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Nobel Laureate Yang on Sci-tech Development and Educational Reform
Renowned scientist Chen Ning Yang has lately become the center of attention at the 2000 annual meeting of China Science and Technology Association, which he called "the biggest academic gathering ever attended in decades". At the meeting he delivered "Chinese Culture and Science and Technology", an academic report that has evoked warm response and profound thinking among 4000-odd professionals at the meeting.
In his report, Yang analyzed sci-tech developments in the 20th century, forecast about things in the coming 30 years, and also put forward plans for educational reform to meet international competition.
Many things, he said, such as telephone, radio, mobile phones, man-made satellite, heart by-pass surgery and organ transplant are all too familiar today but were just unknown 200 years ago. During the past 200 years, world productive forces had been tremendously emancipated thanks to an industrialization process. Two hundred years ago, over 80% of world population were engaged in agricultural production but in the place of this is merely 1% or 2% to feed a population of several hundred million in today's US in addition to providing a large surplus for export. The total assets of US sci-tech corporate establishments founded in recent 30 years total about US$1 trillion, according to Fortune, an accumulation speed unimaginable at the beginning of the century, not to say 200 years ago. Two hundred years' development reveals that it is the result of interaction of the three forces of science, industry and economy that has boosted world production and this is to be all the more so in the coming new century.
Why could a fast growth of science and technology have been achieved in the past 50 years? Behind this are many reasons. People had been assured of the prowess of radar and atomic bombs used in WWII and further brought home the impacts of technology on future productive forces. The US had lost no time in founding its National Lab, Natural Sciences Foundation and Fund for National Security after WWII. Other countries also followed suit to have similar institutions established and this has directly pushed the development of world technology. Another reason is that sci-tech progress has exerted a bigger and bigger influence on world economy, forcing various corporate giants as US's IBM, China's Legend and others known to the world to continuously increase their technological input. Academic achievements were also found to help in an accelerated industrial progress. Take development of physics in the 20th century for example, it has brought into being a booming semiconductor industry and further the rise of a computer industry at a time of the 20th century of "physics". By the 1950s, following an intensive study into the structure of human genes, biology gradually took the place of physics. As a discipline closely connected with people's health, it has been widely considered as a leading branch of sciences in the new era.
When talking about the relations between sci-tech and economy, Yang said in the past 100 years scientific achievements had been translated into productivity at a faster and faster speed. For instance, it took 65 years to transform television theory into actual products, and a period of 35 years for radio, 18 years for X-ray, 5 years for radar, and only 2 years for laser. Ties among science, industry and economy would be more visible within 20 or 30 years in the future.
How are things in the world 30 years after? It would be all the more difficult to forecast about a world 60 or 70 years further since things are developing fast and this is just as people in the early 20th century couldn't tell today's technological advance. However, an outline for 30 years in the future still remains possible. The trend of globalization will continue to develop without doubt and computers will be used in every aspect of people's life. Much success has also been registered in developing telecommunication and bioengineering, which will establish itself as a powerful engine for world economy.
Also, a change has been made in some academic definitions. A saying is that people will have a life span of 150 years by 2050, a statement yet to be proved. But what we know for sure will be a prolonged human life, a growth of population and increased consumption by people. New accompanying problems will inevitably arise such as energy resource supply, biology and environmental protection in addition to a wide range of scientific subjects to be studied.
There will still remain such a point: How to adjust the existing educational system to meet international challenge?
Yang tells the differences in educational philosophy between Asian countries and the United States: American education encourages diversified interests and active imaginations. Students are told to believe in themselves and solve problems in their own way. While Asian students are taught to focus on a certain subject and do things in a cautious manner. American students are a self-confident complacent group and like to show not to be shallow. While Asian students are so modest that sometimes they become yielding in face of difficulties and challenge.
Both educational methods have advantages and disadvantages, Yang concluded. He hopes China's education reformers would learn something good from the US and make the next generation more ready, more active to meet challenges in the 21st century.
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