October 8th "The President of the University of Chicago talks about how 81 Nobel Prize winners are "made"" reported by liuxue86.com.

Robert Kim Moore, President of the University of Chicago

According to U.S. news, Robert Kim Moore, President of the University of Chicago, led a delegation to China for the first time. This university is ranked among the top ten in the United States. Institutions of higher learning are notable for their numerous Nobel Prize winners. On this opportunity, our reporter conducted an interview with Principal Jin Muer.

It is undeniable that behind every famous school in the United States and even the world, there is a series of proud histories. This is not surprising. However, "81 of all Nobel Prize winners have been faculty, students or researchers of this school" is not the glory of every school. In 2007, professors from this school once again won the Nobel Prize in Economics. , and on this long list of 81 people, we found familiar names - Yang Zhenning, a doctoral student in the 48th class, and Li Zhengdao, a doctoral student in the 50th class. For those of us who have been longing for the Nobel Prize for a long time, the topic of interviewing Professor Robert Jinmuir, President of the University of Chicago, naturally starts here.

If someone is willing to do the most difficult work in a research institution, I hope he will come to the University of Chicago

Questioning is the bounden duty of researchers

What is the achievement? There are many Nobel Prize winners at the University of Chicago? How do people among them view this honor? From President Jin Moore’s conversation, we deeply felt his pride in the achievements of his school.

President Jin Moore said: "The most important point is to always ensure that the university must have a very open, rigorous, and high-intensity academic environment. In the past, we have maintained such an environment. If anyone is willing To do the most difficult work in a research institution, we want him to come to the University of Chicago. This includes actively participating in testing new ideas, or helping others test their ideas. We want to be such a school. Being able to attract the most creative and innovative scholars, we also provide such a scientific research environment for these special talents. This is why so many Nobel Prize winners are engaged in scientific research in our school. They think this school is where they want to engage in very rigorous, complex, and difficult research.”

What do these words mean in terms of school teaching and scientific research? President Jin Moore said: "Every student at the University of Chicago can experience that it is impossible for a person to know whether certain opinions are true or not without asking questions. Therefore, it is necessary to understand many questions and many known Conclusions and hypotheses are constantly rigorously tested and verified to see whether they are true. This learning process is repeated in the teaching environment and research environment of the University of Chicago, for example, the Economics Department of the University of Chicago often conducts it. In various seminars, whether you are an undergraduate or a Nobel Prize winner, you have to put forward your own opinions. Everyone can question the opinions and conduct repeated debates and research on a lot of data that proves the opinions and possible results. This is a very strict academic environment. In other words, what we must demonstrate is the seriousness and authenticity of the results. No matter who you are or what your background is, only by allowing everyone to participate extensively in the process can we discern the truth.”

The University of Chicago has a famous saying, "The path to discernment is through argument, not conformity." This is a value that everyone in it follows. It is the responsibility of every researcher to be good at asking questions and dare to question. Because "in scientific research, not only natural sciences, but also social sciences and even humanities, some people form their own set of new opinions in the process of asking questions, which is particularly creative. In other words, a question itself can bring a lot New perspectives. In this process, your inquiry and questioning phase begins. When the process begins, many people will gradually become involved, and this will be achieved by asking some simple questions, and then form around these questions. "Multi-level and multi-faceted issues make this issue richer." This constitutes the "academic leadership" of the University of Chicago. Those who meet this requirement are the "agenda-setting" teachers proposed by the University of Chicago citing the vocabulary of media studies. . In other words, there are some teachers who have the ability to first put forward an overall problem framework, ask big questions first, build an agenda from the big questions, let more people participate, and then put forward some more detailed issues around the agenda. question, so that the more you study the question, the clearer it becomes.

Teachers who have won the Nobel Prize must also teach students and train students to be able to think

Teachers and students are a team

Nobel Prize at the University of Chicago Among the award winners are students who studied here in the early years and teachers who are currently teaching here. How does the University of Chicago handle the relationship between teaching and research? How can they all draw nourishment from this fertile ground of knowledge?

For cultivating students, there is only knowledge, or only narrow disciplines. Knowledge is not enough.

President Jin Moore’s wise voice takes us back to the University of Chicago in the 1930s. At that time, a 30-year-old young president, Hutchins, bravely criticized the pragmatism and vocational education trends that were popular in American universities at that time, and implemented a four-year undergraduate college system for the university's undergraduate education that broke the boundaries of disciplines. , allowing students to learn "common knowledge" through "humanistic education" or "liberal education". This is the university general education that we are widely praised today.

Although the general education model of the University of Chicago today has converged with that of most American universities and is only offered in the first two years of undergraduate studies, its tradition and connotation still continue. President Jin Moore said: “One of the characteristics of education at the University of Chicago is a very broad-based and very open liberal arts and science education. I personally feel that the reason why we are able to achieve such achievements is because we give students such an education. Let students learn how to think independently and independently from textbook content. Providing students with such an education can bring flexibility from a higher level and better adapt to future changes, allowing students to learn to ask many different questions. , conduct in-depth investigations into different issues, not only understand the history, but also understand the current situation of this issue, and help them develop the ability to do work and solve problems in the future. This is different from a purely practical teaching method, which is not designed to solve a specific problem. "

Regarding the contradiction between scientific research and teaching, President Jin Moore's view is that teachers, undergraduates and graduate students are all part of the academic team. The University of Chicago emphasizes questioning and questioning everywhere. Challenge and open-mindedness reflect the synergy of these three. He said: "We particularly emphasize that all teachers must participate in teaching students to varying degrees. At the same time, teachers are often inspired by students' questions and challenges, gain inspiration, and open up research ideas, so teachers are also willing to put their Teaching is regarded as a part of research work. ”

In the eyes of President Jin Moore, a university should not be a place where teachers come and go after class, but more like a company, a team, or a university. Say it's a family. He said that there are many people at the University of Chicago, even all people, who work hard to maintain communication with everyone every day. Everyone feels that they are part of the collective, so everyone feels as if they are living in a corporate environment. To unite employees, the entire company must clarify the facts and understand each other. Conflicts will inevitably arise in a family. If everyone comes together in a community to do the same thing - to find out the truth, this in itself forms a very strong bond. It is precisely because of this bond that the relationship between teachers and students has always been very close.

We cannot let a student give up choosing the University of Chicago because of the obstacle of tuition fees

Openness attracts talents

Following Professor Jin Moore, we go back again, Come to the United States in the last decade of the 19th century. In 1891, oil tycoon John Rockefeller invested in the University of Chicago with the goal of making it a purely scientific research university. The school accepted both boys and girls, white and black students, Jews and Asian Americans, and international students. You know, this was not an easy thing to do in the United States at that time. But it is this concept of inclusiveness and openness that has been adhered to since its founding that supports the rapid rise of the University of Chicago.

When talking about Chinese students at the University of Chicago, this spirit of tolerance and openness is well reflected by President Jin Moore. He said: "Chinese students study very well and work hard at the University of Chicago, and the University of Chicago is also a place that encourages students to study hard." When asked by reporters, President Jin Moore said: "The University of Chicago has 15,000 There are more than a thousand students, so it is inevitable that some students will have problems, and there may be many Chinese students among the more than 15,000 students, but I have never heard of any systemic problems with Chinese students. Problems that often occur. "What we see here is an objective and fair evaluation, without inherent stereotypes and labels.

In addition to academic rigor, the University of Chicago is also famous for its high tuition. To maintain the diversity of students, tuition is undoubtedly the threshold. Regarding this question, Principal Jin Moore’s answer was: “Our school has many policies to provide financial support for students to receive education in our school. Financial support methods include grants and student loans. Currently, funding for undergraduate students covers The rate has reached 48.1%. Recently, due to donations from alumni, we have also introduced a new policy. Originally, student aid included both grants and loans. Now, the loans are partially forgiven and we rely entirely on grants to support some families with low incomes. Students come to the school to study.”

President Jin Moore said that the University of Chicago also has a unique method to verify whether the current funding policy is feasible. “First of all, when enrolling, we ask every student regardless of their family background. We need the support of study funds. After the students officially enroll, we will call all the students who did not register to ask the reasons. No student said that they did not come to the University of Chicago because they had no money or the tuition was too high."

Interview Notes

The motto of the University of Chicago in the United States is "Educate the Younger with Wisdom." This ancient Latin school motto, the literal translation of its English version should be "Let knowledge continue to grow, so that People are richer”. Through talking with this professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago for 20 years, I seem to understand this sentence.

Principal Jin Moore has always maintained a modest attitude when talking about China. He always said that he didn’t know much about this issue. It was his first time to come to China. Came to China to study. When talking about issues, we do not stick to certain widely accepted inherent concepts. As he said, "Even for known conclusions, we still have to constantly verify its authenticity."

The conversation, which lasted just one hour, was already rich in content. When President Jinmuir talked about university education, almost every sentence contained wise words. He described the University of Chicago, where teachers and students hold discussions anytime and anywhere, and everyone dares to raise questions and strive to challenge the peak of science. I seem to have seen a modern version of "The School of Athens" written by Raphael, and I seem to have seen the questions and answers between Confucius and his disciples during their travels. Perhaps, on the road of human pursuit of truth, there are many things that are connected, which can travel through time and space, and can also cross borders.

Of course, we should also see that President Jin Moore was interviewed with deep feelings and good wishes for the school. No school can be perfect, and neither is the University of Chicago. Exception, but he at least proposed a development direction that can be referenced.

I also have an unpleasant thought. The values ????promoted by the University of Chicago are not consistent with the academic methods of "eruditeness, interrogation, careful thinking, clear discrimination, and sincere practice" mentioned in the ancient Chinese Confucian classic "The Doctrine of the Mean". And together, how to truly understand and carry forward our own fine traditions while learning from others is worth pondering.

(Gao Liang)

For more information about studying in the United States, please visit the United States or the University of Chicago

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