news

Cai Yuandi, a teacher at the School of Humanities at Zhejiang University City College, was asked by the school to explain the problem and provide a rectification plan because the failure rate of the three courses he taught, including "Ancient Chinese", was over 30%.

Filled with grief and indignation, Teacher Cai posted the school's requirements and his explanations online, and openly questioned, "Of course I can lower the difficulty of the exams, and I can also reduce the amount of learning according to the established class hours. But what about the basic knowledge requirements of a course for students? When a student who graduates from us enters the workplace and faces the postgraduate entrance examination, what should we do if his knowledge of ancient Chinese and ancient literature is not up to standard, affecting his admission rate and employment rate?"

That is, the exam requirements can be lowered, but how do we ensure quality?

Is it that Teacher Cai is not good enough? Obviously not. On the contrary, Teacher Cai's level has been recognized by students and he has been awarded many times by the school. Is the exam difficult? Teacher Cai also categorically denied it. He gave an example, saying that the exam question asked who are the protagonists of "The Peacock Flies Southeast"? The error rate of this question is over 50%.

In his public response, Mr. Cai expressed his grief and indignation that many people advised him not to be too serious, but: "My 'seriousness' in teaching is not my subjective will, it is my nature and I have to do it", and it is also my principle: "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated"!

This incident reminds me of the "giving grades based on noise" incident at Xi'an University of Science and Technology.

In a course exam, 38 out of 72 students failed, so more than a dozen students jointly reported the teacher, Qin. Some parents used their connections to coerce and bribe students, and some students even threatened to commit suicide. Finally, the college arranged a make-up exam, with other teachers setting questions and marking papers. Unfortunately, one student scored 56 points. Finally, the person in charge wrote a handwritten statement saying that the score could be changed to 60 points, and asked Qin to record the score accordingly. Finally, Qin could no longer bear it and reported the matter to the media. The truth was exposed, and the matter caused an uproar.

Are these two teachers and schools the only ones facing similar problems? Definitely not!

It should be said that similar phenomena are not uncommon in local universities. These two teachers simply uncovered a cruel reality that we have to face because they adhered to their principles:After the popularization of higher education, some students lack sufficient learning ability!

The large-scale expansion of enrollment in 1999 completely changed the development model of China's higher education, and China's higher education entered a "hurricane mode".

In 1998, the total number of undergraduate and junior college students enrolled nationwide was 1.08 million. In 1999, the number increased to 1.6 million, an increase of 520,000 in one year. What does this mean? From 1990 to 1998, the number increased by only 480,000. In other words, the increase in this year exceeded the total of the 1990s.

In 2023, the total number of college students enrolled will exceed 10.42 million, an increase of about 10 times compared with 1998, and the number of graduate students will increase by about 20 times. China's higher education has quickly crossed the path of massification and entered universalization, with the gross enrollment rate exceeding 60% last year.

The admission rate of the college entrance examination in 2021 reached 93%.

In 2024, there will be 11.79 million college graduates nationwide, accounting for almost 90% of the new urban labor force.

Judging from the admission scores, it is terrible. With a full score of 750 in the college entrance examination, the minimum score for undergraduate (science) in 2021 is only 280 points (Heilongjiang). Guangdong is the second province with the largest number of college entrance examination applicants. In 2021, the score line for the college entrance examination recruitment is only 100 points, whether you choose physics or history. Taking into account the point-based system for the last two subjects, if we reasonably deduct the actual starting scores for the last two subjects (40 each), the score line requirement can be almost ignored. It is almost impossible to get a score lower than this junior college recruitment score line. Not being able to get into college has become a very difficult thing!

In this context, a large number of students with insufficient knowledge reserves, insufficient learning ability, or even unwillingness to learn enter colleges and universities on a large scale, which inevitably brings about a serious problem:How to ensure quality? In particular, how to make students who are unwilling to study willing to study and graduate?

The pictures are from the Internet

Many schools have adopted a drive-through learning approach.That is, to treat college students as studentsFor example, students are required to sit in the front row of the classroom, otherwise they will be punished. The core is to prevent students from being absent from class. Some colleges and universities in Northeast China do not open the doors of student dormitories before 11 a.m. to prevent students from going back to the dormitories to sleep or play games. Many schools have groups for counselors and parents to inform them of their children's failures at any time to avoid being accused by parents: Why didn't you tell me earlier?

Many experts have criticized that "universities are treating college students like middle school students"! What they don't know is that many college students today are not as good as middle school students back then, and the universities have no choice but to do so.

Some schools and teachers are even forced to slack off in teaching and examinations.

The reason is very simple. If a student fails to pass the exam or does not get a diploma, if the student commits suicide, the school and the teacher will be held responsible, which will cause endless troubles. The school is an unlimited liability company, and the teacher is the employee of the unlimited liability company, and they are both on the same boat.

But if we don't strictly control the quality and export, whether 280 points is a bachelor's degree or 680 points is a bachelor's degree, how can we defend the quality of higher education? What reason do we have to criticize "discrimination based on origin"?

If we cannot prevent a large number of students from graduating, we might as well learn from the West’s practice in the process of popularizing higher education:Honorary Graduate SystemAlthough most of them have graduated, the value of their diplomas is different. There are ordinary graduates and honor graduates of different levels. This not only provides a way for everyone to make a living, but also protects the quality, so that everyone gets what they deserve.