New vistas of education in China (2)

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New vistas of education in China (2)

By Liu Dong (Global Times) 09:14, September 24, 2013

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Scholarly impressions

Deng's first impression of Hong Kong came from his orientation camp. Chinese University of Hong Kong recruited a total of 305 students from the mainland, of which 19 were provincial top scorers in the gaokao.

"The school arranged an orientation camp for students from the mainland, which is equivalent to the mandatory military training in mainland school. But I feel it is more flexible and interesting as it can help freshmen adapt to campus life quickly and make new friends," Deng said.

In the camp, all fresh students were divided into groups and each group was assigned two senior students, affectionately called "group dad and mom."

The group dad and mom's daily tasks are to help freshmen become familiar with the campus environment by organizing all kinds of group activities. Deng said his first month in Hong Kong was much better than he expected, despite missing a few home comforts.

Unlike situation mainland universities, Deng didn't need to choose his major before the start of school. Instead, all students were arranged into nine different colleges to spend the first year on general education before selecting their specific majors based on their performances and interests. Deng thinks highly of this arrangement as it gives him more time to think about which direction he really wants to develop in.

All the courses at Chinese University of Hong Kong are completely taught in English, which is not a small challenge for Deng. "Although I studied English in high school, I can only understand 60 to 70 percent of what is going on," Deng said of a common problem for mainland students.

"Teachers here are kind and care more about students themselves instead of exams and scores. They spend a lot of time discussing issues with students in more depth than in mainland classes," he added.

One month after arriving in Hong Kong, Deng's deepest feeling is that he can meet and talk to many different people every day. "I think I have met more people in the past month than I have met in the past 19 years," he joked. "I used to only think about studying but now I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to develop my own social circles and life here."

But compared with his friends who are now studying in Peking University, Deng said it is not an issue of saying who is better. "My older classmates always told me that each place has its unique advantage and the point is to find what you want."

The freedom and openness of information in Hong Kong was also an eye-opener for him. Learning about the well-known Goddess of Democracy standing in the university's square was "beyond my imagination," he said.

He felt the same way about the protests he saw on the streets of Hong Kong, the open debates about school policy, the lobbying for voters for the Hong Kong legislative council elections and the annual June 4 Incident candlelight memorial.

True education

Xiong Qingnian, director of the Research Institute for Higher Education at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the higher education systems on the mainland and in Hong Kong are influenced by different social environments.

"You can also find social activities in mainland, but students take part mostly to obtain required credits. They have been affected by a general utilitarian mood," Xiong said.

Xiong concluded the gap between schools on the mainland and Hong Kong was fundamentally caused by different educational ideas and methods. "We need to remind top mainland universities to rethink about their purpose while they stick to outmoded concepts and wait for the best students to come to them."

"A real education should encourage young people to pursue truth, justice and wisdom, give them space to display their unlimited potential, help them live up to their ideas and grant them the opportunity to understand the suffering and injustice of others," Zhao wrote in her biography Say Goodbye to Elite Values after seven years' life in Hong Kong.

"What we want to pursue is not excellence with an arrogant and superior attitude, but excellence with a soul," Zhao said.