"; "Learning" subjects such as literature, science and law should focus on research and can be called "universities"; "College and university" are just different in division of labor, and there is no hierarchy. Therefore, during his tenure as president of Peking University, he merged the law department of Beiyang University into Peking University, transferred the engineering department of Peking University to Beiyang University, and closed the agriculture department of Peking University, but only established the departments of arts and sciences and law, in order to let Peking University concentrate on running a real "learning" department. The subject setting of Peking University has been imitated by many universities. However, Guo Bingwen has different views on this: "The separation of colleges and universities is intended to train professional and skilled students and talents with colleges. Gaibu divides culture and occupation into two departments, with universities ranking first in the cultural system and colleges ranking first in the vocational system. There are many critics who can criticize words and theories; For example, it imitates Japan, and Japanese universities have begun to upgrade. " Guo believes that comprehensive universities can set up both academic disciplines and applied disciplines, and the two complement each other. According to Guo Bingwen's thought, Dongda University has not only set up liberal arts and education, but also set up engineering, agricultural science and business, ranking first in many disciplines in the country. Mao Yisheng, the first engineering director of Dongda University, once praised: "The academic system of this university pays equal attention to agriculture, industry, commerce, literature, science and teaching, which has far-reaching influence. This combination is only available in China, and the spirit of this university is also there. " The author thinks that Cai Yuanpei's "inclusive" thought may be more about the acceptance of "ism" and "school" and the tolerance of political attitude and academic style, while Guo Bingwen pays more attention to the combination of "disciplines" and the blending of disciplines to cultivate "generalists" with specialized knowledge.
In order to cultivate students with "balance between generalists and specialists", Nangao and Dongda have been implementing compulsory, "group elective", elective and "main and auxiliary departments" systems within the framework of subject selection system.
The elective system is the credit system. At that time, it was stipulated that "class and self-study combined for 2 hours every week, one semester 1 credit" and "you can graduate after completing 120 credit". The elective system of Nangao and Dongda includes compulsory courses, group elective courses and elective courses.
The compulsory course emphasizes the thick foundation. For example, the education department stipulates that "* * * general compulsory course" has 39 credits and "* * * special compulsory course" 12 credits. General courses are: English 12 credits, Chinese, physical education and biology 6 credits each, world trends and history of scientific development 3 credits each, introduction to philosophy 2 credits, sociology 1 credit each 1 credit; Vocational guidance is zero credit, but it is compulsory. Specialized courses include: general theory of education 6 credits, outline of educational psychology 3 credits and educational statistics 3 credits each. And each department will also offer some compulsory courses. For example, students in the department of physical education must also study sociology for 4 credits, physics, organic and physiological chemistry for 3 credits and inorganic chemistry for 2 credits. Visible. How wide is the coverage of compulsory courses.
Group elective is actually a designated elective between compulsory and elective. Its basic practice is to divide it into several groups with similar disciplines, and each group includes courses of several departments. Students must take elective courses in each group and achieve the required elective results. In other words, it is necessary to take elective courses in each group. It is arbitrary to take any course in the group. And if there is a big department in this group, the 4 ~ 8 credits chosen must be courses of other departments. For example, liberal arts students, in addition to the compulsory Chinese 6 credits and English 12 credits, must also choose from the following five groups, each group has at least 4 credits and at most 8 credits, and each group has at least 30 credits. Group a is Chinese, English and western literature; Group b is history, politics and economy; Group C is philosophy, mathematics and psychology; Group d is biology and earth science; Group e is chemistry and physics. For example, students majoring in philosophy can only choose between the department of mathematics and the department of psychology in class C; Students majoring in Chinese can only take English or Spanish classes in Group A, or both. For another example, agricultural students must choose at least three credit courses from each of the following four groups: group A is botany and plant pathology; Group b is zoology and entomology; Group c is the department of soil science, crop science, agricultural tools science and horticulture; Group D is animal husbandry department, crop department and agricultural manufacturing department. Similarly, if there is a big department in this group, then the credits selected must be courses of other doors or departments. Central University inherited this "group elective" system.
If each "group" is regarded as a color and each course as a shape, then the group sum of each student's "group elective" is a course "package" with rich colors and different forms. Today, this kind of "group elective" still has its rationality and advancement. Because there are too few subjects to choose from, it is difficult to cultivate broad-based talents. If there are too many elective courses, students will choose courses at will, and it is easy to build an embarrassing or stable knowledge structure and become graduates with great knowledge defects or "panacea". The implementation of "group elective" allows students to choose independently from a series of classic and universal "combined courses" carefully designed by the school, which can not only prevent them from choosing one subject too narrowly at the expense of other subjects, but also avoid their short-sighted course selection behavior. It is an organic combination of "must" and "arbitrary", a comprehensive embodiment of personal interests and talents, and a combination of knowledge and disciplines.
It is not difficult to find that this "group elective" system is very close to the "core curriculum" system implemented by Harvard University 50 years later, that is, in the late 1970 s, both in essence and in practice. For example, the latter's firm idea of implementing core courses is that "every Harvard student must receive education in a wide range of fields and training in specific academic fields", which can be regarded as "the balance between professionals and generalists"; Harvard stipulates that students "must take 1 course in each of the eight fields farthest from their major", which is consistent with Dongda's stipulation that students must take other courses or departments' courses, and the number of courses and academic performance are equivalent; The "core courses" chosen by Harvard include foreign culture, historical research, literature and art, moral discrimination, quantitative reasoning, natural science and social analysis, which are similar to the "combined courses" of liberal arts in Dongda University.
Elective courses are completely decided by students according to their majors, interests and needs. However, many students will use the opportunity of "elective courses" to choose a "minor department" as their second main direction. At that time, Dongda stipulated that students should choose one of the undergraduate departments as the "main department" (the subject is equivalent to the later college), and then the teacher of the main department proposed several departments for students to choose one as the "auxiliary department". The main course (that is, the course) must be at least 40 credits and not more than 60 credits; Auxiliary courses should be at least 15 credits, and not more than 30 credits at most. If students choose Western Literature and History Department, China Literature Department and Philosophy Department, Geology Department and Physics Department as their main departments and auxiliary departments respectively, or vice versa, it means that they have two kinds of subject knowledge and professional skills to make a living and serve the society. Many graduates from southern high schools and oriental universities believe that this combination of generalists and professionals has benefited them for life.
During the Republic of China, when college students were still one in a million and there were few graduate students, Guo Bingwen and others clearly put forward the view that college students should "give consideration to both generalists and professionals". Today, China has stepped into the threshold of higher education popularization, and college students have become ordinary workers in society. Should "general education" and "general education" be placed in more important positions? Should the "center of gravity" of university education be lowered to the basic part? Can the extension boundary of "general education" be relaxed to all subjects except professional courses?
Second, the balance between humanities and science.
The balance between humanities and science has two meanings in Guo Bingwen's eyes. The first is to run a comprehensive university, which requires equal attention to humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, and the two disciplines intersect. Only in this way can we cultivate compound talents with high humanistic and scientific literacy. For example, the Department of Psychology of Dongda University belongs to both "arts and sciences" and "pedagogy"; Biology department belongs to both "arts and sciences" and "agronomy" in order to receive the effect that humanities and science make use of each other's advantages, absorb each other's strengths and rely on each other. At the same time, both Guo Bingwen and Tao Xingzhi should be "scientific", emphasizing that pedagogy should be based on natural science and cultivate talents by scientific methods. Secondly, universities should not only advocate national spirit and attach importance to national culture, but also absorb western civilization and attach importance to new scientific and technological knowledge. Through exchanges and integration, the university will be turned into a base for carrying forward national culture, an important town for developing science, and a meeting point for humanistic spirit and new scientific knowledge, and further cultivate high-quality talents who have both humanistic feelings and scientific thinking, love piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and are good at acousto-optic electrification.
In order to educate students in humanities and science and cultivate talents with a balance between humanities and science, Nangao and Dongda first set up relatively complete disciplines.
By the time the Nanjing National Government was founded in 1927, the department of Chinese, foreign languages (including English, German, French and Japanese), history, philosophy, politics and economy had been established in Dongda University. Science includes mathematics, physics, chemistry and geoscience (including geology, geography and meteorology); The education department includes education, psychology, rural education, sports and other departments; Agriculture includes plants, animals, agronomy, horticulture, animal husbandry, sericulture, pests and diseases; Business includes general business, accounting, business administration, bank financing, international trade, insurance, transportation and other departments; Engineering courses include department of mechanical engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Electrical Engineering Department and so on. This provides a basic guarantee for the school to implement general education covering humanities. As far as teaching and management are concerned, teachers of arts, science, agriculture, engineering and teaching (the business department is located in Shanghai) can teach concurrently with each other. For example, Zhu Kezhen, then head of the Department of Earth Sciences, not only taught "Geology" to agricultural students, but also taught "Calculus" to students of physics and chemistry departments. The science professor who returned from studying in Germany and France sometimes served as the director of the Foreign Languages Department. In the course selection system, students are free to study other subjects; In broadening academic horizons, students can attend any lectures they are interested in; From the perspective of interdisciplinary infiltration, students can go to magazines edited by various disciplines. For example, at that time, there were eight kinds of magazines sponsored and published by students' research associations in various subjects, such as Journal of Mathematics and Physics, Engineering Series, Journal of History and Geography, Shirley Journal, Sinology Series, Education Series, Agriculture Series and Sports Quarterly. These popular magazines on campus involve 10 subjects, such as mathematics, science, culture, literature, history, philosophy, engineering, agriculture, geography, education, sports and so on. , each has its own strengths, mutual influence and mutual radiation. Many graduates from South High School, Middle School and East High School believe that this kind of education with close combination of humanities and science has benefited them for life. Mr. Zhang Qiyun, a famous educator, geographer and founder of China Culture University, believes that when he was studying in the Chinese Department of Nangao, he was most influenced by three teachers: philosopher Liu Boming, historian Liu Yizhi and meteorological geographer Zhu Kezhen, who gave him many lessons.
Secondly, Southeast University has been striving to create an educational environment and academic atmosphere of "balance between humanities and science".
At that time, the New Culture Movement swept across the country, denying China's traditional culture and promoting "total westernization" became more and more popular. In order to resist the theory of "total westernization", professors Wu Mi, Mei Guangdi, Liu Boming, Hu Xianlie, Liu Yizhi and Tang Yongtong of Dongda University founded Xue Heng magazine in 1922+0 with the aim of "clarifying the truth, prospering the quintessence of the country and melting new knowledge". Because of its fierce attack on the advocates of the new culture movement, it was criticized by the new culture movement and was accused of being a "retro" magazine. In fact, the "Xue Heng School" only opposes the "indoctrination view" of vaguely introducing western culture and the "total westernization theory" of accepting and absorbing without making any judgment; Propaganda is the banner of carrying forward the national spirit and communicating and integrating Chinese and western cultures.
An important historical fact that can prove that both Nangao and Dongda are striving for a "balance between humanities and science" is that while Xue Heng, which was ridiculed as a "retro magazine", was published, Science Monthly, one of the earliest scientific journals in modern China founded by China Science Society, the first academic group in modern China, was also published in the same campus. Intriguingly, Hu Xian, a professor studying in the United States, is the leader of the Xue Heng School? There are also important members of the Chinese Science Society, which is a vivid interpretation of the "balance between humanities and science".
Science Society is an academic organization whose mission is to develop science and technology. It was established in the United States on June 25th 19 15, and was co-founded by China students Ren Hongjuan, Hu Mingfu, Zou Bingwen, Zhao Yuanren, Zhou Ren and Yang Xingfo from Cornell University and other schools in the United States. 19 18 most members of the scientific society, including President Ren Hongjuan, have returned to China after graduation. At Guo Bingwen's request, they moved the Science Society to Nangao Campus and formally established an office named "China Science Society". The main members of the Science Society are almost all professors from Nangao. Although universities and science societies are two units, they are similar to each other, with part-time staff, shared resources and close cooperation, which have promoted and supplemented each other in improving teaching level and carrying out research work. Students can participate in the dual training of teaching and scientific research without restriction, which is actually a teaching mode of "joint training of schools and colleges", which effectively promotes the improvement of the quality of personnel training. This successful practice of "running schools with scientific spirit, cultivating talents with scientific methods, promoting teaching and scientific research, and making talents stand out" has become a major feature of Nangao and Dongda, and it has also made Nangao and Dongda known as "the base camp of Chinese science society". It is this that "started the foundation work of China science, making Nangao and Dongda the main bases for scientific development in China".
Thirdly, in order to implement the "balance of arts and sciences" general education, Southeast University adopted the "combination of arts and sciences" model.
1920 65438+ 10. In October, Dongda merged the Department of Mathematical Chemistry with the Department of Literature, History and Geography to form "Arts and Sciences". At that time, there were only two departments of literature, history, geography, mathematics, physical chemistry, and each department had enough strength to set up independently. Why does Dongda have to compress and compile into one? Moreover, even if the South High School is expanded to the East High School, and the subjects of agriculture, engineering, business and teaching are set separately, why hasn't its basic team-"liberal arts" been expanded to "liberal arts" and "science"? This problem has not attracted enough attention in the past. In fact, there is an important concept of educating people, that is, implementing general education and cultivating outstanding talents with a "balance between humanities and science".
This kind of thought is obvious in the liberal arts curriculum of Dongda University. Dongda stipulates that students in arts and sciences departments must take at least 30 credits in other departments besides 6 credits in Chinese and 0/2 credits in English. For example, students majoring in China literature must take courses with more than 30 credits, such as English, western literature, history, politics, economy, philosophy, mathematics, psychology, biology, geoscience, chemistry and physics, among which they must take courses with 4-8 credits, respectively.
The tradition of balance between humanities and science has been well inherited and carried forward in Nantah. For example, at the initiative of President Kuang Yaming, the China Thinker Research Center of Nanjing University has compiled as many as 200 biographies of China thinkers from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen in the past 30 years, which is known as "the largest China traditional cultural project in the 20th century". In the past five years, Nanjing University has won the National Natural Science First Prize 1 item and the National Natural Science Second Prize1item, which is unique in China. This is the best interpretation of the concept of "the balance between humanities and science".
In order to inherit Guo Bingwen's "balance between science and humanities" and Kuang Yaming's "getting through literature, history and philosophy". On March 28th, 2006, Nanjing University named the College of Basic Education "Kuang Yaming College" according to the educational ideas of the sages, such as offering liberal arts and cultivating generalists with extensive knowledge and diverse abilities. According to liberal arts (including Chinese, history, philosophy, economy, politics and sociology) and science (including intensive department, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, geography, geology, atmosphere and mathematics), Kuang Yaming University divides all disciplines into two categories. In the first year, students study general courses for large platforms, and in the second year, they study core courses set by modules (bases). In the third year, I studied professional core courses, and in the fourth year, I studied elective courses, scientific research training courses and wrote my graduation thesis. The teaching and student status management are organized by the college in the first and second grades, and all students are diverted to various departments from the third grade. Since 2007, students from Kuang Yaming University have been admitted by Nantah in advance, independently or among outstanding college entrance examination students.
Third, the balance between teachers and equipment.
Borrowing a sentence from Mencius, "The so-called old country is not Screaming Trees, but an old friend", Mei Yiqi left a famous quote: "The so-called great scholar is not a building, but a master." In fact, Guo Bingwen has really felt the preciousness of the master. But in his eyes, the so-called great scholar is both a master and an architecture, and that is his "balance between teachers and equipment".
The most successful place for Nangao and Dongda in talent training is to hire a large number of well-known professors at home and abroad, so that each department has domestic first-class academic leaders and each discipline has formed its own characteristics.
Nan Gao and Dong Da are both famous teachers and are very popular. Liang Jingtou (He Jun), an expert in modern history, once praised in the article A Record of Peking University (Attached to Dongda University): "All professors extended from Dongda University have their moments of glory." "Peking University is famous for its philosophy of literature and history, while Dongda University is famous for its philosophy. However, Professor Dong's Shi Zhe is no less than Peking University ". In Nangao and Dongda, there are really countless masters. For example, Liu Yizhi, Wang Bokun, Zhang Shiyi, Wu Mei, Huang Kan, Liang Shiqiu, Xu, Wu Mi, Liu Boming, Tang Yongtong, Zong Baihua, Mei Guangdi, Lou, Lu Zhiwei and Luo Jialun in liberal arts, and Zhu Kezhen, Ren Hongjuan, Hu and Xiong Qinglai in science and engineering. Zou Bingwen, Bing Zhi, Hu Xianlie, Chen Huanyong, Guo Tanxian, Jin Shanbao, Qian, Dai and so on. In agriculture, Ma Yinchu, Yang Xingfo, Hu Mingfu and Sun Benwen all taught here in business. Among the foreign teachers, 20 have won the Nobel Prize in Literature of Pearl Buck. Master's personality, knowledge, interest and demeanor are of great significance to the formation of students' good learning attitude, spirit and methods.
Of course, in university education, teachers are the first, but different materials can not be ignored. When Dongda University was first established, it made great efforts to improve the conditions of teaching and scientific research under the circumstances of very difficult funds. At that time, teachers and students already had the following knowledge: the library is a treasure house of knowledge and a base for self-study; Science museum is the center of research and learning; In China, however, "the essence of education for thousands of years is biased towards literature, philosophy and morality, while the so-called experimental education in modern times is nothing", which is the fundamental reason for the backwardness of science and the lack of scientific talents in modern China: the gym is the need of fitness and advocating sports-Akkad in Athens. 1923 complete the library and gymnasium; 1927 The Science Museum was probably the largest research building in China University at that time. In the 1920s, when funds were extremely scarce, and many colleges and universities "asked for salaries" from time to time, Dongda was able to spend huge sums of money to build libraries and purchase advanced instruments, equipment and books at home and abroad, which not only amazed people with its well-organized financing methods-government funding, school board fund-raising, social fund-raising, bank loans, foreign foundation assistance, alumni donations and other multi-channel financing methods, but also made people admire the strategic vision of school administrators to attach importance to the teaching guarantee system. In addition, the school also owns an agricultural experimental field 100 mu, and rents more than 3,000 mu of farms, striving to obtain the Arctic Pavilion Meteorological Observatory and the Jiangning Meteorological Station of the Central Meteorological Observatory as experimental practice places for teachers and students, and using Xuanwu Lake as an experimental pool for aquatic plants and fish; At the same time, we strive to enrich and develop the physical and chemical laboratory, and get the support of the Rockwell Foundation of the United States. Considering that Shanghai is the economic and information center of China, a business school (the predecessor of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) has been established in Shanghai, which is conducive to cultivating knowledgeable and experienced economic talents. All these plans and efforts are aimed at improving teaching and scientific research conditions and cultivating all kinds of qualified talents. Therefore, most of the graduates of Dongda University have a solid foundation and skilled skills, which are relied on by all walks of life. In the process of running a school, Southeast University pursues the synchronous growth of "software" and "hardware", pays equal attention to classroom teaching and experimental training, improves theoretical knowledge and practical ability, and complements professional training and general education, which provides conditions and possibilities for the cultivation of talents urgently needed by society.
Four. Domestic and international balance
After several years of development, Dongda University has become one of the most famous institutions of higher learning in China. However, the educational goal of Dongda University is to become not only a teaching and research center in China, but also an academic exchange center at home and abroad. Because only when a hundred schools of thought contend and seek world knowledge can students broaden their horizons, broaden their minds and absorb the infinite knowledge and wisdom of mankind. Therefore, he not only hired doctors and masters with real talents to teach in the school, but also sent teachers abroad for further study. At that time, there were more than 220 teachers in Dongda University, including more than 40 teachers with overseas study experience/kloc-0, accounting for 2/3 of the total. In science, engineering, agriculture and other disciplines, the proportion of teachers with study abroad background is higher, and some teachers are even all scholars studying abroad. At the same time, Dongda invites many famous people at home and abroad to give lectures or give speeches every year. For example, Dewey 1920, the founder of Chicago Pragmatism School, a leading American educational figure, came to the school to give lectures on educational philosophy. , and held many discussions with teachers and students of the Education Department; In June 65438+the same year 10, Russell, a famous British philosopher and master of logical positivism, came to our school to give a philosophical lecture. 1924, Tagore, an Indian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, came to the school to give a speech on "Chinese and Indian Civilization"; In the same period, Lu Meng, a famous American educator, and Hans Driesch, the founder of German new vitality theory, also visited our school and gave lectures. Dongda hopes that the teachers and students of Dongda can harmonize arts and sciences, communicate with China and the West, look at the world with an open mind, seek truth only, and cultivate aestheticism, so as to have the style and integrity of a "national scholar" like "the loftiness of Zhongshan, the heroism of the great river and the depth of Xuanwu". At that time, almost all the courses offered and textbooks used by the school were based on European and American universities, which experienced a process of introduction, digestion, transformation and innovation. For example, Biology and Physiology edited by Bing, Psychology edited by Lu Zhiwei, General Theory of Geosciences edited by Zhu Kezhen, Advanced Mathematical Analysis, Differential Geometry and Partial Differential Equations edited by Xiong Qinglai all represented or approached the development level of disciplines at that time. It is commendable that students from all departments of arts and sciences can learn these frontier disciplines. It can be said that Nangao and Dongda in the 1920s have become an important window for China's international academic exchanges and a hot spot for cultural exchanges between China and the West. This will help students broaden their academic horizons and enhance their international concepts. It plays an irreplaceable role in cultivating cooperative consciousness and absorbing new world knowledge. And this is exactly what the title of general education should mean.
Adhering to this concept, Nanjing University took the lead in opening the floodgates of international exchanges and cooperation after the reform and opening up, and founded the first teaching entity-the Sino-American Cultural Research Center of Nanjing University-Hopkins University. The center began enrolling students on 1986, which is the earliest long-term project of international cooperation in higher education in China after the reform and opening up. So far, this pioneering cooperation between Nanjing University and Hopkins University and the operation mode of the Sino-American Cultural Research Center are unique in China (the center has been awarded a master's degree). Nanjing University and Hopkins University employ professors from China and the United States to teach students. China students are taught by American professors, and American and international students are taught by Professor China. The center has a very good bilingual environment. Students should listen, read and write in foreign languages. There are many close exchanges between students and teachers, between students and students, in class and after class. These activities provide a solid guarantee for them to form excellent bilingual ability. The operating mechanism of the Sino-American Cultural Research Center is a wonderful embodiment of Nantah's tradition of "domestic and international balance" today.
Zhang Daliang, Party Secretary of Jiangnan University, former vice president and professor of Nanjing University; Wang Yunlai, deputy director and professor, Department of Educational Science and Management, Nanjing University.
[Editor: Yang Yunan]