UNREACHABLE AND UNTEACHABLE STUDENTS
Every Chinese college and university has them, from top tier down to the bottom 4th tier.Usually every class has at least one and the unlucky teacher may be saddled with several. Occasionally, an entire class may be beyond reach.
No matter what the pedagogy, the methodology, the materials; there are some students who have decided that higher education is only an endurance requirement. In America there is an educational philosophy that no child shall be left behind. China has a slightly different bent – no college student shall fail to receive a diploma so long as the tuition has been paid.
Nationally, 5% of Chinese university students are unreachable and unteachable. At Zongshan University 1.6% of the post-graduate non-English majors are unreachable and unteachable.
Chinese students know full well that they will not be failed even if they never attend classes. They are allowed to retake a final exam, with a different teacher each time, until a teacher is found who will pass them. Failing grades issued by foreign teachers are administratively changes rather regularly. The Chinese educational system deprives the teacher of a major external motivational tool and the students take advantage of this situation.
These students are not too hard to identify. They sit in the back row and try to blend into the back wall. Some sit up front, arms crossed with a scowl on their face that says a D-8 bulldozer isn’t going to move them.
Some give themselves away by telling the foreign teacher “you do not understand China” or “you do not understand Chinese students” or “you do not teach like a Chinese teacher.”
Others will declare their open contempt for English due to some misguided nationalistic pride. Some will state that they do not need English now or in the future. A Shanghai University student declared that his father was a very high Shanghai Government party official and that his father would always take care of his future, both politically and financially. This boy was well connected and his future was assured. Within months his father was caught up in the political purge and power shift that saw all of Shanghai’s political leaders replaced. His father was imprisoned and made to forfeit all of his money and property. The boy was weeks away from graduation and would receive a useless degree.
A young man in Guangzhou insisted that he would never need English because his father was Chairman of the Board and majority Shareholder of a major Chinese company. This boy wasted his educational opportunity in reliance on his father’s position and wealth. Within two months of the boy’s graduation his father was imprisoned for economic crimes and sentenced to death and forfeiture of all money and property.
It is sad indeed to watch any misguided student pursue a path of self-destruction. But no matter what you say or do, they are determined to serve their time at university without earning an education because they know an education (Diploma) will be handed to them as long as their tuition is paid. Educated idiots!
I really don’t think English is unimportant, but I agree with you there are some educated idiots in every class. It might be an educational problem. We are clear that the majority of us can get our diplomas only if we follow the rules of our school. Even if some are doing no good, they can also finish their education with the certificates. In China, it’s really hard to have the opportunity for college education, we students must pass the very important exam, competing hardly, to be college students. On the contrast, it is no problem to finish it after then, it looks like that the education system wants to make up for our hard work before. Maybe it is why some of us behave so different, unreachable and unteachable. It’s really stupid. They are risking their future for nothing.
We are post-graduates, and we are adults.So we must take responsible for ourselves.The future belongs to those who are prepared for it.Now we should to learn more things and we also need a serious attitude towards learning.What we have learned will be beneficial to our lives.Please cherish the time and try our best to learn.
Chinese education system is a hit in China.I think it is a good topic that worth our while to think carefully.In Chinese university the students can easily get their diploma as long as each course isn’t failed.Concretely,you pass the course with the scores of the examination no lsss than 60. College students are not forced to study hard as in the senior school.It is free and you can arrange your time as you like.So most students want to have a good relaxation because the study before attending university is so exausting.However,now with the recognization of the fiece competion most of the college students would like to try their best to learn as more as possible.Of course there are also some students whose parents are rich or play an importan role in the government not caring the educantion because of the misguided nationalistic pride.In my opinion,it is urgent for the department of education pay attention to the quality of the education instead of the quantity.
I think the examples in this article are all special and few in China.Acturally speaking,most of the phenomenons stated in the passage are true,and the education system of China is not satisfied.America is the most powerful developed country in the world.And we want to become strong just like America,so we need to learn English well.Because most of the advanced technologys are in America and Europe.About the English learning,I think it is not wise enough to connect foreign language learning with national dignity.English is just a tool for communication,just like computer.Different people have different ways to learn English,so if we share our experience and learn from each other,the we can learn English well.
I think the last story you told us about the boy and his once being Chairman of the Board father could be a warning to many students, especially the unreached/unteachable ones. So far s I know, most of my classmates learn English very hard, for different reasons, though. But I also consider your conclusion about 1.6% of the post-graduate non-English majors in this university being unreachable and unteachable is right. And the only excuse for them is “I’ll not have to use English in the future. So why should I waste so much time on it?” That story may tell them a lesson that nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, and what will be useful to you in the future. What we can do now is just being preparing for the future, for every chance we may come across with. So if we don’t learn English when we’re still studying in the university, it will be a great pity.
In China, it’s most of the case that your future is guaranteed if you have a wealthy or powerful father, or a relative. There are exceptions, as showed in the above article, but not often. People in our society accept this as the way of the world and most of us are either proud of having or wish to have such a parent or relative. In a word, it is not a society encouraging independence, but rather encouraging dependence, or, we don’t have the idea of independence. Our parents are always ready to help, to take responsibilities for us, no matter what we have done and they think nothing but this is love.
It’s not a matter of whether English is important or not, but that whether one take responsibility for his or her own life.
The examples are a little bit “extreme”.There’re few people don’t have think about their future because they were born in the “Privileged” family.Meanwhile,there are much more students study English hard for it will offer them more opportunity to find a decent job.However,they don’t like English,or even hate it.It’s related to the education system with Chinese features.When I was in high school,English class is nothing but vocabulary ,grammar and exams.The students in high school are busy with exams all the time.I don’t think they find English interesting.English is nothing but a difficult exam they have to face to for years.
After reading this article, I feel the phenomenon what the professor has said is in existence universally in the campus in China. It is very serious if some students have this opinion. In the article, I see 1.6% of the post-graduate non-English majors are unreachable and unteachable at our university. The number is not small. We must pay attention to it in future.
In China, there is indeed a phenomenon among some students. For these students, their purpose to enter into a university are only to get a bachelor’ or master’ degree. They think they will get the diploma as long as the tuition has been paid. Some students even consider that they need not to work hard like poor students and be anxious about their future because of richness of the family. For this phenomenon, we should take measures to help these students change their opinion.
I have to say, I feel very sorry about those people who didn’t treat their education seriously. Maybe they have many huge reasons, but, honestly, they weren’t responsible for their own life. So many people make a big effort on study to go to college. However, when they enter the gate, they relax their efforts, so they didn’t study hard as much as usual.
But we are group enough to master our future, we should pay much attention to our education, not rely on teacher or college any more. If we couldn’t solve their problem on the study road, how can we solve those on our life road?
Finally, “I’ll not have to use English in the future” “English isn’t as important as usual” are the most stupid excuse. Everybody realize that English play a more and more role in the international world. You master it, and then you must the key to the world. So we should study hard.
Nobody can change the destiny except ourselves. Actually, someone needs do nothing but can enjoy a affluent life because his family has the power or enough wealthy. I always believe that I should work hard; the only one person can make my future bright is myself. I think the unreachable and unteachable students should think about why they live on the world. What is life, what is responsibility? The Chinese educational system may be wrong on same things. But the only one can save those students are themselves.
As a Chinese student, I am puzzled by our education. For most students, learning and testing capabilities are excellent, but the practical ability is rather poor: theories cannot be applied to the reality. Although what you said reflects some facets of the reality, there are still some controversies which show the differences between Chinese and foreign educational concepts. China is a developing country, and there are still many thorny problems. We still have a long way to go.
In my opinion, these examples in the article are very few in china university. Of course, we have to admit that there are some Educated idiots and education system of china has some problems,but also we can see most of us applied ourselves closely to the study of foreign languages especially in english. Most of students in university devoted all of their times in learning knowledge.
The stories of the two boys in this article remind me something that do exist in China. From their speech we know that you won’t be worried about your future if you have a powerful father in the present China. Just imagining a hypothetical scene, their fathers are still in power and they rely on their fathers’ privilege become someone “successful” in our society. What do you think at that time? I know lots of examples like this, actually many students are taken specially care by their powerful parents, their parents make them to believe that they don’t need to worry about anything, and they really do in fact.
Now it comes to us, the youth whose parents are neither powerful nor rich, they can do nothing to help their children in finding jobs and getting married. All the problems we have to solve by ourselves. When we graduate from the universities, we have to do a lot of things. Can you imagine the life without food or money for renting houses? So if you don’t want to be a vagrant, work harder, and learn everything it may useful in your later working day. With no doubt that English is one of them you have to master, so sturdy English with your every effort.
When we began to study English, we were told that English is very important. Its importance is reflected in many aspects, for example, if we want to enter a good school, we have to work hard to get good English score; if we want to enter a good company, the score of cet-4 or cet-6 is also required; if we want to apply for a foreign school, we have to pass some English exams. In my opinion, English is just like a tool, if we handle it, it can help us a lot.
After experiencing a number of things, I also understand a principle, the person whom I can rely on is myself. So if we want to be successful, just work hard.
The example you give in the article is a little extreme, but it is a part of reality in university. As a Chinese student we are forced to work hard to compete for a better university education chance.
During the university, everything is arranged by ourselves, attending class or not depends on ourselves, even a fail in class will give a more chance to pass with retake a final exam. But when graduating from university, we may find that we are not competitive in society. Recently, I often hear the regretful sign of my friend who go to work for just half a year. We once supposed that some knowledge like math or microeconomics theory may be useless in our job. However, they find it can help them a lot to solve some problems and change the attitude afterward. To my surprise, a lot of them are still busy reading and study to complete the knowledge during weekend. I am still a student, working hard and develop knowledge is more necessary for me! I don‘t want to waste time and try my best .
After entering the university, the motivation of studying is less to many students. Personally I wanted to do something new to enrich my life. But frankly, studying is the most important thing for a student to do. During my internship, I found I have wasted so much on useless things.
In my opinion, no one is unteachable in universities. Because if he can pass the entrance test to the university , it means he is clever enough to get all the knowledge. The only reason why he is unteachable is his personal factor. If a student is willing to study as hard as before, he will never fail any exams.
Thanks for you letter!In my opinion studying is a personal affair,maybe,my English is poor ,I hate learding English,even if it is very important. It does’t mean I don’t understand it ,it just no confidence. Meanwhile,whoever you are, you must go by youself .nobody can protect you foever.
I personally think that English is important for everyone in modern world. But whether to study English or not is still a personal affair. The most important thing one should always keep in mind is that an adult should take responsibility for what he has done. If a student doesn’t want to study at all, he should accept the fact that he can’t get the diploma. Our education system should teach us this lesson before we enter the real cruel society. Those examples just reveal the fact those students’ personality is not sound and complete, for they haven’t learned to be responsible for themselves.
The article has analyzed the problem of Chinese education system at present quite exactly. In the last ten years, the number of student in Chinese universities has grown too fast. The consequence is more and more graduate students can’t find jobs satisfied them. On the other hand, the bosses also find the qualities of the students can not meet their fundamental requirements.
There are so many students complain the education in China has wasted their so much time. In the majority of cases, they don’t reflect the problem of themselves. In fact, it is them who can change the bad situation at the moment. We do agree that the limitation of the education system can’t become much better in a short time, but we can improve ourselves by the ability of self-learning. Most of university students have personal computers, so they can enjoy the best courses from the foreign universities on the internet. But they haven’t. We have chosen to get used to the lazy environment, content with passing the exams and have a so-so credit. Although we can complain the teachers are not good enough, the courses are so outdate, we can not get rid of our responsibility to the today’s problem.
If we don’t want to become an unreachable and unteachable student, we should try to educate ourselves independently. The attitude is the most important thing. Only if we know how to bear the responsibility positively to our own lives, we should reach a better achievement in the future.
In my opinion, What is reflected in this article can concluded into two issues: one is about a social problem, while the other is the ill of the current Chinese educational system.
Firstly, lack of individual independence in living have prevailed throughout the adolescent who seem to lean on their families more heavily and heavily. They take it for granted that the resource the family leave them predestines what they will be in future and, in some sense it rules out the individual’s effort due to the lack of individuals’ stimulus mechanism. As we can see from the article, it would bring a disaster to our life if we don’t acquire the “tools” when young for future independently survival in society.
Secondly, the uncoded rule that tuition guarantees the diploma is to blame for our educational inefficacy. Campared to the Western higher education system, the Chinese one seems running in an easy-in-hard-out mode where the student have to work hard and compete for the limited quota the first tier universities provide and after he enters the university he could get his diploma even if he fails in exam or absent from class.
It is high time we reconsider the Chinese educational reform.
Nobody could change themselves’ parentage,but they could change themselves.I think everyone has come across this phenomena that there are a kind of people who do not need to work hard but they could get higher states and more wealth than us.All they worry about is how to enjoy life.It always inacceptable and discourage us.But it isn’t what we could change and we must learn to accept it.Life is going on,and we shouldn’t think much about this unfair phenomena.Think more about ourselves,how to change our current situations and make our life better.To pay may not have gain,but “no pay ,no gains”.So we have no choice,just making arduous efforts!
Yes,no one will force you to study in the college,and no teachers and parents will focus on your school reports anymore.it’s widely believed that you have entered the paradise once you stepped into the college. But as college students ourselves,we should keep clear-headed and always have the sense of crisis.we don’t study for anyone else but for ourselves.so i think we should be self-displine and learn more when we are still in the college and thus be more competitive in the society.
I think study can be something that interests us, something that improves us, or something that makes us rich in the inner feelings. If one goes to class just to pass the courses, or to receive a degree, the class has become meaningless for him. Even if his father is a very high Government party official or Chairman of the Board and majority Shareholder of a major company and can assure him a good job, I don’t think someone who is not eager to learn anything can handle the work well.
There are different persons in University. Some want to learn something, some want to study, some want to develop a relationship with others, some want nothing but a diploma. Just like a Chinese adage saying that there are different birds in large forest. But I agree that they are idiots who do wrong things in wrong place where provided for learning and studying.
I don’t think it is a phenomenon only exists in the English class. Students were pushed to study for the college entrance exams in their high school. The pressure comes from their families and their teachers. However, the pressure disappears when their college life begins. Some of them would miss themselves as no orientation and no motion to study hard. It fits an idiom in China “when a thing reaches its extreme, it reverses its course”
Fortunately I am not that 1.6% in the article and I consider English to be a tool of great use.
EDITOR’S NOTE: SINCE I HAVE 4 STUDENTS NAMED ERICK, NO ONE WILL TAKE CREDIT FOR THIS POST. THAT IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF NOT FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS.
My dear teacher, I think the views this passage go to extremes.Undoutly, there are some students not study hard and the education policy is not perfect. but who can say their policy is perfect? I think no one can say that. You can see the hardworing students in the campuse erveywhere,the classroom,the liabrary and so on. The students like you said is very few. While,in univesities,such as the SUN YAT-SEN univesity,students study all day long ,even at the time of noon sleep. Why do they do that? They know if they do not work hard, they will be faild. You are not student, you can not fell completely.As we see you glad everyday, but in fact, you have your own confuse. Right? So I advice you look at the advantages of chinese students more, though shortcomings.
When some of my classmates go abroad for studying, they have the mutual feeling that the foreign universities are easy to be admitted but relatively hard to obtain the diploma. Strict rules but loose environment .but in China, more and more college student fined it is difficult to get a job after graduation, why? In my opinion, first, it dues to the expanding policy to relief the stress of the unemployment, second, it is the college student who should review himself what he have done during college years.
They are not idiots,they are just poor guys.Or you could say they are the victims of the Chinese weird political system.Infact, every person in china know that learning English as a language is important in the global-village-to-be. Some papas ,who are in high political position,however tell their children that they could handle their future. That leads to the phenomena you mentioned in the article .We are trying. And we know the difficulties in teaching English on the basis of two different cultures. So, you should trying either sir.
Maybe as your said in the above article, our Chinese college students have many problems in the study. We sometimes think the teachers can admit us pass the terminal exams so that we should not try our best to pay more attention toward study. Compared the education in western, I can find many differences in the college education because we have different culture, history, custom and so on. We should learn the good results in the education from the western and use these to improve our system. I gratefully thank the author indicting our shortcomings in the college and introducing the foreign colleges how to get them scores.
English is of great importance! I applied for the intern job of a multinational company two years ago, but they didn’t employ me just because I could not speak fluent English confidently during the interview. This really depressed me. From then on, I realized that if my English was not good enough, I would lose more great opportunities.
Unless you give up yourself and you don’t want to lead a more valuable life, you can state that you don’t need English. But I believe that most people are motivated and eager to make progress. Without doubt, English will play a critical role in China in the future. No one can learn English and use English instead of yourself; you have to depend on yourself if you really want to master English well.
We can not deny that some of the universities in China are not strict with the students. If you fail in the exam, there will be a terrible record on your diploma and you can not find a good job after graduation. Finding a good job is difficult now. Some of the colleges realize this and they will enhance the pass rate in the exam. Some students take advantage of this situation, but they know that they learn nothing when they graduate. Even if they find a job, I don’t believe that they will do well, because they have already taken a “so-so” attitude in university, they will not work hard to gain achievement in their career paths. Maybe some of their parents have power and wealth, they can rely on them temporary, but they don’t realize that they can’t depend on them all their lives, they have their own future. Their lazy attitude will ruin themselves.
In a word, if we want to lead a good life, work hard and depend on our own.
After reading the above, I lack of vocabulary to express my disappointment for those guys. First I want to say that English is very useful in this opening world. If you have tried to get a job, you will find that English skill is necessary, or at least more preferred. In many occasions we may need to contact a foreign client, and we should catch up the latest information all over the world. Then English is a must. They cannot realize it because they never try to pursue a job under their own steam, or never treat their career seriously. Second, one should be responsible to themselves. Maybe your father is successful and leaves you a huge fortune. But it is none of your business. You just enjoy the fruits but neither repay your parents nor contribute anything to the world. Don’t you feel shamed that you leave nothing to your next generation? And don’t you feel empty when you find yourself not essential in the world? At last, I want to say that if you do think the diploma is worthless, and then don’t waste your youth and money. Try to do something meaningful instead. Since time is luxury. We should capitalize it rather than expense it.
Several years ago I learned from an investigation report that a graduate student can earn 3000 more RMBS if he/she master one more foreign language. We know English is exactly a wonderful example. People who learned English well can deal with the foreign affairs better than the people who don’t master English. Therefore we all should cherish the chance to learn English and never become an unteachable student.
Unreachable and unteachable students really exist in our lives. Some students think that they need not work hard for the diplomas because they surely will be handed to them in the end. So they don’t worry about the education and usually absent for the classes. Furthermore, they most have a powerful father who has done anything for them in the future. But in my opinion, it is not worthy of admiring. As a student, attending classes is the basic responsibility. And we can get much knowledge from the teacher, major knowledge also the rules which teach you how to be a good person. Those students who are unreachable and unteachable ruin their future by themselves. Even at last they get the diplomas; they have no corresponding capabilities to be competent for their jobs. In addition, their parents won’t be accompanied with them all their lives. As a result, their futures are in their hand. Nobody can help them to achieve success or the happy hour.
Why there are so many unreachable and unteachable students in Chinese colleges? Why so many Chinese college students do not like studying? Why so many Chinese college graduates can not find the jobs? I really think that there are lots of serious problems in Chinese educational system. Because even Mr. Wolff, a foreigner professor, can find the problems in our educational system. I know in china many important people have realized these problems, but they do nothing. So I always angry with them, I think they are extremely indifferent to our college students. Frankly, I firmly believe that there indifferent government officials and lazy teachers should responsible for the problems in educational system. When I was college student, I had an instructor, his responsibility is teach me how to study in college, and give me some useful advises. He has promised me that he would see me each week. However, I only have seen him a time during a year. So I really disappointed. Now I think if these important people can do some things for us, and these teachers can take care of us more or less, there will be less unreachable and unteachable students in our college.
I can not totally agree with you. As we all know, there all kinds of person in the world, we cannot judge only by few people.Definately, there are some chinese students do not like to english, but most of the students want to learn english ang get improment in english, and make friends with foreign people and make contribution to the whole world. we should not look at things just from one side.
Educated idiots! So thought-provoking.We must realize that not in China but in other countries such student exsit.maybe this educational sadness is from the idea of educational system–what the education wants is to cultivate the students’ ability of dealing with a high mark or just a diplome which they think can bring them a blight future,not the ability to use their brain to make new things,to settle the genuine problems.It’s their short sight that makes them just think about the current interests build this tragedy.
Actually, there do exist these students. They totally rely on their parents, on their wealth or authority. They donot like to learn english or they even donnot like english at all. Maybe in their standpoint, they could live a good, happy and weathy life without english. BUt they are wrong, perhaps they could live without learing english, yet today’s world in a opening world, we are not just communicating with chinase people, we have to sharing our ideas and our thoughts woth the whole world, so that can make the world more beautiful and harmonious.
Thank you for telling the truth. In china, worldly wisdom is regarded as the most important thing. You can’t have a foothold in china society if you aren’t good at interpersonal relationships.For this reason, people in China always eulogize others insincerely, express their opinions moderately, give others good evaluations constrainedly, in order to gain win-win situation.Chinese students know full well of the regulation– At university, most students will pass the exam and get the degrees even some of them are unreachable, because no university is willing to admit the students who are educated in their school are no good enough..
Another problem showed by the article is that some one pin their hope on their powerful parents. From my perspective, it’s naive that they don’t even know the obvious truth that no pain, no gain.
In generl I concede that some students,who don’t pay any effort to the study,pass all the course examination smoothly with a score just a little bit higher than the pass level and that the eliminating machanism in the universities of China fall behind the ones in western universities.However,we can actually see the effort which our universities pay to improve this situation.For example,one of undergraduate classmates was expelled from school because his spending all the time on the computer game result in failing several courses.Another telling example concerns about our sysu’s regulation for postgraduate that as long as you fail in two required courses you have to get out.So,they inform us that to some extent the universities should enhanse the educational level and make a more strict and effective eliminate machanism.
Morever,study is just for oneself instead of for others.That means if you are aware of notion you will get knowledge,of course including English. consciously without anyone else to persuade you.If you don’t know this conception,you will be at the pay of failure in future just like the boy the speaker memtioned.
This article makes me think about a new rule for postgraduate in Sun Yat-Sen University. Since last year, postgraduates of Sun Yat-Sen University who fail in two courses will have to leave school. I think this rule may push the students to study hard.
I think the purpose of entering college is not just to get a diploma. The important things are what we learn and the ability to learn. If someone wastes his time in the college, he may regret one day.
Some students just want to rely on their parents for a bright future. They think they don’t need to study hard. They don’t have a long head. Parents cannot help them throughout their whole life. What if one day their parents are incapable to help them?
Maybe we should remember the old saying that “Heaven helps those who help themselves“. We should study and enhance our own ability.
TO: GILL – RUI WANG
PLEASE BRING YOUR LAWSUIT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO YOU MAY FINALLY LEARN SOMETHING! THREATENING TO SUE A LAWYER IS THE ULTIMATE IN LACK OF WISDOM.
Monday, March 15, 2010 3:17 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified
“rui wang”
Mr martin,
i have planned to write to you for a long time. what i want to say is about your behavior in China, To be exact, about your requirement for the students of “saying english word ‘hello’, rahter than chinese “Hello” when they pick up the cellphones “. Your requirement is irreasonable, rude and even illegal.
first, all of your students are chinese, who are in china. they ought to speak their mother language, chinese, rather than english. the purpose of their learning english is to communicate with the world and introduce china to the world!!!
second, you definitely harmed their personal legal right. They have rights to choose what kind of language they want to speak. You definitely have no single right or power to threat them or force them to do so after class.
as a chinese, i am furious about what you did. i hope you can consider what i said and do some adjustment, otherwise i will adopt my right to bring a lawsuit against you.
best wishes
gill
gilberttopatyahoo.com.cn
The students mentioned in the page,which we called rich second generation,indeed existed not so much in Chinese university.In China,college there are mostly normal people,who has only normal family and normal looking.They are also tired of collegue education,not only English,but also any subjects.They are waiting to graduate.Yes,they paid their tuitions and waited for a useless degree.The reason leading to such situation may be that what they learned is not what they chose in the beginning.We know that,China has so many students who look forward to attending college every year,therefore not everyone can go to their desire collgur or learn what they are really interested in.There is always a situation that,someone who want to study economy finally have to learn engineering,two far different subjects.Given that attending collegue is so hard in China,many students would study what they really were not interested in,that made the situation the page metioned.However,there are also some students just studying well in order to get a chance to change to learn what they desire to learn in their post-graduation,though only minority of students did it.
I am more interested in the two examples given in this article. As is known, the income gap is broadening constantly, follows that ,the children of the rich attract the attention and discussing of public in recent years. Those young people are stuck with symbols of laziness, ignorance, wasteful and indulgented , and named “Fuerdai”. As far as I have noticed around, most of those “Fuerdai” actually deserve these assessments. You know in a long time ,Chinese people were all very poor since the country founded, this condition did not change until the reform and open was carried out in 1980s. people began to do business and accumulated their own possession ,which was forbided before, so some became richer and richer. Along with the national policy of family planning, absolutely those rich who have undergone a lot of hardships do not want their children suffer much, especially in the material aspects. However, problems come, “Fuerdai” have been protected carefully and learned nothing, except requiring and idling their time all the time. On the contrary, in America it is greatly different, even those billionaires like Bill Gates will leave few to their descendants. Independent is recommended and encouraged, people have to struggle to their own life whoever their daddies are.
Many people are worred that more and more “Fuerdai” may spoil the atmosphere of our society, not to mention expecting them to shoulder the future of own country. This is anther problem arose in the transforming of county and society. To solve this, we should change our perception, which is publicized by government all days, but how hard when it is took into practice.
After reading this article, I feel really sorry for these unreachable students. And I really want to say thank you, Professor Martin. You take the teaching so seriously. Actually I have studied in this school for 5 years. However I never meet any teacher like you so respectful. Most of them just take teaching as their job, not their duty. After class they seldom contact with their students. And some of them even do not update their PowerPoint (the teaching notes) for several years. They are so nice to students but I don’t think this will do any good to them.
You are a tough teacher, but we all respect you and feel gratitude to you. Thank you again.
In addition the unteachable students do exist but they are just a little part of us. Most of us take the education as well as the diploma seriously. We seldom absent for class. So cheer up, dear professor.
I am confused at the first sight of the title. After reading the whole text, I think this phenomenon is unavoidable. No matter in what country and what courses, there is a group of students who don’t work hard because of their family background. It is just the same in China and in Universities. However, we should know that most of us need to study earnestly in order to improve ourselves and hunt a good job. In my opinion, teachers have to make every means to educate their students but if several students refuse to cooperate, just let them go. Those students don’t want to make progress, so they make their choice of how to living and studying. It is hard to change their attitude. Remember that there are other students who indeed want to learn and be educated.
EDITOR’S NOTE: HOW CAN YOU “GREATLY ADMIRE” A COWARD, SOMEONE WHO USES A FALSE NAME FOR SUCH A COMMUNICATION. I HAVE NO STUDENT BY THIS NAME. THEY THINK THEY ARE ANONYMOUS BUT IP ADDRESSES TELL ALL. I AM WAITING FOR AN APOLOGY AND IF I DO NOT GET ONE SOON, ANOTHER STUDENT WILL BE EXPELLED.
I admit there are problems of China’s education system, I also admit that china do exist some unreachable and unteachable students. But who can say other countries do not have such students. In fact, these students are minority. The most of students know that study hard is their duty. They also will try their best to be responsible for their own future.
After I read the message from Rui Wang, I want to say other things. To be honest, I great admire him for his courage. But I am not fully agree with his view. We all know you certainly have the right to choose what kind of language to speak as a person, and have the freedom to speak Chinese as a Chinese. But as a student, we know the professor’s requirement help to improve our English. With another word, the professor also has the right to require his students to answer his call with English.
I agree with your view. Everyone’s life depends on their own efforts, but do not rely on others. This phenomenon in the article is very common in China. Many companies focus on the diploma at first glance in an interview, and that makes it important to get a diploma in order to get a good job although the diploma doesn’t make sense as it looks like indeed.
I think that, like English or other subjects, are a tool. To learn English, master the skills is to be able to help us better development in the community.
There is a popular proverb in China recent years,”marrying well is better than studying well, borne well is better than marrying well”,Which is a true portrayal of Chinese students’ life.Just as we know, more and more students begin to seek easier ways for themselves, except working hard.
However, most students are diligent at their lessons.because they know that they must do their best if they want to enjoy colourful lives of future.
The parents will not live together with us forever, and the property will be use up one day, what we can keep our wealth is ability we have,so please cherish the opportunities for ourselves.
What a shock when I read that comment above! I just have nothing to say. Maybe professor you can make a talk with him or her.
In my opinion, the reasons for such phenomenon you mentioned in your article lie in two, the Chinese higher education system and the students themselves.
You may know that the way Chinese universities select their students is quite different from the west. In China, you have to get an excellent score in college entrance exam, which is very difficult indeed; the competition among students in such an exam is extremely fierce. Quite differently, you may have multiple ways to get into a college besides taking the exam. In China, most students can get the graduate diploma as long as they don’t fail too much courses. As a result, some Chinese student think that they should have much fun in college, and do not need to worry about their study in university, and that was what I heard when I was still a high school student. The solution for such problem is easy to suggest, even though it may be difficult to carry out. That is, offer Chinese students multiple ways to enter college, but never give them easy way to graduate.
The second reason lies in the students themselves. What we can do is to tell them why education is important, and let them know that it will probably help them a lot in the future, even though they don’t need it at the moment. We are all grownups; we can make our own decisions and bear the consequences, as long as we got all related information. For me, education is extremely important, so I know what I should do quite well.