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Peking University Yuanpei General Education Curriculum System

1. It has not been established since its inception. This is also an important reason why it was not envisaged at the beginning of the establishment but has not been realized so far, which affects the effect of this experiment. The purpose of this experiment was to establish a general education system similar to that of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. You can find many commentary articles on Peking University Yuanpei General Education on the Internet, with mixed reviews. But in a word, this experiment was not successful.

2. Peking University Yuanpei College focuses on general education, but its current training model is not to offer general education courses by itself, but to adopt a platter-style general education method. Whether this method is good or not remains to be discussed, but at present domestic It is difficult to set up independent general education courses in the educational environment of China. This may be the "experimental failure" mentioned upstairs.

The so-called platter-style general education means that students of Yuanpei College can take all the professional courses in Peking University. Therefore, Yuanpei does not offer general education courses, but students can freely combine professional courses from different departments to achieve general education. The result of education. In the sophomore year, students are divided into majors. Students can freely choose any major in Peking University as their major (of course, the right to change directions and take other professional courses), or choose Yuanpei’s special majors: such as PPE (Politics) , Economics and Philosophy), Foreign Languages ​​and Foreign History, Paleontology, Integrated Science, etc. As the name suggests, these majors combine the relevant courses of various faculties and departments as your compulsory courses.

This century is a banner of undergraduate education and teaching reform. Yuanpei College has been exploring a broad-based and broad-based talent training model for 13 years. It is the first batch of domestic colleges and universities to test the waters of general education. The accidents, frustrations, embarrassments and even controversies encountered by "Yuan Pei" in this talent experiment fully reflect the difficulty and pain of general knowledge.

Peking University Yuanpei is the earliest and relatively mature model in the domestic general education reform. Now general education is being rolled out in various colleges and universities, but the current results are not particularly good-but at least one step has been taken.

3. According to the talent training plan of Yuanpei College, freshmen can choose any course offered by the whole school in theory after enrolling. They can listen to whatever they want. The course study plan is all made by themselves; from the sophomore year, students can follow You can freely choose the direction of study for your own interests, and there is no limit in theory.

"Freedom in spirit, freedom in academics, and freedom in learning." Almost all students' first feeling is "freedom" after entering Yuanpei, but after that, most people will start to be "lost."

A student who enrolled in 2004 once published an article on the Internet complaining about Yuanpei's "free system." For example, the "tutor system" that should be responsible for tutoring students in choosing courses and majors has limited effect. In fact, the freshmen of Yuanpei's 04 freshmen can't even get a course plan for the department and must go to the academic affairs department of each department. "Look at it."

Compared with these trivial matters, the freedom of course selection has become a bigger obstacle-you can listen to the classes in the whole school, but what do you listen to?

In Peking University, the undergraduate course plan is divided into two parts: professional courses and general elective courses. Generally speaking, professional courses are more difficult than general elective courses. It is envisaged that after any Yuanpei student is in his second year of sophomore year and chooses his or her major, the courses of other faculties previously selected can replace the general elective courses, and they can graduate after completing the credits.

For students, regulations such as these are tantamount to the shackles of "free treatment": choose courses according to their interests, and once the exam results are not satisfactory, they will lose a certain degree of freedom when choosing a major.

Many Yuanpei "comers" have personally experienced the process of compromising to "unfreedom". Zhang Wanting, a student of Yuanpei Law at Peking University Level 03, told reporters that in the first few years of Yuanpei’s implementation, grade points were not an important thing. Difficult classes were a trend at the time.” But since then, the grade point orientation has become heavier and heavier.

The existence of the "Grade Point" standard still keeps students from choosing courses.

Zhou Wenjie was admitted to Yuanpei College in 2008 and is currently the class teacher of Yuanpei College, Peking University. What he observed is that there are fewer and fewer students in the college who choose courses based on a wide range of interests, and many freshmen have a strong plan as soon as they enter the school. For example, in the first semester of freshman year, the 13th grade freshmen choose courses in economics, management, mathematics, politics, economics and philosophy.

Xu Chongren explained that the biggest difference between Yuanpei and various colleges and departments is that traditional professional schools can develop on their own without any external force, while Yuanpei often requires schools to push from the back and continue to formulate special specialties that apply to Yuanpei. policy. "Professors need to do research and need their own graduate students, so they must rely on professional colleges and departments, and Yuan Pei alone cannot do it alone."

Zhou Wenjie said frankly that the "freedom" provided to students by Yuanpei College is still a kind of "negative freedom" in a sense. "Students have to take the risk to choose courses without knowing what is going on in this major, and they have to judge whether these courses can touch the core issues of the major." Especially for freshmen, the psychological pressure is all of a sudden. Just come up.

Not long ago, a post on the BBS of Peking University became "hot". The poster stated that he submitted an application for extension of the school system, but was rejected by the school's academic affairs office, which delayed his plan for undergraduate study.

Not long ago, a post on the BBS of Peking University became "hot". The poster stated that he submitted an application for extension of the school system, but was rejected by the school's academic affairs office, which delayed his plan for undergraduate study.

This student is Lu Weicong of Yuanpei's 10th grade. After completing the mathematics major, he hopes to be able to study mathematics and computer science cross-study, so he applied for an extension. According to Yuanpei’s teaching plan, students enjoy a flexible academic system and can complete their undergraduate education within 3 to 6 years. But the reason for the school's academic affairs not to postpone is that the student's graduation credits have been completed.

After coordination, Lu Weicong's application was finally approved. However, this matter still caused follow-up discussions within Yuanpei: Yuanpei did not get rid of the trouble of the "dual track system", and some of the college's teaching systems did not receive effective administrative protection at the school level.

Although the "dual-track system" has not completely disappeared over time, Xu Chongren said that Yuanpei College is a model that is beneficial to the improvement of undergraduate education based on the diversified source of students. Yuanpei’s reform addresses two prominent problems in higher education: students’ premature entry into professional studies leads to a narrow range of knowledge; most students blindly choose majors, and there is a gap after learning.

"Beijing University is to train the same students into different people." Xu Chongren said that Yuanpei provides students with more choices. It may not be suitable for all students, but it is necessary for its existence. "

4. The marginalization of general education courses

Whether "General Knowledge" or "Liberal Arts", literally emphasizes broad knowledge. When conducting general education in Chinese universities, a common practice is to require students to take courses other than their major.

Peking University offers five general elective courses, covering mathematics and natural sciences, social sciences, philosophy and psychology, history, linguistics, literature and art. Students must complete at least one course in each category to graduate.

This practice partly refers to the curriculum schedules of elite American universities, the most well-known of which is undoubtedly the "core curriculum" of the University of Chicago as a junior student.

This practice partly refers to the curriculum schedules of elite American universities, the most well-known of which is undoubtedly the "core curriculum" of the University of Chicago as a junior student.

The core courses include humanities, mathematics and natural sciences, and social sciences. It emphasizes western classical humanistic traditions, classic reading and critical writing. It is heavy and has high standards. It is by no means that students can make a little effort outside of professional courses. It is passable, so the students of Chicago University actually start to concentrate all their energy on major courses in the third year.

In contrast, a Peking University student needs to complete 140 credits to graduate, while the general elective courses only account for 16 credits. The rest are required professional courses, professional elective courses, English courses, and political courses.

In the lower grades, most of the students' energy is spent on professional courses. In the upper grades, they are busy with internships, job hunting, applying for overseas graduate schools and graduation thesis. The effective teaching time of the university is actually only three years.

Teachers from Peking University have devoted considerable enthusiasm and effort to the general elective courses. The teachers who teach the general elective courses are not lack of domestic first-class scholars in related fields, but the lack of the core curriculum system guarantee means that the general elective courses are at most the adjustment of the professional courses. Yuanpei’s There is no special treatment for students.

Generally speaking, students in top American universities need to complete three to four courses per semester, but each course comes with considerable homework and reading, while Chinese college students generally study eight to ten courses in a semester.

Chinese college students do not work harder than their American peers. The number of courses is doubled, and the quality of completion can only be sacrificed. One or two general education courses per semester may become formalism.

The study of any subject requires an examination of the history of knowledge development.

5. For example, Peking University formulated and implemented the "Yuan Pei Plan" in September 2001. Since 2002, the new teaching plan has been revised, and a free course selection system has been implemented within the scope of undergraduate students in the whole school. In the curriculum setting, in addition to professional required courses, school-wide required courses, and public elective courses, general elective courses are set up. General elective courses include several courses in 5 fields including mathematics and natural sciences, social sciences, philosophy and psychology, history, linguistics and art. The undergraduate level basically forms the "general education + wide-calibre professional education" curriculum model.

Since the new semester of 2005, Fudan University has integrated the 68 majors of the school into 7 categories, including adult humanities, law and politics, economics and management, natural sciences, technical sciences, mathematics, and hospitals. Freshmen first enter Fudan College in the freshman year, and then enter the professional college one year later. Department of learning. The college restructured the curriculum content system according to the training objectives, and established a curriculum framework for comprehensive education, basic education in liberal arts and professional education.

The Xinya College established by Tsinghua University in 2014, its school-running philosophy and teaching plan, have largely borrowed from the American liberal education or general education model.

America:

1. In the classic American liberal arts colleges, all core courses are designed into three major systems including humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students in the lower grades can choose freely among these courses, and the upper grades are their own majors. Professional courses. Due to the close number of students and teachers, most of the courses are for small class discussions. Teachers and students can even design their own courses and credits.

2. American university courses can be divided into three categories:

Majorrequirement

Elective Course ()

General Education Course ()

General courses came into being. For example, you have chosen an engineering major, but you are also required to study literature, English, social sciences and other subjects at the same time. This type of course selection method is usually presented in the form of core courses (corecurriculum) in American universities-in addition to completing the credits of this major, you must also complete courses in other professional fields through elective methods.

What courses are provided in the general education system?

Different schools have different classifications, but the general education system of American universities can basically be divided into 9 categories:

1. Writing: Mainly teach the basic outline of academic writing, including how to make arguments, cite arguments, find evidence, and get conclusions, etc.

2. Professional writing: Teach more advanced writing skills, often combined with professional courses, to improve students' reading and analysis skills in the professional field, and fundamentally avoid empty knowledge, but there is no ability to integrate and analyze writing.

3. Western cultural studies: It involves the culture and history of Europe and the United States. For Americans and international students, no matter what industry they are engaged in, they must know the origin of this land under their feet.

4. Minority culture: refers to the study of non-Western cultures, including Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc.

5. Humanities and art: This kind of courses are usually closer to the art aspect, covering a wide range of areas, such as music history, work appreciation, literary work research, and so on.

6. Language: Most schools will offer courses in various languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Japanese and so on.

7. Mathematical logic: partial to science, involving professional knowledge in mathematics, physics, programming, statistics, etc.

8. Social and behavioral sciences: including psychology, human studies, economics, sociology and other disciplines.

9. Natural science and technology: content involving general directions such as physics, chemistry, life sciences, astronomy and geography.

It can be seen that some subjects are intersecting and overlap with other professional courses.

Columbia University

Columbia’s practice in 1917-1919 was recognized as the starting point for general education in modern American universities. Since then, many prestigious schools have started to follow suit and even become a well-known education system in the United States and the world.

However, the curriculum of general education has been academically challenging, because it covers the basic knowledge and academic fields necessary for all undergraduate students. However, this kind of "packaged learning" can cultivate students' creativity and critical thinking, increase social understanding, and have lifelong meaning for them~www.wuxiahere.com~ Columbia University has nine core courses, The school requires every undergraduate to complete this series of courses in the freshman and sophomore year and obtain corresponding credits.

Foreign language: 4 semesters, can pass the corresponding test.

Physical Education: 4 credits, also need to submit swimming test scores or "University Health Form".

Science: 3 elective courses, at least 9 credits.

Art: Introduction to the history of Western art.

Literature: Read contemporary literary works.

Music: Appreciate the history of Western music.

History: Introduce western historical issues.

Culture: Introduction to non-Western cultures.

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