The idea that writing such a blog occurred to me long time ago. But it's quite hard to give a reasonable answer to this simple but hard question with my barren experience. This is also a big annoyance for me all the time, and I always try to answer it. Recently, I happen to read and watch a lot of books and videos relating to the topic education. The following is some of my superficial interpretation.
In China, we always refer the word reading to study. The word reading here has two kind of meaning. One is study—— attending the school, and another one is reading books, like novels, proses, poems and other literature works. Therefore, I need to response that question from two views.
Why do we reading books?
It's quite easier to answer this question. One of my favorite teachers Prof.Xiang Luo posed a video titled Why do we need to reading books, which is very heuristic and provides a new viewpoint for me. So, I won't repeat more about that question. Here is the video.
Why do we attend school?
As for this question, in other way, we can ask that why do we receive education? In China's education system, we have clear objectives when attending school. In elemental school, we learn hard to get in a good middle school. In middle school, we work hard to get into a good high school. And the final goal is to pass the college entrance examination to get into a great university. Unfortunately, that's the final goal in most people's life. That's why so many students getting lost in university life. This is the tragedy of China's education system. However, we hardly can change it. If we abandon the only scores theory, it will build walls between classes, resulting in great unfairness in society. That seems a incompatible contradiction. NO, we have a solution that is to change the educational concepts in universities. And my focus is on what is the meaning for us to attend university.
I have said that most students lost their life goals at university in China. Without dreams and even objectives, they muddle along until graduation, and then try to find a good job. If you ask me, university is a platform for us to find our dreams, and more importantly, it's a valuable period to broaden our horizons as well as improve ourselves. It's not easy to find our own dreams or life objectives. It takes time and experiences. But it should not become an excuse. I think trying to scheme our own life and being responsible for ourselves are the basic abilities for university students.
Recently, I read a book named Education, but haven't finished yet. In fact, the meaning of attending school, and the meaning of education are as plain as the nose on your face. But I want to dive deeper into this question.
Why do we learn so many useless subjects?
During this vocation, I reviewed the course Analog Circuit by Prof.Yihui Zheng again, because I will take the Communitive Electronic Circuit this term. When I learned that course last term, due to the poor teaching ability of my teacher, I had to watch the mooc courses of Prof.Zheng. He is a great director not only in the course itself, but also in life, inspiring students to think, explore and research. That is what most professors lose in China.
I am a electronic engineering student, and we have a pile of courses to take. I always think that why do we learn this course, that course…… I am sure that I won't use it in my later life. Why? Why? Why? I don't want to study it. But I am also clear that even with so much knowledge, we are still not qualified for the challenging jobs. So, what do we learn for?
In Prof.Zheng's class, I gradually realize that we are not learning for all the knowledge. A course's final intention is not to teach you all the things in the textbook, but the thoughts. And if you need it someday, your able to acquire quickly. Or if you want to go further, you own some basic concepts and knowledge in this subject, and maybe it contributes your interpretation of other subjects. More importantly, all the so called useless subjects are intended for the useless use, which mould our thought by unconsciously influenced. In the other way, we can say we are learning to how to learn (there is a book talking about the art of study: A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science). As what Prof.Qiang Zheng mentioned in his speech, university education was intended to produce good semi-finished products for the society, but not finished products. This was the difference between university and junior college.
Realizing this, I am excited about study, which like a game, and you need to find out the tricks in a subject to defeat it. It's hard but exciting. Long time ago, I regarded the study as an ability but not an affair. And my experience deepens my understanding.
As for the education in university, especially engineering majors, I think it's urge to reform. And the beginning target must be textbook. A good textbook amounts to a good teacher. When the teacher doesn't teach well, the textbook can still play an important role. But the situation of textbooks in China let me speechless.
The thoughts above are superficial, I believe as the time goes by, as my experiences rich, I will gain deeper understanding about the questions.
无用之用,是为大用.
——庄子,《逍遥游》