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Abstract
On the basis of reforms to undergraduate education at Peking University, this article sets out from students’ free choice and strict institutional selection, focusing on the process of the cultivation of the elite in mass higher education. The article analyzes the systems for student recruitment, talent training, educational programs, testing and assessment, and so on, revealing the plural logic behind the selection of the elite, the expansion of the number of courses under the trend of generalism, competitiveness under the power of rigorous testing and assessment, and rational management and skill-based performance by the individual. Going a step further, this article examines the fracturing of campuses due to erosion by instrumental rationality and consumerism, alienation in teacher-student relationships, and the essential hollowness of education. Finally, the article discusses students’ dispositional characteristics as shaped by trial and error through free choice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the concrete research and writing of this article, Ding Jieqiong, Zou Runan, You Li, and other classmates provided indispensable assistance in data analysis and the dissection of the case; Lü Shen, Yang Zheng, Guo Zhanhong, and other classmates devoted considerable efforts; and Shen Wenqin, Qin Chunhua, Lu Xiaodong, and other teachers either participated in the study design, or provided review and recommendations for revisions. Thanks go out to the teachers and classmates who participated in the interviews: their passion, wisdom, puzzlement, and pains, and even their indignation not only supported the contents of the study, but also guided the motivations and enthusiasm behind the study; although they only appear in this article in the form of placeholder names such as “Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li,” they are the true authors of this article.
Notes
1 See “Beijing daxue benke jiaoyu zonghe gaige zhidao yijian” (Guiding recommendations for comprehensive reforms to undergraduate education at Peking University), reviewed and approved by the Office of the President of Peking University on April 5, 2016.
2 “Study and Practice of Reforms to Undergraduate Education at Peking University” (Beijing daxue benke jiaoyu gaige yanjiu yu shijian): see Wang Yiqiu (ed.), Wenli jichu xueke de rencai peiyang (Talent training in the fundamental disciplines of science and the humanities), Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2005, p. 42.
3 See “Beijing daxue gaige yu fazhan gangyao” (Outline of reforms and development at Peking University), July 1994, in Wang Yiqiu (ed.), Wenli jichu xueke de rencai peiyang, Appendix 1–8, p. 48.
4 The establishment of “specialization” was the result of emulation of the Soviet Union: disciplines were divided into three levels by department, major and specialization. The scope of specialization was quite narrow: for instance, the aim of specialization in college physics programs, based on the different physics divisions, was to train advanced physics cadres for scientific research organizations, factory laboratories, and institutions of higher education. See Du Qin, et al, Beijing daxue xuezhi yange (1949–1998) (Evolution of educational programs at Peking University [1949–1998]), Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2000, p. 24.
5 Office of Educational Administration at Peking University, Beijing daxue benkesheng jiaoxue shouce (Peking University handbook for undergraduate student education), Sept. 2014.
6 The data of the Office of Educational Administration on the Pilot Program for Training Outstanding Talents in the Fundamental Disciplines shows that, among the graduating classes of 2013–2016 at this particular college, the “Outstanding Talents Program” accounted for 13.1% of all graduates; among these, recommended students constituted 68.4% of the Outstanding Talents Program, autonomously recruited students represented 23.7%, and ordinary college entrance examines accounted for 7.9%.
7 “Beijing daxue gaige yu fazhan gangyao,” July 1994, in Wang Yiqiu (ed.), Wenli jichu xueke de rencai peiyang, Appendix 1–8, p. 48.
8 Of the students in the last four graduating classes at this particular science college, 83.2% chose to pursue advanced studies; among them, 46.7% chose to study abroad, while 36.5% attended domestic programs. Among the top students, 87% pursued studies overseas.
9 See: “Beijing daxue 2016 nian benke jiaoyu gaige shishi fangan yaodian (shixing)” (Key points of the 2016 plan for implementation of reforms to undergraduate education at Peking University [provisional]), in “Beijing daxue benke jiaoyu zonghe gaige zhidao yijian,” reviewed and approved by the Office of the President of Peking University on April 5, 2016.
10 In reviewing the “breadth” and “choice” exhibited by its curriculum reforms, Harvard University noted that students are compelled to make choices across broad fields and expansive course catalogs, while the systems of knowledge lack internal coherence, and the various disciplines can only engage in forced cooperation; ultimately, the curriculum devolved into what Harvard students called “a tangled web of earnest, academic motivations,” a four-year college curriculum circling around the academic fields of different professors, where nothing is learned in the end. See Harry Lewis, Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education, New York: Public Affairs, 2006, pp. 24–25.
11 The “Peking University Statistics on Graduation Status for Minor and Dual Degrees in the Class of 2016” (Beijing daxue 2016 jie fuxiu shuang xuewei biye qingkuang tongji) show that 730 students obtained a dual degree / minor in economics from the National School of Development; including the School of Economics and Guanghua School of Management, a total 747 individuals pursued a dual degree / minor in economics and management, accounting for 56% of all individuals who graduated with a dual degree / minor (1323), while the total number of students with a dual degree / minor in the three departments of literature, history and philosophy constituted only 7%. On the campus grapevine, “Leisure in schoolwork, study a dual degree in economics” has become one of the “three proverbs” at Peking University, alongside “Going to the library for independent study,” and “Gnawing on a chicken drumstick on campus.”
12 See: Office of Educational Administration at Peking University, 2014 ban Beijing daxue benke sheng jiaoxue shouce (2014 educational handbook for undergraduate students at Peking University); Harvard University, Handbook for Students 2016–2017; Stanford University, Major Requirements 2016–2017.
13 See “Beijing daxue benke sheng kaoshi gongzuo tiaoli (zhengqiu yijian gao)” (Regulations of Peking University on undergraduate student examination work [draft for comments]), issued on November 10, 2005; and Notice No. 258 from the Archives of the Office of the President of Peking University on the issuance of “Beijing daxue benke kaoshi gongzuo yu xueshu guifan tiaoli” (Regulations of Peking University on undergraduate examination work and academic standards), reviewed and approved at Conference No. 592 of the Office of the President on December 6, 2005.
14 See “Beijing daxue benke kaoshi gongzuo yu xueshu guifan tiaoli” (Regulations of Peking University on undergraduate examination work and academic standards), reviewed and revised at Conference No. 657 of the Office of the President on August 28, 2007, in Presidential Issuance 2007 No. 151.
15 This proposal has already been implemented: “To proactively build an atmosphere of independent study, self-challenging, and practical innovation among students, colleges and departments with mature conditions may, by establishing ‘Honors Bachelor’s Degrees’ and corresponding systems, encourage students to select more challenging honors courses and actively participate in practical innovation, so as to build higher platforms for the cultivation of outstanding academic talents.” See “Beijing daxue 2016 nian benke jiaoyu gaige shishi fangan yaodian (shixing).”
16 See: Anonymous BBS member “bluky,” “Fali xue, weihe ruci renxing?” (Why is the study of legal theory so capricious?), June 28, 2016, http://bbs.pku.edu.cn/v2/post-read.php?_bid=22$threadid=15813645.
17 See: Anonymous Peking University BBS member, “Ping shenme wo xinku ershi nian, xianzai que bi bieren cha name duo” (Why should I endure twenty years of hardship, when I’m so much worse than everyone else now), https://bbs.pku.edu.cn/v2/post-read.php?_bid=61&threadid-15747007.
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Notes on contributors
Liu Yunshan
Liu Yunshan is a professor at the Graduate School of Education at Peking University.