Why don't some world-class universities like to recruit China students?

Two things once again aroused my concern about education in China.

First, when talking to a professor of finance in a famous American university about the doctoral enrollment policy, he said that they might not recruit doctoral students from China in the future.

This is not a question of racial discrimination. He comes from China himself, but students from China have started to get good grades in the past few years. Later, although it was not outstanding in doctoral thesis research, it was ok, but when I went to the academic market to find a teaching position after graduation, I didn't perform well and couldn't find a first-class university teaching position. Therefore, they don't want to waste any more time training China students.

In fact, not only their universities have this plan, but also my Yale and other universities have discussed the same problem. Although we haven't decided to stop enrolling China students completely, we consciously recruit less or occasionally don't.

Take 20 15 as an example. Many of the top 30 Ph.D. graduates in finance in the United States come from China, but the most successful job seekers went to California Institute of Technology, which is certainly good. But there are so many doctoral students in China, and none of them have been recruited by the top 10 or the top 15 finance department.

Because all these PhDs graduated from top finance departments, this result is very disappointing. All schools have invested so much resources and professors' energy, but they have not been rewarded accordingly.

Second, in American finance and high-tech industries in Silicon Valley, Indian executives far surpass Chinese.

The CEOs of well-known companies such as Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Softbank and Citigroup are all Indians. It seems that you can't remember that there is a China CEO in this level of American companies. There are even more Indians at the vice president level.

Moreover, the contrast between China and Indians is so great, not only in American business circles, but also in universities. For example, a few years ago, 12 of the major business schools in the United States was recruiting dean of business schools, among which 10 sent an offer letter to Indians, but not to China. Although some Indians declined later, this in itself reflected the educational and cultural gap between China and India.

China people are talented, smart and diligent, but why is the result so disappointing and so different from people in the United States, India and other countries?

The answers are mainly in two aspects: first, educational ideas and methods, including the way parents in China raise their children; On the other hand, it is closely related to China culture's encouragement of "obedience" and "obedience". In fact, these cultural imprints are a lifelong burden to China people, and they can't be lost wherever they go, and they will suffer wherever they go.

Let's talk about education first.

Zhang San (anonymous) was born in a big city in China. After graduating from high school, he was easily admitted to such top schools in China as Peking University and Tsinghua. When he went to Yale for his Ph.D., even the most difficult mathematical and economic models were too easy for him. In my doctoral class, he is undoubtedly the best. Even in Yale, a place where talents from all over the world gather, his intelligence is still far ahead.

But one day two years later, just as he was doing his best in-depth research and had achieved excellent results, Zhang San talked to me privately and said that he was considering whether to drop out of school and go back to China to be a PE investment fund, because his parents and friends were willing to invest 50 million dollars for him to manage, which was a rare opportunity.

I asked him, "Your talent is so excellent that I always think you have the best hope to excel and achieve first-class academic achievements." . Tell me, are you really interested and enthusiastic about academic research and academic career? "

Years of experience have taught me that if a person has no interest and passion in the work he is engaged in, especially when he is engaged in academic research, it is difficult to drive a duck to the shelves and ask him to make unexpected creative achievements! Doing things that you are not interested in every day will only be coping, and you will not be involved, and you will be very painful and tired.

Zhang San replied: "I am not interested in academic research. I can do it or write academic papers, but this is not my interest and passion. " Great, my colleagues and I have high hopes for doctoral students, and so does our major. I then asked him, "Then why did you apply for a doctorate in finance?" His answer was not unexpected: "Because my parents asked me to do this, I saw other students do the same."

Among the China students who have been teaching for many years, few really study economics and finance because they like it, and most of them are due to the pressure and arrangement of their parents.

Since they didn't do it because of their own practical interests, it's not surprising that so many China students with PhDs in Finance and Economics ended up doing poorly in the workplace. Ducks can be put on the shelf, but not on the overhead.

Many parents I meet may never ask, let alone think about "what is the best school" and "what is the best education". Anyone who has studied optimization theory knows that the value judgments of "good", "bad", "better" and "best" can only be relative. First of all, it must be clear about "relative to whom" and "relative to what", because there is no "good" and "best" without measurement index and frame of reference.

Many people often choose the "best" school and major according to the standards that parents think are "good", which is equivalent to letting children live a career and life that parents think is good but children may not think is good. Sometimes, this is actually forcing children to realize their career dreams that parents can't achieve themselves.

Some people follow the crowd and pursue the best Harvard or Yale or Peking University or Tsinghua. If you ask them, "Why is Harvard and Yale good and Peking University and Tsinghua good?" They can't tell.

Good or bad, only based on children's personal interests, preferences, personality and talent is meaningful.

Otherwise, it is not only meaningless, but also easy to waste talents and talents. In this way, children will only lack enthusiasm and listlessness in their studies and work, and they will be particularly tired every day because they are doing studies or work that they don't feel, and they will often complain and lose interest in life and work.

In any society, human resources are the most important resources. Therefore, matching everyone's interests and talents with their majors is the most critical part of the whole economy and the most critical factor that determines the efficiency of a country's overall resource allocation.

Let's imagine: in a society, everyone is doing things that they are not interested in but have to do to support their families, and every job is done by people who are not interested; In another society, everyone chooses to do what they love, and every job is done by people interested in it. So, which of these two societies has higher overall happiness, efficiency and creativity?

Different cultural backgrounds lead to different performances of China and Indians.

Richard levin, president of Yale University, once pointed out that the purpose of learning is not to pursue one's own career, but to pursue one's own value. He once said: If a student actually has some professional knowledge and skills after graduating from Yale University, it is the biggest failure of Yale education. Because in his view, professional knowledge and skills are what students need to learn and master according to their own wishes after graduating from college, and that is not the task of Yale University education.

What's the use of college education?

Richard levin mentioned in his lecture collection "The Work of Universities" that Yale is committed to cultivating leaders. In Levin's view, the core of undergraduate education is general education, which is to cultivate students' critical and independent thinking ability and lay the foundation for lifelong learning.

The English word for general education is "free education". Freedom nourishes the soul, and its core is the spirit of freedom, the responsibility of citizens and lofty aspirations.

Free to play their potential, free to choose their own learning direction, not tired of utilitarianism, determine the direction for the growth of life, and make contributions to the progress of society and mankind.

This is the purpose of Yale education in Levin's mind.

As johnny newman, the author of The Concept of University, said, "Only education can make a person have a clear and conscious understanding of his own views and judgments. Only education can make him make sense when he expounds his views, persuasive when he expresses them, and powerful when he encourages them. Education made him see the true colors of the world clearly, cut to the chase, solved the confusion of thoughts, saw through specious sophistry, and put aside unimportant details. Education can be convincingly qualified for any position and proficient in any subject. "

Profession and being a man

The following story is very popular: A Silicon Valley company recruited three interns, namely China, Indian and American. American interns just want to get things done and leave as soon as they get off work. Even if he has a little knowledge, he can talk about some problems in Kan Kan. He can talk about the problem of finishing five minutes in one minute. China interns work hard and do the most and the best, but they don't like to talk much.

Indian interns are not as meticulous as China interns, but they are not bad. Although he speaks with an accent, he loves to ask questions and is good at expressing. During the internship, China interns learned the most, but in the end, Indian students were remembered the most.

China people certainly like telling this story, because China people value "hard skills" and despise "soft skills"; According to this well-known value, this story is actually aimed at raising China people, belittling Indians and belittling Americans, which is very much in line with the taste of China people.

But this is precisely the problem, because we attach importance to the cultural orientation of "hard skills", which makes China people can only work hard and not become the leaders of Silicon Valley and American universities like Indians; It is precisely because American and Indian societies attach importance to both "hard skills" and "soft skills" that the feedback to the fields of culture and education has become not only focused on mathematics and physics, but also on humanities and social sciences. When judging talents, we should not only look at his hard skills, but also look at his expression and communication skills to see if he is a funny person.

More extreme, many parents in China want their children to study accounting for four years after they finally go to an American university. This is really a "hard skill", and it is most convenient for them to find a job. However, they don't realize that the accounting rules in China are not exactly the same as those in the United States. After studying American accounting rules, you have to make up lessons in China before you can be an accountant. And accounting, a highly professional major, doesn't need to go to an American university for four years at all. You can study in a domestic technical school and then take the accounting qualification examination in China, which is both economical and practical.

These friends said that they were worried that it would be difficult for their children to find jobs after graduation, but it would be easier for accountants to find jobs. If so, wouldn't domestic technical schools be better? Moreover, to say the least, if it's just to find a job, aren't there many job opportunities at McDonald's?

In fact, the key here lies in the understanding and understanding of "education". Education has two main functions: one is for career, the other is for being a man, especially for being an interesting, interesting and meaningful person. Vocational training is for the sake of rice bowls, while the education of "being a man" is to make people not only professional tools, but also be a man.

Many friends get angry when they hear that their children have to study history, literature, art, or psychology, political science, sociology, and think that these "soft skills" are useless, and it is not convenient to find a job, and so on. However, they don't know that these "soft skills" are just the basis for making a person more interesting and interesting.

The world needs people with "hard skills", but the world is led by those who are eloquent and knowledgeable. Even out of the leadership of enterprises and governments, those who know our history, society, politics and economy in addition to their careers in social life are more interesting people and more likely to become successful people in society.

With the rich expansion of Internet resources, all kinds of professional skills can be found anytime and anywhere through Google. The way to acquire "hard skills" can be technical school, university or online. Therefore, the relative value of "hard skills" is decreasing. However, the demand for soft knowledge and skills in a globally integrated society is much higher than before.

In this context, if China people can't catch up with the United States and India in "soft skills", we may continue to live as coolies and low-profit jobs, while high-profit and high-income jobs will continue to be controlled by the United States and India.

As far as everyone's life is concerned, general education should be strengthened from kindergarten to primary school, middle school and university, also in order to enable them to live a happy life. General education can not only increase a person's "soft skills", but also expose you to the knowledge and research of different disciplines and stimulate your curiosity and interest in all aspects.

Once you are curious and interested in many things, there will always be pursuits and topics that interest you and excite you in different periods of your life. Instead of being boring, you will enrich the content of life at every stage of your life and maximize the happiness of your whole life.

China culture encourages "obedience" and "obedience"

The reason why China people are so different from Americans and Indians is, of course, closely related to China culture's encouragement of "obedience" and "obedience". When you grew up in China, your parents and people around you taught you to be obedient and listen to your elders. Wherever you go, as long as you meet someone older than yourself, you should speak in a low voice and obey, and don't challenge your elders and authority.

It is precisely because from birth, in 20 or 30 years, most people around you are older than themselves, and they are all objects that they must obey. Therefore, in the process of growing up for twenty or thirty years, everyone will be tamed and have no chance to exercise speech and debate. When I grow up, even if I want to learn the skills of debating and making reports, it is difficult to change the habit of "obedience and silence" that I was forced to develop since I was a child.

In China, people say that "your children are obedient" is a compliment to your children, and parents will be gratified by it. In the 30 years I have lived in the United States, I have never heard Americans praise other people's children like this, because Americans will think that "obedience" and "obedience" are derogatory and have no personality, so no one wants to be evaluated like this.

American schools pay more attention to the cultivation of students' critical thinking ability. It is precisely because of this critical thinking ability that when I discuss problems with my daughters, they will naturally doubt and examine everything, and then see if they can find evidence to prove that this statement is logically or actually untenable in data.

This habit seems simple, but it is a very important and natural beginning to cultivate independent thinking ability, so that after graduation, especially after graduation from college, students are not just machines that simply listen to the leadership.

Of course, it is natural for people trained by the American education system to guess. Sometimes I think American society is really interesting. Whether he is smart or stupid, whether he is capable or not, everyone thinks he is very powerful. Everyone thinks he is a character and has a high opinion of everything.