If a university claims to train masters, this is a false statement

In any case, one of the intentions of this book (editor's note: "The Gate and Method of Governance: Historical Materials and Historiography of late Qing And Republic studies") is still written as an introductory for new scholars, although it is not proud to teach corporal Xiaofu, after all, it is necessary to show some basic doorways. To study, we must first be able to read, less children's skills, and there is pressure from the system, we can't look at reading and then do learning, and at the same time we have to turn over books to find materials for writing books, how to avoid bias depends on the teacher. Therefore, the original proposed article began with a teacher. Of course, if the teacher is also partial to a corner, the disciple can easily sit in the well and watch the heavens.

In recent years, the question of why universities do not produce masters has been quite entangled by all parties, especially for those in power of universities and their authorities. The subtext is that universities should produce masters, and there have been many masters before. In fact, both aspects are negotiable. In the view of Zhang Taiyan, who can be called a master of traditional Chinese studies, the university does not even have knowledge, let alone a master? At least from the perspective of the study of traditional Chinese learning, this statement is not unreasonable. Zhang Taiyan believed that the matter of learning flourished in the opposition and declined in the dynasty, so official learning was always inferior to private learning. Under today's system, even if it cannot be said that scholars and scholars come from universities, it is difficult to say that there are more scholars than universities outside universities and institutional scientific research institutions, and it is even difficult to say how many scholars there are outside universities. Yan Gengwang said that to govern learning, it is necessary to read books that everyone is common, and to say things that everyone does not often say. Speaking what others cannot say, including not daring to speak and not being able to speak. If we only talk about inconvenient things and are intended to sensationalize the audio-visual of the general audience, it is obviously difficult to call it learning.

Talking about universities and masters has become too much and vulgar. However, it is quite interesting to change the way of thinking, whether the university should train masters, how to train masters or why they have not yet trained masters, but to study deeply how the university is related to the masters, how many misunderstandings and distortions there are, and the proper meaning of the section on seeking a teacher.

The so-called master is originally an ancient official name, and later a Buddhist honorific title and a courtesy name, and there are references to those who are skilled in learning or skill in the world. Linking the university with the master, the initiator of the identification is Mei Yiqi. At the end of 1931, Mei Yiqi was supervised by Tsinghua students studying in the United States and returned to China to become the president of Tsinghua University, and in his inaugural speech, in order to emphasize that the reason why a university is a university lies in whether there are good professors, he imitated Mencius's hometown and proposed that "the so-called university is not a building, but also a master." This theory may not have aroused widespread repercussions at the time, but in recent years it has been repeatedly quoted and circulated everywhere, as ironclad evidence that university education is not as good as in the past, or even become the so-called question of the century. But unconsciously, the meaning has changed a lot. People generally question that in the key construction boom of the university, only the building is up, and the master is not seen. As everyone knows, Mei Yiqi's university has masters, which means that it is necessary to hire good teachers, and does not give the university the responsibility of cultivating masters. In the era when Mei Yiqi said those words, universities should not talk about cultivating masters, and even whether they could produce true learning was still a big problem in the eyes of Zhang Taiyan and others who could be called masters. In modern Chinese universities, the government (including national provinces) are nothing more than temple studies, and the private ones practice the way of concubines. Moreover, the university is only a learning stage in life, even if you get a doctorate (before the 1950s, domestic universities did not have this setting), at most it is only to lay the foundation, even if the potential is unlimited, it is still quite far away from the master. Therefore, Mei Yiqi said that there are two purposes for running a university, one is to study academics, and the other is to cultivate talents, which is a reasonable argument. If you claim to train a master, it becomes a nonsense.

This matter can be confirmed by Mei Yiqi's long school Tsinghua University itself. Tsinghua opened the Institute of Chinese Studies, most of the students recruited from all over the country have already achieved success, compared with the newly promoted Tsinghua undergraduates, the skill is not only one level deeper, but also got the close attention of several famous teachers, enough to start a family, to help Tsinghua get rid of the notoriety of no education in one fell swoop. But don't say that when you graduate, even when you become famous, who dares to think of himself as a master? Jiang Liangfu, who came from the National Academy, admitted that until his old age, he still did not understand what Chen Yinke had said in class that year. After the Suspension of the National College because it could not invite famous teachers and other reasons, Chen Yinke continued to teach in the Departments of History and Chinese Literature of Tsinghua University, and the courses he opened in the Department of History were too deep for students to bear, and they had to reduce the difficulty again and again. It can be seen that letting the university cultivate masters is somewhat of a taste of fantasy. Nowadays, the master classes of some famous schools, and the grand plans that do not label but claim to be aimed at cultivating masters, are foolish, if not otherwise, unattainable. From the perspective of inviting famous teachers (famous teachers have a timely name, a veritable difference, and now there is a distinction between naming and fame), Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, etc. invited by Tsinghua Guo college, although they have their own strengths and weaknesses, have indeed been referred to as masters at that time. In modern Chinese academia, if these few cannot be deserved, there are only a few candidates. Mei Yiqi dared to claim that universities should have masters, which was obviously not unrelated to their resounding reputation. The rest, including the chief National Peking University, lack such abundant confidence. Perhaps Mei Yiqi's master said that it is not without the intention of squeezing Peking University that does not have or dare not call the master. However, several masters of Tsinghua Guo college did not have university degrees, and it is difficult to say that they were trained by universities. Liang Qichao has only entered the Xuehai Hall and the Wanmu Caotang, and the academic qualifications at home and abroad in the Kingdom are also very low, although Chen Yinke has studied in many famous schools in Europe and the United States, he has not taken a diploma, or even registered, and has never been called a teacher. Taking Zhu Xi as a model, he treated foreign cultures as much as possible, and tried his best to return the pearls, so as not to forget the ancestors. After the death of Liang Qichao and Wang Guowei, several of the people to be hired by Tsinghua Guoguo College, such as Zhang Taiyan and Liu Yizheng, were not from the university. Hu Shi, who could not get the most easily obtained doctoral diploma from Columbia University in the United States, was considered a qualified candidate, and he dared to become a professor at Peking University, and he politely refused the courtesy of the tutor of Tsinghua Guoguo College. During the Republic of China period, several omnipotent and so-called masters such as Wei Juxian and Zheng Shixu did not leave a deep mark on academic history, so that very few people in the academic circles today know about them. As for the guoxue masters elected by the current vote or Mr. Feng Shui under the banner of the guoxue masters, they are just the self-amusement of the public, and the repetition of the old tricks of the jianghu warlocks are mostly hyped up by various media that pride themselves on representing the will of the people.

Further investigation, in addition to the masters, even if there is a master' theory, Mei Yiqi's Tsinghua University when he was a long school is not unreasonable. After several tutors or scholars died or left, Chen Yinke, the only remaining scholar, moved to the Department of History, because Jiang Tingdi, who presided over the affairs of the department, advocated a new historiography of social science and supported Lei Haizong, and Chen Yinke was suspected of being gradually marginalized. It is only because of his high academic prestige and wide network of contacts that he will not lose his position. As for Lei Haizong, although he is now occasionally praised as a master, he is not only slightly inferior in academics. Its impact on students, the lower the level, the greater, until it enters the stage of advanced research or even teaching, it will inevitably fade. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai Formed the Southwest United Congress, which has now become a model for people to cultivate masters in a difficult and difficult environment. However, judging from the Sanlu University and its various people described in Qian Zhong's book "The Siege of the City", at least in his eyes, there are not only no masters here, but also a few good teachers. And his own experience shows that potential masters cannot be predicted and treated well here. Of course, whether Qian Zhongshu is a master may still be controversial, but if even whether he can become a master is not predictable, how can China's highest institution of learning be able to produce and sell its own "masters"? How can it be worthy of the concept of "the university must have a master"?

The so-called master must be extraordinarily talented and extraordinary, and genius cannot be artificially shaped, and genius and excellence are by no means a step away, so the university may not be able to create a master, and the master may be able to achieve the university. This interpretation is not very good, but it is not far away.

Universities do not necessarily have masters, and universities must have certain rules for teachers. University teachers teach and educate people, and they should teach, solve puzzles, and enlighten the tao. Jin Yudian believes that the teachers of colleges, middle schools and primary schools should at least reach these three levels respectively. For a university teacher, it must have the highest level of enlightenment. The so-called Ming Tao refers to the origin and flow of the inheritance of people and learning. Only by mastering the relationship between the whole and part of learning and the evolution of ancient and modern China and foreign countries that vary from time to time and place to person can we understand the ins and outs of all aspects. Such a vast and profound extremely high realm is both unattainable and unfathomable, and difficult to obtain at the same time. If we want to trace the ideological and academic culture of the Chinese dynasties, it is inevitable that we will be able to follow the teachings of the textbook; according to the teaching of the textbook, we can only repeat the words of the textbook; most of the puzzles in the south and the north of the heavens and the sea are not marginal nonsense, and it is inevitable that the good talents will be carved into decaying wood.

The more intelligent the knowledge, the fewer people understand, and this general rule is no exception even in universities specializing in teaching and learning. Because the educated are always materials to be carved, unable to distinguish, but must be taught, so the university is like a jianghu, and the liars are the most likely to run amok. If there is no high degree of self-consciousness and self-discipline, blindly encouraging the future to learn new advances, it is bound to take the horizontal pass as a liberal arts, and in order to sensationalize the public, it will not hesitate to talk about it. In modern China, those scholars who are jokingly called masters are involved in a wide range of subjects, writings and other bodies, seemingly omniscient, famous for a while, and now not to mention the public, the academic circles do not know much about their famous careers. When Chen Yinke taught at Tsinghua University, although the standard was repeatedly lowered, the courses offered were still difficult for students to listen to, and the most popular was Lei Haizong. Reich was deeply influenced by the German Sbenegler cultural typology, whose writings, although popular in Post-World War I Europe, only shook society and the world, and were not academic learning. If young students whose main profession is learning use it as a criterion for judging the effectiveness and even level of teaching, it is not to put the cart before the horse.

Learning must be systematically taught in order to put the drunken man on the right track anytime and anywhere. Lectures and the like are not helpful, they are not good, and they will confuse people's minds and make new entries go astray. Because advanced learning and clever teachings are generally unbearable, they must be gradual and cannot be crossed. Although the flattering words intended to please the audience can attract attention, win applause, not without sensory stimulation, and are easy to arouse the resonance of shallow learning or public interest, it is harmful and useless to go deep into the way of learning. If the person who supports the drunk is also a drunk, instead of expecting him to point out the confusion, he may follow the wrong path, walk into a dead end, and embark on the road of no return.

In learning, there is a realm that the heart yearns for, although it cannot be reached. Whether there is such a pursuit or not, the taste is very different. Recent people think that the ancients' concept of the shame of illiterate scholars makes every scholar overwhelmed, and his learning cannot be expanded, which is like a two-legged bookcase. However, without looking at the reading, I do not know the overall results, which leads to the lack of high depth of learning and dwarfization. There are countless achievements of all kinds, and the expansion of quantity has not brought about the development of scholarship, but has caused the accumulation of scholars' ability to see. Only by virtue of the small circle of painting and prison formed by the division of disciplines and the self-evaluation of self-defined rules and regulations can we deceive ourselves into saying ignorant and fearless words, and have the beautiful dream of breaking through the predecessors and leading the trend of the times.

Universities are a place to nurture talent, and when talent comes in, the likelihood of success is high no matter what they do. If the goods are not shipped, no matter how many goods there are, it is inevitable that they will be counterfeit and inferior. Degree readers are bent on finding good topics, thinking that good topics must be easy to write well, but in fact, they are not true. Lack of ability, low literacy, no matter how good the topic is, it is not good. Therefore, the degree should be based on training to improve ability literacy, as long as the foundation is solid, immersed in learning, not only will eventually achieve success, but also can continue to release potential, climb upwards, not to obtain a degree as the peak of life, and will not always do it without consciousness. Institutionally blindly encouraging latecomers to publish more, although it is conducive to the ranking of units and the promotion of individuals, feeding the publications of profit, but ruining the academic life of a generation.

The university is also a place where gentlemen gather, gentlemen are not party, and their fellowship with each other is as light as water, unlike villains who have their own plans, can exchange benefits, support each other, intertwine, and form a stable community. Moreover, gentlemen talk about integrity, have wind and bone, and have clear edges and angles, which should only be far away, not easy to get close, especially not the so-called team spirit advocated today. Therefore, academic institutions should try to open up enough space to make them safe and sound, and they cannot do the opposite, kill three people and provoke nest fighting. If the villain is mixed up and down, his hands will be easy to gain power. The temple is too small, naturally it cannot afford to provide for the true spirits of the great bodhisattvas, and even the arhats are difficult to accommodate, and it is reasonable for the little ghosts to run rampant. By seeking a teacher by hiring a craftsman, the income is not only limited, but it is also easy to be deceived.

No matter how much Zhang Taiyan's eyes are white on the university, the scholars who are ideally involved in it still hope to establish academic halls. If the university is deformed into a dock, and most of the scholars are rushing to run the dock, the academic community will really become a mixed river and lake. The jianghu has its own status and superiority, fighting fiercely, winning or losing, nothing more than for the sake of ranking. The strength is not good, and the interests are related, it is inevitable that the scammers such as Qiu Qianshi will be refurbished and deceived. Such a situation has a long history, and the universities of the Republic of China period, which people admire infinitely, have the sigh of academic jianghu at that time, and it seems that they are not as ideal as the later generations envisioned. It's just that the image of the gift giver at that time was quite negative, during the Beijing government period, there was a well-known latecomer who liked to give gifts, which was well known, but not only gifts were often not sent in, but I also gradually faded out of the academic community because of my poor reputation. It can be seen that although bribery and corruption in the political and business circles became the norm at that time, most of the scholars who cherished feathers and pretended to be clean did not eat this set. Moreover, even if it is a jianghu, the real master is beyond the world, but disdains the status of the jianghu.

Author: Sang Bing

Source: This article is excerpted from the introductory part of "The Doorway and Method of Governance: Historical Materials and Historiography of Late Qing and Republic of China Studies" (Social Science Literature Press, 2014).

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