Many people outside think that Renmin University is conservative or "leftist" on the whole. I don't quite agree with this assessment. The teachers of Renmin University have their own academic values and academic views. We can't judge a person from an academic point of view.
At the National People's Congress, scholars have different goals in pursuing academic ideals, and we should respect this diversity. They have ideals, they are not walking dead, and they are not vassal. I will not despise him because he disagrees with me. Academic views are the basic rights of a scholar, and they are also a sign of his pursuit of academic ideals. Be respectful of him, you can disagree with him, but respect him.
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of Renmin University, China Financier magazine had an interview with me. There was a sentence in the interview, which the editor later used as the title of the interview. I said, Renmin University is the place where my soul rests. After a long interview, the editor distilled the most substantive sentence and used it as the title. This is the outpouring of my true feelings. For me, it is only at Renmin University that I can make a little bit of achievement and realize my academic ideals. I hope that the newly recruited young teachers here will cherish their time at Renmin University and become adults with academic pursuits.
When you come to the National People's Congress as a teacher, your love for scholarship and your exploration of the unfinished world must be your goal. Otherwise, you may earn more money by working elsewhere than at Renmin University. If you go to a state agency as a civil servant, when you reach the age of 50, you may most likely be able to become a director. The reason why we didn't realize the high probability event is because there is an ideal in my heart that I can't let go, that is, the pursuit of academics. Academic research is inherently a joyful thing. Of course, some people are miserable to do academic research, and it is painful to write a dissertation for the sake of a job title. If you find academic research to be a painful chore, you have to leave it. Academic research must be happy, all academically accomplished people, whether it is natural sciences or humanities and social sciences, most of them come from inner pursuit and happiness, and propositional composition cannot produce great results.
I don't like applying for projects. I don't apply for topics because those topics are boring and are propositional essays. For the project fee of 200,000 or 500,000 yuan, I have to keep filling out the form, and after filling out the form, I have to report to some people, and sit there to answer, which is a bit funny. It's up to them to judge whether they can get the subject, and I'm not very comfortable with this mechanism. However, you still have to apply, and there are no topics that cannot be evaluated as professors right now. At that time, I didn't want to evaluate professors, but just looked at your papers, your teaching and scientific research achievements. When the level of papers and works is reached, you can do it, and you don't want a topic. I want to thank the era when there were no topics, and now I don't think I can rate professors because there are no topics. Topics are essentially another form of propositional composition. Proposition composition doesn't produce any good work.
Therefore, to teach at a university, one must have a strong academic pursuit. Some of you will also move towards "double-shouldered" positions in the future, teaching and researching, and doing some management work. Don't talk about conditions and don't talk about face in management work. Don't think that you are a professor, you will be wronged to be the deputy director of the scientific research office and the academic affairs office. Management is also another experience in life, a kind of dedication. Don't think that if you become a professor, you will be amazing, no one will look down on you, don't think so. It's good to do some social work. This is the first piece of advice I would like to say to you.
The second suggestion is to stay away from hot topics in academic research. Academics have an academic character, we can focus on hot topics, but we can't be enthusiastic about them. Social hotspots are changing too fast, so how can we always follow them? We should keep our hearts calm, stay away from them, and do more basic theoretical research. I don't really advocate the humanities and social sciences of Renmin University, they all pursue hot issues, and I am keen to offer suggestions, write excerpts, and make internal references, which I don't like and don't advocate. There are also people who want to be consultants and give advice. I know that I don't have the ability to do it, and I can't make mistakes. Don't be keen on giving advice and giving advice. Professors are wrong to think about the country, they must sink their hearts, study some real problems, and do real learning.
Teaching at a university is based on academic research, not anything else. If you become a dean, a principal, and a bureaucrat, then it's over. I always keep this in mind, so I have a meeting or work at the school every morning, and as long as there is no meeting in the afternoon, I will definitely go to the research platform to do research, discuss research problems with collaborators or supervise doctoral students, find some experts and professors to discuss problems, and write in the evening when I have time, and I am used to discussing and writing in the evening. For more than ten years or even more than 20 years, it has never stopped, and it can be regarded as advancing with the times and moving forward. It is important to write a high-quality paper rather than having a PhD student write it for you. Some of our professors don't write their dissertations after taking doctoral students, but let doctoral students write a few sentences and sign their names. I don't think it's a teacher-student collaboration, it's essentially plundering the fruits of the students and exploiting the intellectual labor of the students. Some people say that this is the result of teacher-student cooperation and should be promoted. I said that if all the papers during my tenure as a doctoral supervisor were co-signed with students, there would be a problem. If the supervisor has published 10 papers independently and 10 jointly in the past ten years, it is still reasonable, and it is doubtful if he has not written several high-quality papers independently since he was appointed as a professor, and almost all of them have been published in collaboration with students or others. You must pay attention to the fact that you must write your own paper at all times. So far, I have written my dissertation myself, and I will ask doctoral students, postdocs and young teachers to collect some data for me, but I can't ask them to write it for me. What they write is their work, you can't sign it.
I have some doctoral dissertations that are well written, and he said, can the teacher sign your name, so that it is easy to publish. I said, I have no substantive contributions, I can't sign it, I can only sign your own name, but I will try my best to recommend it for you to publish. You sign my name, and in the future, you will evaluate the professor, and I will give you half of it, what should you do? Unless I write half of it, it is okay to sign my name, and the cooperation of three people must complete 1/3. You have to write it by hand, not just a few words. Some people say that the thought is mine, so it can be signed. Since the idea is yours, why don't you write it out? What is a thought? I have heard some teachers say that the idea of the text is mine, and the text is written by the students, and this is called cooperation. I basically disagree with this statement. We have to develop a good study style, and people who have a good study style will generally respect you. Maybe the number of published articles is not too much, but it will still be respected by everyone.
I am not opposed to collaborative research, and even advocate for it. I have academic collaborations with young professors and senior professors in the School of Finance and Economics. I can't be alone, no one looks down on me. I am happy to work with them, I like to discuss with them, and after the discussion, I usually draft the research outline and main ideas, and at the same time, I write the important parts myself, and the relevant detailed parts are carried out by them, which may be a collaboration. Therefore, cultivating a good study style is the foundation of your life.
In addition to the requirements for teaching and research, I would like to tell you that there are two points to keep in mind.
First, the style of the teacher. The style of teaching is essentially the style of learning. The style of study is the lifeblood of scholars, and we must not plagiarize and engage in take-it-or-leave-it. Of course, academic research can refer to other people's achievements and cite other people's views, but the source must be indicated. If you indicate the source, there is nothing, and don't think that others don't know it. Don't think you've found an unpublished paper and want to republish it. If you have this idea, sooner or later you will have to commit a big crime. Be respectful of the work of others. The style of study is the soul of a scholar. The level can be high and low, but plagiarism and fraud are not. This is the first thing I want to tell you, and you must remember! If you have a positive style of study, your waist will be straight.
Second, teacher morality. Teacher virtue is the image and the lifeblood. I've received reports about this in the past. Some of the reports said that the teacher talked to the female classmates behind closed doors, and so on. On the one hand, I was thinking, what was wrong with talking behind closed doors, and on the other hand, I was wondering why the teacher was talking to female classmates behind closed doors. Male teachers should pay attention to this issue. Renmin University has a high proportion of female students, undergraduate and graduate students are quite high, they are all very smart, talk to students, especially female students, and open the door and you will be fine, as long as you open the door, no one will have problems. In private, don't take a female student to dinner or participate in various activities alone. This is all not quite a normal thing and will bring you a huge risk that is potentially uncontrollable.
There are actual cases in terms of teacher style and morality, so I won't talk about it specifically. In short, we must keep in mind the style and morality. If you keep the bottom line of teaching style and morality, you will definitely be able to achieve a career and realize the ideals in your heart.