This year is different from previous years, among the high-scoring candidates, there are many people who abandon Tsinghua Peking University and choose other famous schools. This shows that high-scoring candidates have begun to become rational and diversified in the selection of prestigious schools. In previous years, Tsinghua Peking University has almost become the only choice for high-scoring candidates, especially college entrance examination champions, and it seems that it is abnormal not to choose Tsinghua Peking University.
But in 2019, a news that once attracted social attention was that Yan Yisu, a high-scoring candidate in Shanghai, voluntarily gave up applying for Peking University Tsinghua University and chose Harbin Institute of Technology to major in detection, guidance and control. This caused a sensation back then, and looking back, Yan Yisu's alternative choice still has reference value for this year's college entrance examination champions and high-scoring candidates.
Although the popularity of HIT cannot be compared with Peking University Tsinghua University, the school's major focuses on aerospace and military industry, shouldering the important task of strengthening the country and the military, and its status is no less than that of Peking University Tsinghua.
On June 7, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a letter congratulating Harbin Institute of Technology on its 100th anniversary, extending warm congratulations and sincere greetings to all faculty, students, staff and alumni. Almost at the same time, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that 33 mainland science and technology companies and universities were included in the so-called entity list, and Harbin Institute of Technology was one of them. This shows that the university is in an advanced position in the world in some fields, and has broken the scientific and technological hegemony of the United States in some fields.
However, what annoys HIT is that when enrolling, not many top science students in the country actively choose to apply for HIT, and there are even fewer science champions, and they always have the inferior position in the recruitment competition with Peking University and Tsinghua University. But there are always exceptions, and in 2019, a top science student in Shanghai withstood great pressure and took the initiative to apply for Harbin Institute of Technology. Today, he seems to have been quite prescient. The reason why he took the initiative to apply for HIT in 2019 is very valuable for this year's high-scoring candidates.
According to Shanghai media reports, after the college entrance examination in 2019, there was almost no hesitation, and Yan Yisu, a fresh graduate of Shanghai Kongjiang Middle School, refused the olive branch handed by Peking University Tsinghua. At that time, the college entrance examination score had just been released, and Yan Yisu scored 618 points (660 points in the Shanghai college entrance examination), ranking among the top 50 in the city. Tsinghua Peking University is the dream of many candidates, but Yan Yisu decided to establish the ideal of "studying aerospace, not going to Harbin Institute of Technology" from the beginning of high school. In this, there is Yan Yisu's feeling when he watched the launch of Shenzhou 7 when he was a child and the lofty ambition he established since then, and there is also the attraction of HIT brand professional - Harbin Institute of Technology Elite College selects high-scoring candidates from the undergraduate freshmen of Harbin Institute of Technology every year, enrolling no more than 200 people per year, using the innovative talent training model of master's degree and doctoral degree, which is the cradle of cultivating top aerospace talents in the country. "In the mainland aerospace system, HIT has the most graduates, which strengthens my determination to apply." Yan Yisu said that his criteria are only one - to choose the major he wants to study and the university with the strongest professional strength.
At the beginning of the school, Yan Yisu entered the prestigious lilac student micro-nano satellite team of Harbin Institute of Technology. This is an open platform for college students to carry out scientific and technological innovation activities, and he can participate in the development and launch of satellites as college students.
"Some candidates gave up Tsinghua Peking University and went to Harbin Institute of Technology." This once became a "curious story" in the Shanghai recruitment season, circulating among various parent groups and alumni groups.
Liu Renhui, head of the Shanghai admissions team of HIT, lamented in an interview with the media at the time that this was obviously a normal choice. "We should also reflect on whether society takes scores too seriously? All prestigious schools have their own specialties. We cannot think that candidates who get high scores are only normal if they go to those fixed famous schools. ”
Teacher Liu Renhui is right, in the opinion of many parent candidates, the top students in science should prefer Tsinghua Peking University to call it "normal", and only consider choosing other famous schools if they are not admitted to Tsinghua Peking University. Yan Yisu refused the olive branch offered by Peking University Tsinghua University, and chose Harbin Institute of Technology, a seemingly alternative choice that naturally made many parents in Shanghai not understand. For example, from the perspective of national interests, it may not be a blessing for China that the top science students in the country have come together to apply for Peking University and Tsinghua University, because although Tsinghua Peking University is the top two famous schools in China, it does not have any science and engineering major, nor is it the strongest science and engineering major in the country. Although Peking University's science major is very strong, its engineering major is not very strong. The School of Engineering of Peking University was re-established in June 2005, which is not only slightly weaker than Tsinghua Engineering, but also not necessarily stronger than some old engineering universities, such as Harbin Institute of Technology. Some important engineering majors related to the status of a great power and national security, Peking University Tsinghua University either does not have or is newly established, and it is not necessarily the strongest in the country. For example, the strongest aero-engine majors are Beihang and China Southern Airlines; The strongest major in shipbuilding is Shanghai Jiaotong University; The strongest aerospace majors are Western Institute of Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology; The strongest military industry majors are Beijing Institute of Technology and Nanjing University of Science and Technology. For traditional engineering majors such as aircraft engines, shipbuilding, aerospace, and military industry, although they are not as fashionable and beautiful as popular majors such as artificial intelligence, computers, biology, and communications, they are very important for the status of major countries and national security (such as the development of large aircraft, aircraft carriers, and satellites).
Science top-notch candidates are not ordinary candidates, they have superhuman IQ and learning ability, and they are more likely to become the top technical talents urgently needed by the mainland after training, and even academician-level masters. So from this point of view, a top science student to apply for traditional engineering majors such as aero engine and aerospace may be much more meaningful than 100 ordinary students to apply for these majors.
The barrel principle in management means that the capacity of a barrel depends on the shortest length plank in the bucket. The barrel principle tells us that in the development of a country's science and technology and industry, top technical talents should be evenly distributed, and all majors and leading cities need top technical talents and scientific and technological leaders, otherwise they may be subject to people, so that they will be stuck in the neck, endangering national economic security and national defense security, especially large countries.
Therefore, the difference between large countries and small and medium-sized countries is that large countries must establish an independent and comprehensive and balanced scientific and technological and industrial system, and there can be no obvious shortcomings, and the difference is not the same, otherwise it will be subject to people and even stuck in the neck. This also requires that our engineering higher education must be comprehensive and balanced, and there can be no obvious shortcomings. This is especially true in the context of the United States unscrupulously suppressing China's scientific and technological innovation in order to maintain its scientific and technological hegemony.
If the top science students apply for Peking University Tsinghua University in a group, there will inevitably be an imbalance in the serious lack of top technical talents in some fields and majors (such as aircraft engines, shipbuilding, aerospace, etc.). Therefore, the education authorities should not adopt a laissez-faire attitude in the choice of schools and majors for science top students, but should guide science top students to apply for the examination in a balanced manner, and encourage science top students to apply for engineering majors (such as aircraft engine, shipbuilding, aerospace, military industry and other majors) in other key universities other than Peking University and Tsinghua University like Yan Yisu. To achieve "360 lines, the line is the champion", the premise is that there are top students in science who apply for the exam, rather than applying for Peking University Tsinghua University in a bunch. In this way, the mainland's higher education can develop in a balanced manner, avoid the emergence of the "shortest plank", and export top technical talents for various industries.
(Source: Kunlun Ce Net [Original] revised draft, authorized by the author to be published for the first time)