news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

zhang chuan (jishou university)

on september 19, stephen shore, an international photography master and world-renowned contemporary photography artist, gave a lecture in the academic lecture hall of the central academy of fine arts art museum. during the lecture, he found that some audience members were looking down at their phones, so he ended his speech and walked down the podium and returned to the audience. on september 20, a netizen posted that "many people in the audience were looking down at their phones from beginning to end, and stephen shore left the lecture." another netizen replied that "the audience members who looked down at their phones were actually taking notes, and mr. shore was much happier after learning about this."

frankly speaking, this is not like what happened when we were in junior high and high school and made our teachers angry: "you guys go ahead and talk, i won't talk anymore." "when will you listen to the class carefully? i'll talk again." "go to study on your own." it's just that this time it was a silent "explosion". the listeners "exploded" the civilized norms of the lecture, and the speaker exploded his mentality and the spirit of contract. regardless of whether someone came out to explain that looking down at the phone was actually taking notes or was just trying to save face for the master, this matter does not necessarily require a discussion of who is right or wrong, not to mention that this matter is not new in schools. looking deeper, in addition to civilized etiquette and the spirit of contract, there is something more worth discussing about this matter, that is, whether participating in learning opportunities such as knowledge lectures can be included in students' willingness.

it is worth noting that most universities have the tradition of inviting experts and scholars from outside the school to give lectures, but the experts and scholars invited are mostly decided by the school, and the wishes of students are rarely adopted. in this way, the intention of the university seems to have become vague. generally speaking, the original intention of universities to invite experts and scholars should be to help students increase their knowledge and make progress. but without considering the needs and preferences of students, this original intention seems a bit "self-touching".

in addition, if universities invite experts and scholars to give lectures just to meet some operational requirements, such as requiring a university to hold multiple academic conferences if it wants to apply for a master's or doctoral degree, then the effectiveness and standardization of the lectures will be even more difficult to guarantee. it is not difficult to understand that in this case, many students participate in lectures or conferences involuntarily, acting as spectators and not interested in listening, so killing time playing with their mobile phones is almost inevitable.

at this point, universities have to complain. experts and scholars are not voluntary workers. the school needs to spend money. some big names not only need to spend money but also use multiple connections to invite them. therefore, if students do not listen to lectures carefully, it is really a waste of good resources and they do not understand the good intentions of the school.

some people would say that, after all, it was the students' fault. if they were not interested in the lectures, wouldn't they still play with their phones during class? this is because they don't want to learn. if you think about it carefully, there is some truth in what they said, but this statement confuses the mechanism and attributes of classes and lectures. except for a few academic lectures per school year set by colleges and universities in the student course schedule, most lectures are extracurricular. that is to say, playing with mobile phones in class does not mean that we can justifiably criticize students for playing with mobile phones in lectures. of course, this is not to indulge students and encourage them to play with mobile phones during the learning process, but to generalize. whether it is playing with mobile phones in class or in lectures, it is not just the students who need to reflect.

back to the topic we want to discuss today, in my opinion, colleges and universities should take into account the wishes of students when inviting experts and scholars to hold lectures, which is responsible for both parties. objectively speaking, the vast majority of college students are already adults, and the educational resources and educational guidance provided by the school are in place. if students always do their own thing, we can only respect their individual choices. but to a greater extent, schools should consider making the cost-effectiveness of holding lectures higher, which can not only meet the needs of teaching and administration, but also allow students to truly be interested and enthusiastic in participating in lectures. specifically, whether the school invites unilaterally out of a high level of cognition, or invites some experts and scholars to hold lectures based on the wishes of students, it is appropriate to take the wishes of students into consideration.

the photography master left the lecture in anger, and the students were indifferent. the key to the problem is the inequality of needs. honestly speaking, the master cannot ask every audience member who comes to the lecture to strictly abide by the lecture norms. that is too idealistic, just as the master himself cannot control his emotions. even if the needs cannot be completely equal, colleges and universities can actually make more changes in holding lectures. it is more reasonable to consider the actual needs of students and talk about civilized etiquette education and guidance on this basis.