There is an article in the Chinese newspaper: "Hegel, a western philosopher, said: A nation only has people who care about the sky ... to help find a composition based on it."

Hegel said that a nation can only have hope if it has some people who care about the sky; A nation only cares about what is under its feet, and it has no future.

University is the place where personality is cultivated, the cradle of humanistic spirit and the support of reason and conscience. Cai Yuanpei said that a great scholar is also a person who studies profound knowledge. In order to include grand ceremonies and attract many schools to learn.

According to this standard, today's universities need to reflect. In some places, vulgarity, utilitarianism and nothingness have eroded the thoughts of college students and faculty. Bureaucratic departmentalism, rigid academic mechanism and obsession with business and technology have dried up the source of university creation. Some people say that China's universities have lost their backbone and spirit, leaving only naked pursuit of fame and profit. Some people even say that China has not had a university for more than 20 years, but only a "pre-job training institution for wage earners".

The rise and fall of university and university spirit is related to the future of a country and a nation.

The United States is much richer than Latin America, and it is still in full swing today. In fact, the conditions in Central and South America were much better than those in North America. North America doesn't even have advanced Indian civilization, while Central America and South America have splendid Inca civilization, Aztec civilization and Mayan civilization. But what makes North America strong? Today, we know that the earliest North American immigrants were 65,438+003 Puritans in may flower. In fact, when Mayflower arrived in North America, there were already more than 1000 immigrants there, but all American history books were written from Mayflower. Why do historians like this 103 person so much? That's because people's beliefs in Mayflower represent the source of American spirit and form what Weber called capitalist Protestant ethics. It was only 16 years after these Protestants landed. Before they were fully established, they established the earliest university in North America. The following year, they named Harvard after the biggest donor. From this point of view, North American immigrants were special from the beginning. First of all, they are Puritans. Second, they established universities, which is a powerful secret of America today. Scholar Qin Hui also studies the differences between Latin America and North America. He thinks that America is superior to South America because it has a good system. I don't object to this statement, but I want to emphasize that Puritans were different from Iberians as soon as they landed. It took them only 16 years to establish the university and 160 years to establish the United States and the American Constitution. Do you think culture is important or system is important? Is there a university or a constitution?

Today, Israel is very powerful It was founded only one year before New China. The war began the day after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is surrounded by a hundred times hostile population. But today, there are almost no equal opponents, and no country dares to take the initiative to challenge. Why is Israel so awesome? Because there are universities in Israel, universities are more important than anything else. When it was impossible to establish it, the Jewish wise men established the Hebrew University, whose president Weizmann was the founding president of Israel. Hebrew universities are 25 years ahead of their country.

Look at Japan again. Such a small island country has been shrouded in the shadow of China culture since ancient times, but today it is stronger than China. Why is there today? 1868 At the beginning of Meiji Restoration, the level of Japan was far from that of China, but there was a key figure named Fukuzawa Yukichi. Today, the largest denomination of Japanese paper money is10,000 yen. The head above is neither the Emperor nor any political and military figure, but Fukuzawa Yukichi, who has only written a few books, run a newspaper and founded the first Japanese university. Such people have become the soul of the modern Japanese nation. He said that a nation must change three aspects if it wants to rise. The first is the change of people's heart, the second is the change of political system, and the third is the change of utensils and economy. The order of these three aspects should be thought first, then political system, and finally economy. Reversing this order is a shortcut on the surface, but it won't work in the end. Modern Japan basically took the road of Fukuzawa and succeeded.

At the same time, China chose a path that Fukuzawa Yukichi predicted would not work. The earliest way to open the country was to engage in westernization movement, engage in economic construction, buy western warships and guns, and then start building them, only to find that political system reform was needed. More than 0/00 days after the Reform Movement of 1898, a farce ended or even regressed. Social contradictions are sharp conflicts, so we should engage in revolution. After the Revolution of 1911, it seems that there is no problem to get rid of the old and innovate, but the whole society is in dire straits, warlords scuffle, an emperor is overthrown, and countless local emperors appear. When people were desperate, Liang Qichao found that the Japanese had long said that this road would not work, and Liang Qichao advocated the new people movement. The New Culture Movement was the real beginning of China in the 20th century. One of the most iconic events is that Cai Yuanpei came back from Germany and used the Berlin University model to govern Peking University. In just a few years, he turned it into a real university, the cradle of the whole national spirit.

In recent years, the whole country has been on the verge of collapse, and the New Culture Movement of Peking University has become a political movement. So there was a compromise, the Whampoa Military Academy. As we know, Sun Yat-sen suffered many defeats and wars all his life. Later, he reorganized the Kuomintang with the Leninist model and the Three People's Principles and established the Whampoa Military Academy. Whampoa Military Academy is different from warlords. Warlords fight for territory and direct interests, while Whampoa Military Academy fights for a nationalist belief. It has a higher concept than promoting to a higher position and making a fortune, eating, drinking and having fun, rallying the collective, forming an organization and establishing a system. The authority of Chiang Kai-shek's life comes from his being the president of Huangpu Military Academy.

So when there were no universities in China, a quasi-university appeared, which was between universities and warlords. This is the Whampoa Military Academy.

* * * Later, so did the producers' party. The mystery of Chairman Mao's life lies in Yan 'an, which is actually a military and political university and of course a quasi-university. Chairman Mao turned the ideal of * * productism into such a belief that shines in everyone's heart, so the * * * production party quickly gained political power and made great efforts in such a short time.

The wartime universities established in the rear area during the eight-year Anti-Japanese War were represented by the National Southwest Associated University, including Wuhan University, Central University, Jiaotong University and Zhejiang University at that time. These five famous schools trained a generation of national elites in the Anti-Japanese War. No matter how corrupt the national government is, in eight years, it put the second largest financial expenditure on education after military expenditure. At that time, many people said that universities should not be run. Why do young people stay at school? Go to war and save the country. If you want to run a university, it is also the chemistry department that teaches gunpowder making, the physics department that teaches gun making, the mechanics department that teaches bridge building, the foreign language department that trains translators, and the philosophy department that trains political instructors. However, Chiang Kai-shek actually listened to the opinions of a few people at that time. What should universities do? During the whole Anti-Japanese War, universities not only did not shrink, but also doubled in number. A large number of young people went to college in the rear area, which consolidated the cultural foundation of the Chinese nation. Although Chiang Kai-shek did not benefit, most of them were taken over by the new regime, but they created the glory after the new China.

I can draw a conclusion that all the pride of China in the 20th century comes down to one fact, that is, in the most desperate time, only a few China people were able to set up several universities or quasi-universities to support the culture of the whole nation. China's greatest pride in the 20th century was attributed to Peking University, Huangpu, Yan 'an and wartime universities represented by National Southwest Associated University. All the misfortunes, sorrows and stupidity in China in the 20th century lie in the fact that there are almost no real universities, no complete personality training centers, only talent training institutions and only places for usual training tools.