Having stood for 50 minutes on the bumping bus, Geng Dongdong finally arrived at the bookstore where Bai Yansong, a famous anchorman, gave his lecture. The lecture enlightened the 20-year-old college freshman on the pursuit of happiness.
經過50分鐘顛簸的車程,耿冬冬(音譯)一直站到了新華書店。在那里,著名主持人白巖松正在舉行講座,期望帶領20歲的大學新生一起追逐幸福。
“If only more of such inspirational lectures were available to college students and were held on campus,” said Geng, majoring in automation at Lanzhou University of Technology. As a student thirsty for knowledge, Geng is disappointed that only one or two lectures are held on campus every week. But galas and competitions are all over the campus. “Galas and competitions offer us a stage to show our talents in sports and entertainment. But we still need lectures to broaden our knowledge,” said Geng.
耿冬冬就讀于蘭州理工大學自動化專業(yè),他感嘆道:“要是學校能多為大學生舉辦如此有感染力的講座就好了。”對于求知欲很強的耿來說,學校每周僅一、兩次的講座實在令他失望,而各種晚會和競賽卻彌漫了整個校園。他說:“那些演出和競賽確實為我們提供了展示文體才能的舞臺,但我們仍要通過講座來拓展自己的知識面。”
Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the Beijing-based 21 Century Education Research Institute, agreed that lectures are an important supplement to students’ professional studies. “Through attending lectures, students are exposed to a variety of ideas and opinions,” said Xiong. “They think and discuss the issues and thus improve their critical thinking ability.”
熊丙奇是北京21世紀教育研究所的副所長,他認為講座是對學生專業(yè)學習的重要補充,他說:“通過參加講座,學生可以接觸到各種各樣的想法和意見,他們會思考和討論這些問題,進而提高批判性思維能力。”
Besides being few and far between, campus lectures also fail to meet students’ expectations in terms of quality.
校園講座不但數量少,頻次低,其質量也很難達到學生的預期。
Zhang Ang, 20, a freshman in Chinese literature at Zhejiang Sci-tech University, is bored by lectures teaching examination skills for college English tests and by those preaching clichéd notions about life-planning. What’s worse, those lectures about examinations turned out to be promoting English study products.
20歲的張昂(音譯)是浙江理工大學中文系新生,她對那些講授大學英語考試技能的講座和鼓吹人生規(guī)劃的陳詞濫調很反感。更糟的是,這些考試講座竟然成了推銷英語學習工具的手段。
Zhang wants her school to invite experts to explain current affairs to them, for example, the war in Libya. She finds that it’s difficult for college students to understand and analyze topical issues on their own if they are not studying related majors.
張昂希望學校能邀請一些專家向學生們談談時事,比如利比亞戰(zhàn)爭。她發(fā)現如果不是學習相關專業(yè),僅憑大學生自己是很難理解和分析一些時事問題的。
Shi Dongxiao, 21, a junior in journalism at Wuhan University, wants the same thing. But he was let down by lecturers who pieced together information available online and gave a shallow introduction. “I’m expecting in-depth investigation and the lecturer’s own point of view,” said Shi.
21歲的石東曉(音譯)就讀于武漢大學新聞系三年級,他也有同樣的看法。但是他對那些拼湊網絡信息和給予膚淺介紹的主講人很失望。石東曉說:“我希望演講者能進行深入調查,并且談一些自己的觀點。”
Like many of her peers, Zhang admitted that she had a thing about celebrity lectures. But the problem is that some celebrity lecturers charge high fees, as much as hundreds of thousands of yuan. Without much financial support from the school, student organizers of campus lectures are forced to give up plans to invite popular celebrity lecturers.
張昂承認,和許多同齡人一樣,對名師演講有崇拜情結。但問題是,知名人士的講座費用很高,高達數十萬元。如果沒有學校大量的資金支持,校園演講的學生組織者們只有被迫放棄邀請大牌人物的計劃。
Colleges are non-profit organizations. It’s impossible for schools to afford high fees for celebrity lecturers. “Some celebrities need to distinguish campus lectures from profitable ones,” said Chen Tiling, director of the student affairs office at Wenzhou University. “They should have the sense of social responsibility to offer college students help with their knowledge free of charge.”
大學是非盈利機構,負擔不起名人演講的高額費用。溫州大學學生處處長陳體鑾(音譯)說:“名人們需要把校園講座與商業(yè)性講座區(qū)別開來。他們應該樹立社會責任意識,用自身的知識無償幫助大學生。”
However, Xiong Bingqi also advises students to get rid of the craze for star lecturers. In his opinion, a good lecture doesn’t necessarily come from a celebrity. The stories of a migrant worker can also be inspirational.
然而,熊丙奇勸告同學們無需癡迷于名人演講。在他看來,一場好的講座并不一定來自名人,外來務工人員的故事也會很有啟發(fā)性。
“Campus lectures are not the platform for ‘ elites’ only, but the stage for people from diversified cultures and professions to voice their opinions to inspire college students,” said Xiong.
熊丙奇說:“校園演講不僅僅是‘精英’的平臺,更是具有多元文化和職業(yè)背景的普通人的舞臺。他們的觀點都會對大學生產生啟迪。”