2013年9月30日 星期一

加州大學醫學院學生編輯Wikipedia 的相關網頁可得學分: Editing Wikipedia Pages for Med School Credit

鼓掌: 舊金山加州大學醫學院學生編輯Wikipedia 的相關網頁可得學分

Editing Wikipedia Pages for Med School Credit


Medical students at the University of California, San Francisco, will be able to get course credit for editing Wikipedia articles about diseases, part of an effort to improve the quality of medical articles in the online encyclopedia and help distribute the articles globally via cellphones. While professors often incorporate Wikipedia work into classes, hoping that student research can live on online, the university and others say this is the first time a medical school will give credit for such work.
“We as a profession have our corpus of knowledge, and we owe it as a profession to educate the lay public,” said Dr. Amin Azzam, a health sciences associate clinical professor at the U.C.S.F. School of Medicine who will teach the monthlong elective course in December.
The course is open to fourth-year medical students and was scheduled for a month when many travel the country for interviews to arrange their residencies, so they need the flexibility to work remotely, Dr. Azzam said. Three students have signed up for the course, but he said that this time was really to test whether the concept was worthy.
He said he could envision such a course being required for students as they begin studies and must immerse themselves in the details of how the body works, and, at times, stops working.
Wikipedia editing will force students to think clearly and avoid jargon, he said. “We do a great job in helping them talk to doctors, but we don’t do as good a job in helping them speak to the public,” he added.
The students’ editing will be part of Wikiproject Medicine, which focuses contributors on the 100 or so most significant medical articles, including those on tuberculosis and syphilis, but especially on those important articles that need the most editing. (The project lists more than 350 active editors, many of whom cite an advanced degree under the header “medical qualification.”)
These articles are submitted to a group from Translators Without Borders that produces medical articles for Wikipedias in languages spoken in countries that often lack high-quality medical information. Examples include an article in Javanese on dengue fever and one in Hindi on urinary tract infection. Creating these high-quality medical articles fits neatly with efforts by the Wikimedia Foundation to make deals with cellphone carriers to provide Wikipedia content free of data charges, especially in the developing world where cellphones are often the only connection to the Internet.
“If we want to get high-quality information to all the world’s population, Wikipedia is not just a viable option, but the only viable option,” Dr. Azzam said.
He credited one of his former students, Dr. Michael Turken, 32, a first-year resident in internal medicine at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, with helping to conceive of the course.
Dr. Turken said the importance of Wikipedia’s medical information became clear to him a couple of years ago when a friend asked him how long H.I.V. tests could give false negative readings.
A Wikipedia entry said two weeks, and “that didn’t seem right,” he said. “I checked with the literature, and it is up to 28 days, based on the test.” He made the change, then looked at how many people read the article a month — often tens of thousands. Rather than be offended at the open access to Wikipedia pages, Dr. Turken said he found it “very reassuring that it is a collaborative effort,” with many people checking what is written.
Dr. Azzam said the details of the course were still being worked out. He said he planned to see the students for two days at the start to plot the writing and editing requirements, then track their work on Wikipedia. While some might fear that his students would cut corners, Dr. Azzam said: “I am working with medical students — professionals in training — who are highly motivated. I’m not worried about them slacking.”

2013年9月27日 星期五

Diane Ravitch attacks the effort to replace public schools with the market system


'Reign of Error'
By DIANE RAVITCH
Reviewed by JONATHAN KOZOL

Diane Ravitch attacks the effort to replace public schools with the market system.



2013年9月24日 星期二

談點哈佛大學心勃勃的"募款目標"

昨晚在"東海校友總會"貼的: (大意)目標65億美金. 過去已默默向9萬多支持者募28億.
雄心勃勃的哈佛大學募款目標


Harvard Campaign Aims To Raise Record-Breaking $6.5 Billion
The Harvard Campaign has set a fundraising goal of $6.5 billion, University officials announced in a press release on Saturday, a target that, if reached, will make it the largest fundraising drive ever in higher education.

The announcement said that Harvard has already raised $2.8 billion in donations and pledges from more than 90,000 supporters in the Campaign’s quiet phase.
  
 我很欣賞參與捐贈的人數:9萬多支持者
當然有捐款大戶(關鍵的少術) 不過多數人的捐款還表示哈佛大學深得"民心"


 今天接到下述號外:

The Harvard Crimson
NEWS ALERT | Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
ENDOWMENT

Harvard's Investments Post 11.3 Percent Return in FY 2013

Harvard’s endowment surged to $32.7 billion during the last fiscal year, with an annual rate of return of 11.3% on its investments, University administrators announced Tuesday. Those returns, which apply to fiscal year 2013, mark vast improvement from the previous fiscal year, during which the endowment’s value declined slightly to $30.7 billion.


 讀者應該知道: 哈佛大學的募款是聘請專業經理人來經營的. 前幾年還因為操作失利遭到詆毀......去年的資產報酬率11.3%    是台灣的勞退基金等的數倍.

 這些都只是表面的觀察  或可參考或當為"談助".

教改多難: 台師大創先例 廢操行成績

台師大創先例 廢操行成績

台灣師範大學宣布,將廢除操行成績,以培養學生自主學習與規劃生涯的能力,創下全台大專院校首例。 (資料照)
〔記者林曉雲/台北報導〕台灣高中以下學生都不打操行成績了,台灣師範大學從這學年開始跟進,開台灣先例,全校一萬兩千多名大學生不再打操行成績了。
台師大維持懲戒 3大過退學
台師大副學務長胡益進表示,大學生都是成年人,應有自律能力,所以不再用操行成績評定品德表現。況且導師欠缺客觀評分標準,多數學生操行成績都差不多,淪為形式化。
台 師大原本操行成績採分級制,分為優(九十分以上)、甲(八十分以上未滿九十分)、乙(七十分以上未滿八十分)、丙(六十分以上未滿七十分)和丁(未滿六十 分),九成以上學生都拿甲以上。另外依據「學生獎懲辦法」,對考試舞弊、使用違禁藥品、偽造成績的學生給予記過處分,記三大過即退學。
評分不客觀 成績淪為形式化
大學生大多贊成取消,台師大科技系大二生蕭予微表示,有人當幹部也不做事,卻能拿到操行高分,評分根本不公平;台師大工教系大四生王建棠認為,操行分數不客觀,取消較好。
但多數大學對此持保留態度,大葉大學校長武東星表示,三年前也研擬取消操行成績,但考量學生申請校外獎學金需求,因此保留;台大、交大、成大、大同、中原等校也都說短期內不會廢除。
胡益進表示,學生若需申請獎學金或有其他用途,可透過轉換機制取得證明,例如操行基本分數統一訂為八十七分,若有記嘉獎一次加一分,曾記申誡則減一分等,還是可提供操行成績,學生權益不受影響。
全國家長團體聯盟理事長吳福濱表示,操行成績早已淪為形式化,少子化衝擊下,學校也不敢得罪學生。
多數大學保留 教育部說尊重
教育部次長陳德華表示,教育部尊重大學自主,只提醒大學要重視學生的品格教育。現在多半只有某些民間單位提供的獎學金,仍會參考操行成績,公費留考和預官考試並未要求附操行成績單。
教育部國教署副署長黃新發表示,高中職從九十七年起廢除操行成績,改採德行評量、質性陳述;國中小自九十五年起廢除操行成績,改由「日常生活表現檢核表」取代,均不再打分數或等級。不過十二年國教部份招生區在超額比序時會比品德表現。

2013年9月21日 星期六

Institute for Social & Economic Research (英國Essex大學)




英國Essex大學的此研究中心我25年前就知道
今天因為


The latest research suggests Britain could profit from decriminalising cannabis. A new report from the Institute for Economic and Social Research at the University of Essex evaluates the costs and benefits of introducing a licensed and regulated marijuana market in England and Wales. The most plausible model would mimic tobacco http://econ.st/18I5MXw

我去找 一下. 原來該單位Institute for Social & Economic Research
Socio-economic research and surveys
 https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/centres-and-surveys


 的研究報告不少


2013年9月20日 星期五

Chinese University Asks Students to Sign ‘Suicide Waivers’

Chinese University Asks Students to Sign ‘Suicide Waivers’

A university in southern China asked students entering its freshman class to sign a document absolving the school of responsibility should the student commit suicide — a macabre sign, say some, of the growing pressures of Chinese society
A student takes a nap on a desk during his lunch break in a classroom in Hefei
REUTERS / REUTERS
A high school student takes a nap on a desk during his lunch break in a classroom in the Chinese city of Hefei, Anhui province, on June 2, 2012
For college freshmen anywhere, paperwork is an inevitable drag on the exciting first few days of college life. Spare a thought, though, for the 5,000 freshmen at the City College of Dongguan University of Technology in China’s coastal Guangdong province who were required to sign an agreement absolving the school of responsibility if the students were to commit suicide.
School officials told Chinese media that the agreement serves merely as a ”warm reminder” of long-standing school policy for the new intake of students. But outraged parents and online commentators argue that the process heaps yet more pressure on already overstressed students. “I think this kind of agreement is irresponsible and unfair, and I doubt it’s going to have any effect on student behavior,” says Ms. Li, whose son just started his first year at college and who declines to be identified with her full name. “The school should provide counseling services and other help for students, instead of trying to absolve themselves of responsibility even before anything has happened.”
Suicide rates among college students have actually remained fairly stable among college students, hovering close to one or two per 100,000 people in recent years — a rate well below the national average. While there is no official figure for suicides on a national level, a research project conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2010 found the suicide rate in larger urban areas was 6.41 per 100,000 people and in rural areas, it was 10.01 per 100,000. However, with the threat of litigation rising as more Chinese pursue legal action to redress grievances and stress levels soaring among students, the college in Dongguan appears to have decided it needed some insurance.
Education has long been seen in China as the only path to success, a legacy of the country’s Confucian heritage. But a massive increase in the numbers of students taking university courses coupled with a sharp economic slowdown has meant that, for many, a degree is not the golden ticket it once seemed to be. Of the class of 2013, with some 7 million graduates across the country, just 35% had found a job at the time of graduation — a dramatic fall of 12% year on year.
With stress levels for students on the rise and postgraduation opportunities harder to find, some are starting to doubt the value of education as an investment.
This month on the popular microblogging platform Sina Weibo, one of the most discussed topics concerned a father who refused to pay his daughter’s college fees. The father said he would rather use the money to invest in a small business for his daughter. Investing in a college education, he said, would be “like throwing the money away.”

2013年9月9日 星期一

台南市私立崑山中學大減教師薪資案

台南市私立崑山中學傳出因招生不足,教師薪水被打63折;教育部表示,學校調整教師薪資須遵守相關辦法,只要符合經營成本,校方可請教師共體時艱,但崑山未報教育部核定,逕行減薪,且不合比例,將等學校補送辦法後再核定是否減教師薪資。
教育部國教署副署長黃新發表示,私立學校教師若要調整薪資須修改薪資辦法,並先報教育部核准通過方得實施,但崑山只經校務會議通過,還未報部,便決議扣教師薪資1/3。今天訪視後,已告知學校需補件,由教育部核定減薪額度是否符合條件。
首先: 教育部過去無所不管.以致連這種事都要透過它來仲裁.......
其次: 在台灣這種事可能以後會經常發生     教育部靠什麼來管?

2013年9月8日 星期日

我從「東海江董事與沈兄」面前走過

我從「東海江董事與沈兄」面前走過

這個題目仿王鼎鈞先生的「我從胡適面前走過」章名 。其實王先生的回憶錄《文學江湖》這之前,還有一章「胡適從我心頭走過」,我把它當作「江董事與沈兄」他們各自在東海的日子和畢業之後的各自回饋。

沈兄是我1971年的室友,老朋友,不過我認為他那天主持會議和發表,ego 太大,應該學習服務和謙卑點………。而江董事,我只是20113月中的一次「關懷母校」(台北)見過,我認為他的東海財務簡報也不錯。

這次會議之後,我與沈兄和外文系的魏老師通信近10封,應該整理出來讓大家稍為了解一下我為什麼只參加那次會議。我這篇是記那10封信中沒談到的。

那次會議中,最重要的是江董事與沈兄在檯面上吵開來,可說不歡而散。那時爭論的問題是東海董事會將校友會的代表排除在董事會之外。「江董事」說理由是過去的經驗讓董事會覺得代表的水準平平,沒什麼貢獻。 (本文所有用詞都是我的,而我在回憶兩年多前的會議。所以表達的是我的了解而已。)

在一家有二百多年的多國籍公司,如果有一級主管在會議當面吵起來,或美其名為『創造的衝突』時,如何處置呢?   有真正的董事長或總經理的公司,或會找江兄和沈兄和他三人,好好攤開來談。不過,那次會議衝突的當事者的主管之一董事長沒出席,蔡總會會長可能也無力或不願伴和事佬。所以,衝突的問題背後的不諒解就留給下次引爆。



東海的陳年問題之一是: 董事會的無心與無力,而且似乎有金剛不壞之身---不過,它是名義的管理資源單位……江董是董事會的BEAN COUNTER, 也談不上生財有道…..
東海不像外國的學校如STANFORD的商學院他們所有開銷中一半以上是校友出的東海靠學費

2013年9月4日 星期三

美國到極權國家中國/新加坡設校是賣身嗎?

Liberal Education in Authoritarian Places 自由心智教育來到中國/新加坡還能自由嗎?

觀點

自由心智教育來到中國還能自由嗎?

位於阿拉伯聯合酋長國阿布扎比的紐約大學分校,該校開辦於2010年。
Andrew Holbrooke/Corbis
位於阿拉伯聯合酋長國阿布扎比的紐約大學分校,該校開辦於2010年。


紐約大學(New York University)位於上海的新「門戶」分校開課了,這是美國大學向海外出口教學和聲望的最新嘗試。
不過,首批295名學生並沒有真正的校園,他們當中有一半是中國人,還有一半來自美國和其他國家。一棟規劃15層的教學樓正在施工。授課會在紐約大學的合資夥伴,華東師範大學進行。有一個恰當的比喻:這是一個不十分真實的校園,實行的是一種不十分真實的人文教育。
2011年4月,在華盛頓舉行的中美「人文交流」會議上, 時任美國國務卿希拉里·羅德姆·克林頓(Hillary Rodham Clinton)對紐約大學校長約翰·塞克斯頓(John Sexton)大加讚賞,稱讚他「擁有的視野,能讓他在國際舞台拓展紐約大學的地位、同時維護學校的卓越聲望和教學自由」。
不過,塞克斯頓意指的「自由」似乎具有彈性。那一年晚些時 候,他對彭博新聞社(Bloomberg News)說,「在區分學術自由權利和政治言論自由權利方面,我毫無問題。這是兩件不同的事情。」這種陳述出自一名憲法學者之口讓人震驚。和紐約大學於 2010年在阿布扎比開設的獨立分校引發的爭議一樣,上海分校對塞克斯頓在國內迎來日漸低落的人氣,起到了促進作用,該校最大的人文和科學學院在今年3月 對他投下了「不信任」票。這兩所海外分校主要是由外國補貼資助的。
塞克斯頓似乎對約翰·霍普金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)的經歷一無所知,該校的高級國際問題研究院(School of Advanced International Studies)在中國南京擁有一所長期的中心,該中心在政治討論方面面臨限制:一部和1989年的天安門民運事件有關的紀錄片在校內公映時被叫停,一名 美國學生被禁止在校外分發他創建的期刊,上面刊登了同學們的文章。
外交官們有充足的理由鼓勵與重要的戰略國家之間的教育合作。在美國,高等教育面臨巨大的壓力——奧巴馬總統通過評級使學校收費更合理、更可靠的計劃就是一個例子——所以,情不自禁地往生源迅速增長(或者生源豐富)的國家進行擴張,以此來籌集資金的想法是可以理解的。
然而,如果把目光越過外交官們音量漸高的空話,你會發現, 在全球各地奔波的校長和董事會成員,正在定義他們對人文教育涵義的預期,就像企業以另一種眼光,看待他們在海外對勞動力和環境的卑劣作為一樣。當然,這其 中的不同在於,大學的使命是質疑這種安排,而不是促成這種安排。
我不反對在富裕國家、威權國家、或二者兼具的國家開展法 律、商業、醫學和技術培訓方面的合作性研究項目。在這些國家,有許多學生想要開拓他們的社會和政治視野、以及職業技能。可是,把能和言論自由一分為二的質 詢自由擺在他們面前,往最好聽的說,是天真幼稚,往最難聽的說,是犬儒主義。
也許沒有哪個例子能比我任教的耶魯大學(Yale)更充分 地體現這種犬儒主義。該校和新加坡國立大學(National University of Singapore)合資創建一所新的本科學院的決定,引發了理乍得·C·萊文(Richard C. Levin)長達20年的校長生涯里最為激烈的一次爭議,他在今年夏天退休時,還頂着耶魯大學校長的身份,一年前的這個時候,一項非約束性的院系決議對該 項目提出了嚴肅的質疑。
耶魯承諾,在由新加坡建設並出資的校園裡,耶魯大學-新加坡國立大學合資學院新僱傭的教職員工,將會「重新思考自下而上的人文教育」。新加坡是一個嚴格限制言論自由的威權制城邦國家。
「我們理解的『自由』必須是更廣意義上的自由,而不是絕對的自由,」耶魯-新加坡國立大學管理委員會負責人、女商人郭凱(Kay Kuok)對政府控制的海峽時報(Straits Times)表示。「是思想自由;我指的並不一定是表達自由。」
萊文承諾稱,學生將能夠自由組建社團,「前提是不排斥種族或宗教群體。」但其新加坡校區校長伯里克利·劉易斯(Pericles Lewis)卻稱稱,學生不能自由成立有明顯政治意味的協會,更不能抗議政府政策,即便是在校園內。
「在一個言論自由受到限制而非禁止的東道主國環境內,學校 教職工會進行自我審查,而能在這樣的情況下在一定程度上存在的真正的通識教育會遭遇阻礙,」去年在一封批評耶魯-新加坡國立大學學院的信中,美國大學教授 協會(American Association of University Professors)警告道。信中提出了耶魯沒回答的16個問題;後者甚至沒有向教職工披露新加坡項目的協議的完整內容。
按照無國界記者(Reporters Without Borders)今年的排名,新加坡的新聞自由程度在179個國家中排在第149名——比去年的第135名有所下降。位於加利福尼亞州的克萊蒙特學院聯盟 (Claremont Colleges)及位於英國的華威大學(University of Warwick)在拒絕新加坡提出出資在該國建立文理學院的提議時,便提到了對學術自由的擔憂——之後,耶魯接受了同樣的提議。
學術自由並非受到威脅的唯一理念。2009年,威斯康星大 學麥迪遜分校(University of Wisconsin at Madison)收到中亞國家哈薩克斯坦的邀請,請其幫忙建立一個生物科技教育項目,美方沒有接受這個邀請,反而提出設計一個人文和社會科學學院,而這正 是受到倡導勞動權利和開放政府的「威斯康星思想」的啟發。最後,一個十分不同的項目得以建立:一所耗資20億美元的大學,它由一個包括麥迪遜大學在內的聯 盟運行,以獨裁總統努爾蘇丹·納扎爾巴耶夫(Nursultan A. Nazarbayev)的名字命名,後者在校董會有自己的代表。人權觀察組織(Human Rights Watch)和其他組織紀錄了發生在阿拉伯聯合酋長國的廣泛侵犯勞工權利事件,那裡的移民工占阿布扎比居民人口的70%多,但卻享有極少法律保護,而他們 仍在奢華的旅遊和居住點薩迪亞特島修建紐約大學的校區。
當獨裁政權用金錢買來美國大學的聲望和人才,他們是「用捷徑走完一個需經過數百年發展的過程,」哈佛學院(Harvard College)前院長哈里·R·劉易斯(Harry R. Lewis)最近在《南華早報》(South Morning Post)上寫道。
大學爭相瘋狂擴張,反映出的更多是其根本性弱點,而不是貪 婪的、帝國主義擴張,即大學不僅受到財務和市場的壓力,還在教育目的和任務上出現偏差。大學校長認可了這樣一個錯誤的前提,即法里德·扎卡里亞 (Fareed Zakaria)及馬凱碩(Kishore Mahbubani)等思想者所贊同的觀點:實現經濟自由化的國家也會實現政治自由化。大學需要在教學方法上、甚至是政治層面上恢復一種「傳教式」的、尋 找自由的方式處理與東道主國家關係。或者它們應該學習哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)和其他大學的模式,建立學校的印記少得多的學習中心而不是全面發展的校區。
最好的情況下,通識教育培養了未來的公民領袖質疑而不是單 純服務於權力和利益集中的價值觀和技能。拋棄這種理念的大學則也在自毀聲譽,成為通識教育質量下降的註腳;把自己變成服務於置共和政體和道德準則於不顧的 全球管理類勞動大軍的職業發展中心;也讓它們在國內外頒發的學位證書的價值不斷下降。
作者是耶魯大學政治學講師、《自由的種族主義》(Liberal Racism)的作者。

翻譯:張薇、谷菁璐


Opinion

Liberal Education in Authoritarian Places

CLASSES are beginning at New York University’s new “portal” campus in Shanghai — the latest attempt by an American university to export its teaching and prestige abroad.
But there is no actual campus yet for the inaugural cohort of 295 students, half of whom are Chinese, and half from the United States and other countries. A planned 15-story academic building is still under construction. Classes are being held at East China Normal University, N.Y.U.’s partner in this joint venture. It’s an apt metaphor: a not-quite-real campus for a not-quite-real liberal education.
In April 2011, at a conference in Washington on “people-to-people exchange” between the United States and China, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the secretary of state, praised N.Y.U.’s president, John Sexton, for his “vision to expand his university internationally while maintaining its reputation for excellence and academic freedom.”
But his meaning of “freedom” seems elastic. “I have no trouble distinguishing between rights of academic freedom and rights of political expression,” he told Bloomberg News later that year. “These are two different things.” This was a startling statement, coming from a scholar of constitutional law. And along with the controversy over a stand-alone campus that N.Y.U. opened in Abu Dhabi in 2010, it contributed to Mr. Sexton’s rising unpopularity back home: the arts and science faculty, N.Y.U.’s largest, voted “no confidence” in him in March. Both overseas campuses were financed primarily with foreign subsidies.
Mr. Sexton seemed oblivious to the experiences of Johns Hopkins University, whose School of Advanced International Studies has a longstanding center in Nanjing, China, that has faced restrictions on political discussion: the halting of an on-campus public screening of a documentary about the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 and a ban on off-campus distribution of a journal started by an American student with articles by classmates.
Diplomats have good reason to encourage educational collaborations with strategically vital nations. And higher education is under great strain in the United States — witness President Obama’s plans to make colleges more affordable and accountable by rating them — so the temptation to raise money by expanding into rapidly growing (or resource rich) countries is understandable.
But if you look past their soaring rhetoric, you’ll see globe-trotting university presidents and trustees who are defining down their expectations of what a liberal education means, much as corporations do when they look the other way at shoddy labor and environmental practices abroad. The difference, of course, is that a university’s mission is to question such arrangements, not to facilitate them.
I’m no opponent of collaborative research programs in law, business, medicine and technical training in countries that are wealthy or authoritarian or both. Many students in those countries may want to broaden their social and political horizons as well as their career skills. But pretending that freedom of inquiry can be separated from freedom of expression is naïve at best, cynical at worst.
There is perhaps no better example of such cynicism than at Yale, where I teach. Its decision to create a new undergraduate college in a joint venture with the National University of Singapore touched off one of the strongest controversies in the 20-year presidency of Richard C. Levin, who retired this summer as Yale’s president — a year after a nonbinding faculty resolution expressed grave reservations about the project.
Yale promised that the newly hired faculty at Yale-N.U.S. would “rethink liberal education from the ground up” in a campus built and financed by Singapore — an authoritarian city-state with severe restrictions on freedom of speech.
“We must look at ‘liberal’ in the sense of broad, rather than free,” Kay Kuok, a businesswoman who leads the Yale-N.U.S. governing board, told the government-controlled Straits Times. “It’s freedom of thought; I’m not necessarily saying freedom of expression.”
Mr. Levin promised that students would be free to form associations “as long as they are not intolerant of racial or religious groups.” But the Singapore campus’s president, Pericles Lewis, said they would not be free to form explicitly political associations, much less stage protests of government policies, even on campus.
“In a host environment where free speech is constrained if not proscribed, faculty will censor themselves, and the cause of authentic liberal education, to the extent it can exist in such situations, will suffer,” the American Association of University Professors warned last year in a letter criticizing the Singapore venture. The letter posed 16 questions that Yale hasn’t answered; it won’t even disclose to its faculty the full terms of the Singapore deal.
Reporters Without Borders this year ranked Singapore No. 149 out of 179 in press freedom — down from No. 135 last year. Faculty members at the Claremont Colleges, in California, and University of Warwick, in Britain, cited concerns about academic freedom when they rebuffed Singapore’s offers to fund liberal arts colleges there — before Yale accepted.
Academic freedom isn’t the only ideal at risk. In 2009, when the University of Wisconsin at Madison was invited by the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan to help create a biotechnology program, the Americans proposed instead to design a school for the humanities and social sciences, one inspired by “the Wisconsin Idea,” a progressive vision of labor rights and open government. Something very different was built: a $2 billion university, run by a consortium that includes the University of Wisconsin, and named for the autocratic president Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, who has a representative on the board of trustees. Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented extensive labor rights violations in the United Arab Emirates, where migrant workers, who make up more than 70 percent of Abu Dhabi’s residents but enjoy few legal protections, are still building the N.Y.U. campus on Saadiyat Island, a luxury tourist and residential site.
When authoritarian regimes buy American universities’ prestige and talent, they “shortcut a process that took centuries to create,” Harry R. Lewis, a former dean of Harvard College, recently wrote in the South China Morning Post.
Universities’ mad scramble to expand reflects not so much grasping, imperialistic overreach as fundamental weakness: not only financial and market pressures, but also a drift in purpose and mission. University presidents have bought into an incorrect premise, espoused by thinkers like Fareed Zakaria and Kishore Mahbubani, that countries that liberalize economically will also liberalize politically. Universities need to recover a more “missionary,” freedom-seeking approach to their host countries, pedagogically and even politically. Or they should follow the model of Columbia and other universities that have created learning centers with much lighter footprints, not full-fledged campuses.
At its best, a liberal education imbues future citizen-leaders with the values and skills that are necessary to question, not merely serve, concentrations of power and profit. Universities that abandon this ideal are lending their good names to the decline of liberal education; turning themselves into career-networking centers for a global managerial work force that answers to no republican polity or moral code; and cheapening the value of the diplomas they hand out, at home and abroad.
A lecturer in political science at Yale and the author of “Liberal Racism.”

2013年9月2日 星期一

教育學筆記


講"發揮",可參考胡適之先生在1936年版的《胡適留學日記‧自序》中說的:
我從自己經驗裏得到一個道理,曾用英文寫出來:
Expression is the most effective means of approximating impression.
譯成中國話就是:
要使你所得印象變成你自己的,最有效的法子是記錄或表現成文章。
......你自己必須把這題目研究清楚,然後使用自己的話把它發揮出來,成為一篇有條理的演講。你經過這一番「表現」或「發揮」expression之後,那些空泛的印象變著實了,.......

這種方式是求知識學問的一種幫助,也是思想的一種幫助。它的方式有多種,讀書作提要
,札記,寫信,談話,演說,作文,都有這種作用。札記是為自己的了解的;談話,討論,寫信,是求一個朋友的了解的;演說,作文,是求一群人的了解的,這都是「發揮」,都有幫助自己了解的功用。
......我寫這一大段話,是要我的讀者明白我為什麼在百忙的學生生活裏那樣起勁寫札記。......



*****

我這兩天與某從事幼教者通信,都會提醒其行業的相關資訊。譬如說: hothouse可當動詞:
hothouse
verb
[with object]
   educate or teach (a child) to a high level at an earlier age than is usual: a school that had a reputation for hothousing its girls

 ***** 天下登宮崎駿Hayao Miyazaki宣佈引退 訪談:創作,必須誠實面對自己:

以我隔壁的幼稚園為例,我覺得這些小朋友其實是給大人們一些希望。大人只要做出一些改變、投注一些力量,就會帶給小孩很大的改變。我其實也想透過這個幼稚園,來獲得一些希望。

小朋友啊,尤其是那麼小的幼齡兒童,我覺得他們不是普通的人,而是具有一種靈性或神性。我不會對小朋友有任何期待,因為我不覺得小孩必須順著大人的期待而成長。我每天都會花十五分鐘去偷看隔壁幼稚園的小孩,在這個過程裡,看到小朋友每天都在成長,我覺得這反而是小朋友在給我勇氣與動力。