DENG XIAOPING
1904 – 1997
It is with deep admiration and respect for Deng Xiaoping that we attempt to build upon his philosophy and vision for modernization of China’s educational system.
We are mindful of the wisdom of Deng Xiaoping when he said:
“It’s not that we have too many debates and discussions among persons of different opinions, but too few. Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of. We must adhere to the policy of ‘letting a hundred schools of thought contend’, and promote debate. Different schools of thought should respect and complement each other. Academic exchanges should be promoted. No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual: it always rests on the achievements of past generations as well as our own. Any new scientific theory is a summation of practical experience. How can a new theory be evolved if it is not based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientists, both Chinese and foreign?”
—Some comments on work in science and education, August 8, 1977
(speech at a forum on work in science and education)
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? WHY? Here at China Holistic English are we being true to Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy?
Post your response
I think Deng’s word is profound.
First,if there is only one school,it may restrict the wide of people’s thought,and it will be the obstruction of man’s creativity.
Second,nowadays, we seldom heard that something is created or invented absolutely by a single person,the only exception may be Eistein establish the theory of General Relativity.Even the most famous mathematician and physician Sir Newton said”If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.
The Holistic English gives a diffent way from the traditional one in teaching English.It can be a good complement to the school-teaching-English.
“Academic exchanges should be promoted. No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual: it always rests on the achievements of past generations as well as our own”
That’s the most wonderful part in his words which I can’t agree with him more. To one person, it is easy to say he or she is successful. It only needs achieving his or her target, then that’s a success. But for a whole situation, for a research, it is not only for one person’s success, it is a devotion to the whole area. No one can make it oneself. It needs every human-beings’ great efforts to build it up. When we recognize this simple but hard condition, what we should do is to “stand and deliver”.
I agree with the Deng Xiaoping‘s opinion of work in science and education.
Firstly, it’s quite right that we should not afraid of errors, quite the contrary, we should accept different opinions and erroneous views in order to improve ourselves, especially to the science and education, different schools of thought should respect and complement each other. Secondly, real knowledge comes from practice, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. Just as the comment of Deng Xiaoping mentioned:”any new scientific theory is a summation of practical experience.” What’s more this great leader’s words greatly inspired us. We should take a correct attitude to our or others errors and opinions, and learn from others’ strong points to improve ourselves.
I think Holistic English in China should be accepted and treated well. Because Holistic English is a new English teaching style, and also a useful teaching method, therefore it should be promoted.
Yes, I agree with the words. Because what Xiaoping said is right, we should exchange the opinion with others, and debate with others. We could get progress after the discussing or the debate. So we should respect other people’s opinions. When referring to inputting English, I think, it is something like what Xiaoping said. Just like the lv2 sharpen lv2, we exchange the opinion with others in English, talk with others in English and debate in English. So we should stick to the policy of ‘letting a hundred schools of thought contend’ and speak to other people as much as possible.
“Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of.”
I agree with him about that viewpoint. If the schools restrict students’ thought, they will obstruct students’ creativity. Nowadays, all schools according to teaching ways impart knowledge to students who just receive the knowledge like copycat. Students don’t dare to create other novel thought because they are accustomed to “copy” and afraid of making a mistake.
However, the Holistic English creates a novel way for students in teaching English. I believe it can be a good teaching English model.
I totally agree with what Deng Xiao Ping said in the comment.
In China, localism exists to a serious extent in the relations between provinces or even cities.As a result, many colleges conduct the programme or the research by themselves.On the contrary, if they could do that with other similar institutes, they can learn from each other, resulting in a greater achievement than the previous one.
Deng Xiao ping was a great person.He always did right thing when others did wrong thing.I can not aggree with him any more.Look back to chinese history,the time when chinese culture was most glorious is the time where the most debates and discussions existed.Great proletarian cultural revolution was a big mistake,which destory the excellent chinese culture and took chinese culture back at least 50 years in my opinion.Deng Xiao ping realized this point.
Yes,I agree with what Deng Xiaoping said about the education systerm. “Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of”. That is true. Everyone should learn from each other or he/she cannot improve himself/herself a lot. Many new ideas are produced from discussion or debate. And if there is not discussion or debate, there would not be so many scienticfic discoveries,which are very important to people’s lives. In our daily or acadamic life, we should listen to other’s opinions and respect them with an open-mind, and do not judge them or we cannot make big progress.
I don’t know how to show my agreement with Mr. Deng by words. What he said is China really needs, not just in schools but also in many fields. Chinese schools appear very conservative when some new idea come to them, and they also do not like to share their idea or resources with each other. On the other hand, some students or even professors get used to copy or steal research results of others. Mr. Deng ask us to change our mind many years ago, but we haven’t finish it even today. We have a lot to do.
Completely agree,and I do think Holistic English are we being true to Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy.Maybe at the beginning we think to solve a problem, yet it is good to see everybody think even if we might not get that solution.Anyway,at least here at Holistic English one thinks other than becoming a test machine.
Yes, I do agree with the words. It is true that only different criticism and opinions could improve our thought. Also did Mao Zedong say that a person should learn how to criticize others and himself. After having a reviw of the present of China, our literature and art are lack of great work due to being lack of criticism. This phenomenon is especially seriously in education domain. You can see it is a kind of fast manufacture pattern in education in China. Each student is learn same thing with same way that is how to get high rate in the test. It results in that student can achieve better appearance but show worse performance in creation. That sounds sad, but the even sadness is every one have to follow this way because of living neccessity.
I agree with the views of the article.As we konw It is with deep admiration and respect for Deng Xiaoping that we attempt to build upon his philosophy and vision for modernization of China’s educational system.In the leadership of Deng,our country have a great progress.When we were in elementary school, Deng put forword four modernization in education.And now,many years past,do we achieve this aim?The answer is a big no no.There are many downside in our education system.We need to change it.As the article says,we must adhere to the policy of ‘letting a hundred schools of thought contend’, and promote debate. Different schools of thought should respect and complement each other. Academic exchanges should be promoted.
It needs everyone’s efforts not one person,one school or one administration.As long as we pay out our efforts,we can
achieve the aim one day.
As for me, I am in favor of Deng’s opinion without hesitation.
There exist few objections that we can not complete a task easily by a single person. During the cooperation, the different ideas are unavoidable. To some people, they are sick of these voices which are barricade to solving problems. The others, who maintain the opposite attitude, believe that these counterviews will push them to finish those tasks better.
As Deng said, Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of. In all, when facing to some argument, we should treasure it, not ignore it.
I thing Deng Xiaoping is a great designer of economic and education in China.From his words I summarize two words:different and practice.One aspect,we must enourage every university owning their distinguishing features and specialties.Just like the education for all-around development today ,we hope every children have their ideas and life attiudes.Then they can communicate and ignite the sparks of understanding. It is a power that our nation can be creative and our country can be stronger.Another aspect,practice is perpect.If someone only study knowledge in books ,he will never be sucessed.Practice is necessary for us to learn much of precious experience.And prevent us to be wrong next time.Just like English study,we take much time on words and grammer,why not give yourself a try to open your mouth and communicate with others in English?
Yes, it’s ture that no success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual. I agree with Xiaoping’s comments on the science and education. We study the experience and knowledge ,it’s from the others’ devotion. Maybe there are wrong theory in our education, it needs constant discution or reserch on it.Don’t afraid of making a error,and don’t give up your different personal ideas.We will make a success when the best project evolved.
I agree with Deng Xiaoping’s theory of the modernization of China’s educational system. “It’s not that we have too many debates and discussions among persons of different opinions, but too few.” For these words, I extremely agree with him. It seems to me that we Chinese like to follow others and get the recognition from others, so most of the time, we tend to believe other people’s words, thought and theory without any critical spirit. That’s really a big problem in China. For if there’s no critical thought and courage of saying no to the so called authority, there will be no creative ideas, no innovation. Innovation is the engine of one country’s development. So, in China, we should solve this problem seriously. We need to keep encouraging people to have different views and exchange opinions frequently, it’s usually through this discussion and debate that some creative ideas may pop out!
DENG XIAOPING, the man change China and the whole world, leave us lots of theories that still work today. Just as shown above, he have told us what we should do in science and education. What he said seems common today however these words in China 80s were bans. As the chairman of China, Deng shows us his courage, wisdom and determination by saying these to change China. We should all honored Deng for what he has done, moreover we shall spare no efforts in carrying on his work in changing China.
I agree with what Dengxioping said.In fact ,throughout Chinese,there was never exist a period,which “letting a hundred schools of thought contend.”As one of greatest statesman of China,Dengxioping knew this very well.Maybe only one period ,that’s a period more than two thousand years ago.It’s called Warring States Period .It’s a period full of war ,both in military affairs and thoughts.But debates of different schools of thought, also established the philosophy base in the following two thousand years.What Dengxioping said is full of wisdom.I think the more we debate,the more we can learn.
I think that Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy and vision for modernization of China’s educational system is very useful.
When the national policy is liberal and encouraged, the universities and educators have started their various ideas for actual teaching. Maybe some of them are good for education indeed, but the competition could promote education reform. No body can establish a perfect educational standard by his own. Both supporters and opponents could give him the inspiration for improving their own. And it is the same in science. At first, there may be many ways that is feasible. No one can practice them one by one. But if they communicate with others who work on it, they will know what has been done and what to do or not to do. The period of reasching can be very long, but one’s life is short. So we should always have one to work on. This heritage is very important, too.
The summation of one and another, both past and present is very important for the development of education and scientific reseach.
I do totally agree with Deng Xiaoping’s opinion on scientific research. I think what he said above is very profound. Only those who always listen to others’ opinions and accept reasonable suggestion can succeed. Discussion and debate is necessary in every field, teaching, learning, and so on. Reasons for this are below. Different people have different thought. One person’s version may be less extended than a group. Discussion and debate can help us know what others think which can widen our vision. So I think discussion is very important. In our study, we should often discuss with different people. Only in this way can we make great progess.
I think Universities in China should act in the spirit of what Deng Xiaoping had said—“Different schools of thought should respect and complement each other. Academic exchanges should be promoted.” We should appreciate the new achievements of other school and learn the merits. Then we may benefit a lot, and most importantly, the whole society may be benefited. A single person or a school can’t make huge progress alone, only when we start to cooperate. However, when there is some deficiency in other schools, we should amend and not use it as an excuse of why we can’t do better. In this way, there comes a benign environment for both research and competition. The economic development depends on science and technology in China; and the improvement of science and technology is based on education. So, it is important to advance our educational level and enhance the scientific theory. And summarize the practical experience is a better way. We should always remember this.
Do you remember the policy of“letting a hundred schools of thought contend”? It is one of the most unforgettable policies in China. There are some important historical reasons in the forming of this policy. Before its forming, cult of the individual exits in China. Many decisions are only made by some leaders regardless of the results. Therefore, the policy plays an important role in the modernization of China. It encourages the people to debate or discuss more before making decisions. It helps to make the society become more tolerant and make a large step in economy. The political policy gives an impetus to the development in economy.
Of course I agree with what Deng’s words. What he said summarized the key point that lead to success.
Firstly, like he said, cooperation is more and more important today, especially in the field of science. For example, many students choose to study abroad, or as an exchange student to study at overseas universities, which is a mean of academic communication, and in this way, we can learn from each other, Secondly, many scientific project today are done by several countries together, with many scientist wisdom, the project may proceeds more smoothly and make bigger discovery perhaps.
I am very admire Deng xiaoping , he was not only good at war tactics ,but also economy developing and education. He said that there can exist error views and discussion .Because we can get right view at last. There is no right opinion at first ,we must do practise to test it right or wrong.
There was a long time that China’s culture development stopped ,and even back up. At the same time ,there was no precedent we can referent. However, Deng xiaoping stand out ,and put forward new opinion, which was proved correct and even used today. China begin to chase,and today our education level is advanced and suitable. Every year , millions of excellence graduates come to construct our country,and we are make great progress all the way.
Yes, I do agree with Deng Xiaoping’ philosophy and vision for modernization of China’s educational system. “Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of.” This means that croping up Erroneous views is natural, the key is not afraid it. There is always a day then the truth arrival. “letting a hundred schools of thought contend” in Chinese it means “bai jia zheng ming”. China is Multi-ethnic family, china also is Multi-cultural family.
I totally agree with what Deng XiaoPing had said. No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual, especially when we are new in the subject we research in. In the very beginning, all we can do is to learn the experience and knowledge from the past and present generations, when we accumulate enough, then we can create our new thoughts, even a new theory. The new theory should tally with the real facts and correct practical experience. Therefore, to create a new thought, we have to do a lot of reseach, and it is based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientists, both Chinese and foreign.
I absolutely agree.
In China, we have many “model answers”, no matter in the field of nature science or social science. We are given little encouragement to have our own opinions. To develop science we need creative ideas and break the old rules. Academic exchanges are important as what Isaac Newton had said,“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” And there is no doubt that a new theory must be a summation of practical experience. Nobody can create a theory out of nothing which can not be anything but a lie.
China Holistic English is a novel teaching method tested by practice. Some of my ideas about learning English changed entirely. I wish this new and helpful teaching method will really improve people’s English.
I am totally in favour of Mr. Deng’s ponit of view. No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual. And it is when it’s based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientist that a new theory can be evolved. Take the education system for an example. Although it’s a mess and not effective at all, it’s pretty good experience for development of a new effective one in the future. We also need the successful experience for eduction abroad. We’ve got to summarize the practical experience of our system and others.
As a student grew up in 90s, I really appreciate DengXiaoping’s contribution to the education in China, where still remains poor in 70s. What’s more, he was significantly essential to all the Chinese, for his decision “renovation and reform in China” was remarkable and benefits almost all Chinese. I can not imagine how China will look like today without Chairman Deng’s great decision. Although the revonation is quite slow for the obstacles in other aspects are not so easy to clean, we should never forget Dengxiaoping’s vision in the 70s, at which time all China suffer from the wrong direction. Dengxiaoping’s philosophy is developing as time flies by, albeit the key spirit remain forever.
“How can a new theory be evolved if it is not based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientists, both Chinese and foreign?”
I totally agree with the point. I am a postgraduate from Department of Water Resources and Environment. In our field, if someone wants to get better achievement he/she should read more about the studies of others’ and go out to the nature to investigate and gauge the natural phenomenons.
My supervisor has said that if the geographical science must go into the nature and do more field work.Otherwise, the science will have no life-force. Frankly, we have to do a lot of caculating-work in my major(hydrology).However, if only caculating left, I don’t think it is the hydrology, and it’s just mathematics.
Oh!What a profound thought.Frankly speaking,Deng Xiaoping is my idol.And his thoughts are so proper and brief.We truthly need more debates and discussions.We should OPEN our thoughts with others.Only in this way,We can get a wide view and do the things well.We should know that every thought should be respected and equal.Education’s duty is to make us fit the world and respect others in team works.
I think we are being true to Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy at Holistic English.We have the class in form of happy talks and respectful debates.It is so different from the classes we had before.We are so lucky.
Deng Xiaoping is one of my most favorite because of his wisdom, his mind and his the courage of change. To above opinion, I totally agree with him that different schools of thought should respect and complement each other, and academic exchange should be promoted. I also think if you only study the academic by a single individual, your last view may be very narrow and one-sided. As we all know, you have an idea, and I have an idea, if we exchange each other, then we will get more, maybe just like 1+1>2. Maybe in the course of exchange with different people, even with the foreignor, we can have different views and debates,but our theory will grow up during this process. These are my resons.
Before I say ‘yes’ to the question I deeply show my respect to Deng Xiaoping.The times has proved Deng a great leader and his philosphy a truth.I am touched by his comments on work in science and education.As Deng said,we need different ideas,we must not be afraid of erroneous opinions.Different schools of thought should respect and complement each other.Also his comments on academic and science are wonderful.In a word,these theories guided us in the past,and will be a great guidance now and in the future.
Different people think differently. No one can say that he knows all the truth, that’s why we need discussion and debates about things we are not sure. Through debating we are not going to convince or force others to believe what we believe, finding us closer to the truth is what we set out for. In China, teachers and the books are always thought to be correct, some teachers even agree to the knowledge of the books without thinking. If we are not allowed to discuss or express our point of views, we will be misguided. What Deng Xiaoping said is meaningful to the education system in China; however, little has changed compared to the old pattern of education. In China Holistic English, we discuss topics in our class so we know how others see things in a different perspective. We post comments about some social problems to find better solutions. It’s a good way of learning and I think we are doing what Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy asks us to do.
To tell the truth,I agree with the abolve viewpoints greatly.Deng Xiao Ping is a great man of China,he made great comtributions to the development of Chinese society and economy.The words Deng Xiao Ping have said are philosophical.We just make progress within the conflicts and differences.One person’s strength and idea are limited.Comunication and coopreation are becoming more and more imporment not only in China but also in other countries of all the world.There is a old saying that unity is strength.We get the successes on the basis of discovers of predecessors.
Dengxiaoping, One of the main leaders of the People’s Republic , the chief designer of China’s socialist reform, opening up and modernization construction .I totally agree with the words he said ” No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual: it always rests on the achievements of past generations as well as our own” everyone is individual ,and has limitation of the power,which can not change the world,history are Wheels that keeping going forward ,all we can do is Inheriting their predecessors achievments and deliver it to the Offspring,This is power of history.the thought may Inspire us on the way to harmonious Society
Deng said that ‘It’s not that we have too many debates and discussions among persons of different opinions, but too few’. This few words contain so much, such as in collages, in workplaces, in corporations, and what’s more, in China. In collages, students and professors debates and discusses not that much leads to the vacuum in academy; in workplaces or corporations, workers and managers communicate so little, leads to the just-do-my-work environment. What will come to china? It’s hard to image a country trying to develop but not doing any debates and discussions. Thus, we should debate and discuss. Only doing things in this way can lead us to the way of success.
I think Deng Xiaoping is not only a prominent political leader, but also a excellent ideologist. The history had taught us the lessons about the closed-door policy, so we must put us in mind of the importance of exchanging all the time. Nowadays we live in an open environment, and the global village means that we shouldn’t shut ourselves up in a room making a cart. Thus, I quite agree with what Deng Xiaoping had said.
I can’t agree with him more. We should not afraid of making mistakes not only in English speaking but also in other academic researches. Because that we can gain more progress only through the collision of different thoughts.
I am so appreciate in Martin’s teaching philosophy, in the class he encourages all of us to express our opinions disengaged. There are neither right views nor wrong opinions.
At last, I believe that a new theory can be evolved only based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientists. So does the English acquisition.
Of course, I completely agree with what he said. Discussion and even debate are very necessary in many fields. We know that many things especially the modern technologies can’t be done with only one person’s power. China Holistic English is indeed trying to improve the English learners through discussion and communication. We know that one person can’t talk to himself in English and improve his English. That is why our foreign English teacher martin is trying his best to emphasize ESE in SYSU. I really appreciate the methods China Holistic English adopts.
I think that Deng Xiaoping was one of the greatest statesman and educator in China.
He was so open-minded and far-sighted. In China, consistent seemed to be one of our traditional but he thought we had too few debates and discussions among persons of different opinions. How wise he was! In science and education, we need different schools of thought. Only in this way can we make progress quickly. Taking our Holistic English class for example, we had never learned English in such a class and in such way. It’s a challenge for us and urged us to learn English everyday. We had to change to deal with this teaching method and this change was good for us. We mad progress quickly.
In a word, Deng Xiaoping was an outstanding educator, we should learn from his ideas and applied to the real life.
As everyone knows that, Deng Xiaoping changed China from a country with mass political movements to a country focused on economic construction. As far as I am concerned, In the process, we Chinese had made extraordinary progress in education，knowledge and technology over the recent decades. And it is commonly thought that our society had dramatically changed by education，knowledge and technology. It is all according to Deng Xiaoping’s modernization of China’s educational system. As Deng said, Academic exchanges and debates should be promoted. In this way, we can improve our education system.
Deng Xiao ping is a really giant. His thoughts are profound and offer a good way to develop our education. Now, we have many university, but we don’t have a really university. We have no good academia. The professors never have a furious debate. Since the founding of the public, we never bring up a really word-famous big master. We lack of innovative talents and we all know that innovation is the soul of a country, which will determine a country’s fate. Our children pay all the attentions to the test and our education is failing to foster children’s innovations. Our education must be reformed.
Mr. Deng is a great man in Chinese long history.
I lost in though after reading the comments. Discussion is very important in academic research. There is why there are so many academic exchanges between different universities, no matter in mainland or abroad. It can promote academic development. Different ideas can broaden our horizon and bring up new ideas. There are no good or bad ideas just different opinions. We need to hear all kinds of opinions. Erroneous views may come out during the debates, but it is nothing to be afraid of. We make progress by making a lot of mistakes.
It is all the same in English learning. Trying to speak as much as we can is a good way to improve our oral English. Do not be afraid of making mistakes. We can learn something from the mistakes. Also, we can learn from each other. We all get improved by L2 sharpen L2.
I agree with what he side. Any new scientific theory is a summation of practical experience. We should make many people know the new scientific and accepted. Only the people accept the new science and applied in practice, the social and national can be development. And the schools should provide the environment for discussion and debate the new theory.
Sure I agree with one of the greatest leader in our China.I admire him so much. It is true that “Erroneous views may crop up during discussions, but that is nothing to be afraid of.” I am afraid it is easier said than done. Because we have a long history that if someone said some unfavorable words,he would be punished or sentenced to death,so it is very hard to make people to express their views bravely and freely let alone to discuss the errors. Secondly,I want to talk about “No success in research can be the result of the efforts of a single individual”.As in China,we would not like to see single individual to success,so you may know why we don’t have a Nobel Prize for everybody want to share the Prize,and we just like crabs,because if one of the crabs start to crawling out the other crabs will pull him back down.That is to say ,we just envy about other people’s success!
In short,we need to improve our people’s moral , be less selfish and more respect!Thank you!
Yes,I argee with what Deng said.I major in Life Sciences which is a kind of natural sciences,and one thing we should always remember in our mind is that our research is based on the achievements of past generations and researches.You should look for something new.But how to do this?That means
you should base on the summation of the past experience.We always find that through discussion there will be better result and outcome.The same as for other things.Exchange ideas and both get each other’s idea and his own idea,and it will promote a better thinking.
At Holistic English,it is the same.We want to change the situation and we need to have a look at the past policy and try to find better ways.Besides,maybe we can listen to someone’s idea,which may inspire some different thought.
Deng Xiaoping is a great man both in our country and in the world. His views about education and science are very objective and creative. “Any new scientific theory is a summation of practical experience. How can a new theory be evolved if it is not based on a summation of the practical experience of both past and present generations of scientists, both Chinese and foreign?” this question remind us to think more about it. As a student, we must know some great thoughts from great man, who can give us direction.
I agree with Deng XiaoPing’s philosophy and vision for modernization of China’s educational system. “Whether a white cat or a black cat, a good cat catches mice.” It means that we can learn from every different school, and then we can find the best way to improve ourselves. “Different schools of thought should respect and complement each other.” Chinese holistic English, I think, is being true to it. The language acquisition pedagogy and methodology of holistic English is different from what we were educated before, but all roads lead to Rome. Secondly “Any new scientific theory is a summation of practical experience.” So I think the more we practice, the more we can acquire.
I agree with Deng Xiaoping very much ,who is the person I very admire.It is reasonable for us to respect others’ opinion .Only when we respect and accept others ,can we check our own ideas ,find our disadvantages and complete it.So ,we can find that the schools were very flourishing in The Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period in acient China. It is not a good to pursue uniform agreement because it would kill the novle opinion.And consequently ,the culture and other aspects would develop very slowly ,even it is foreever not to clarify the thuth.