iMechanica - Education in China and in America - Comments

Undergraduate eduction in Iran

Ashkan Vaziri — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:22:03 -0400

Although I would agree with some of the remarks about the level of scientific research in Iran, However, I think one should also note about the level of engineering education in Iran. Personally, I am very confident about the education that engineering students receive in some of the universities in Iran such as Sharif U. Tech. and Tehran U. I have regularly asked my colleagues who have had students from Iran and most of them were very impressed.

make comparison between china and iran

Roozbeh Sanaei — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 16:56:37 -0400

I am very impressed by observe china in its current position. china has a very good position in economy and science today and its improving more and more, i can not ever compare china with our country (iran). i think china would be one of harbinger countries in future. our politicians often hyperbole about our advances in science and technology and importance of these are very little in our culture factually. most of these technologies are purchased from adjacent countries for some self advertising destinations.i hope our politicians be more pragmatic and rational and knowledge-based in future.

Roozbeh Sanaei.

Iran University of Science and Technology.

Acoust. Lab.

Nobel Prize and China

Zhigang Suo — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 10:00:40 -0400

I've not followed the Nobel Prize closely. Most winners did things so far from my own area of expertise that I have no way to judge for myself how good they are. But a few winners did things that I can understand, at least partly. If I'm allowed to extrapolate from these few cases, I would conclude that

The nomination committee has a good taste and seems fair, but is composed of human beings.
Few winners had the opportunity or talent to make contributions close to those of Maxwell or G.I. Taylor, say.
Many winners did their best work decades before they won the Prize.

Point 2 seems to suggest that Nobel-worthy talents can come from everywhere. Point 3 is especially relevant to your question: Why there is no winners from China? In fact, there was one in literature. Science requires more: many years of learning, experimental equipments, stimulation from colleagues, stimulation from societal needs...

30 years ago China just emerged from the Cultural Revolution. Given time, China will win prizes of all kinds, just as any other vibrant countries.

At a more basic level, I don't believe that the aim of an education system should be producing prize winners. For this reason, I don't believe that the effectiveness of an education system can be measured or even indicated by the number of prize winners.

Dear Prof. Tan, The

Jun LUO — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:53:08 -0400

Dear Prof. Tan,

The undergradute course in Tsinghua is really solid. The following courses are very impressive,

实分析原理普通化学量子物理
电动力学统计物理固体物理计算物理核物理热力学固体中的波生物与仿生学

西方现代哲学
现代西方人文哲学量子力学（二）固体理论损伤力学
固体本构关系非线性连续介质力学

I think many of them match the development trend of mechanics, espeically solid mechanics. Thanks for your information. I may need to teach myself some of the courses.

Jun

Department of Mechanics

Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

计算物理

Henry Tan — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:57:32 -0400

教计算物理的是清华物理系的高乃飞教授。

清华制造

Henry Tan — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:08:20 -0400

联想起室友陆秋海的文章，《清华制造》。
http://join-tsinghua.edu.cn/bkzsw/detail.jsp?seq=1207&boardid=1302

清华八年

Henry Tan — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:47:10 -0400

每次读到梁实秋先生的散文《清华八年》，便有很多的感慨。
http://reading.cersp.com/DeepRead/200601/703.html

eight years in Tsinghua

Henry Tan — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:17:06 -0400

I learned a lot from the eight years of study in the Tsinghua University, China.

Here is a list of the courses that I took.

======== Undergraduate ===============================

Mathematics:

微积分 Instructor: 袁传宽 (数学系)
线性代数 Instructor: 薛伟民 (数学系)
实分析原理
复变函数
数学模型
数理方程与特殊函数
概率与数理统计

Physics:

普通物理 (I, II, III)
普通物理实验
普通化学
高等动力学
量子物理
电动力学
统计物理    Instructor: 李兴中 (物理系)
近代物理实验方法
近代物理实验 (I, II)
固体物理    Instructor: 顾秉林 (物理系)
计算物理
核物理     Instructor: 徐四大 (物理系)

Mechanics:

理论力学    Instructor: 贾书惠 (力学系)
材料力学    Instructor: 李清佐 (力学系)
材料力学实验
弹性力学    Instructor: 陆明万 (力学系)
热力学
流体力学    Instructor: 沈孟育 (力学系)
流体测量技术
电测应力分析   Instructor: 沈观林 (力学系)
光测应力分析   Instructor: 刘宝琛 (力学系)
塑性力学    Instructor: 徐秉业 (力学系)
结构力学     Instructor: 宋国华 (力学系)
结构可靠性分析
结构塑性极限分析  Instructor: 刘信声(力学系)
计算力学    Instructor: 邵敏 (力学系)
振动理论    Instructor: 戴诗亮 (力学系)
振动量测    Instructor: 李德堡 (力学系)
断裂力学    Instructor: 黄克智，孙学伟 (力学系)
板壳理论    Instructor: 薛明德 (力学系)
固体中的波    Instructor: 杨慧珠(力学系)

Biology:
生物与仿生学

Electronics:
电工与电子技术
电子工艺学实习
微机原理与应用
应用电子学实验
计算机软件基础

Mechanical Engineer:
工程制图
FORTRAM语言
机械设计基础
金属工艺学
金属工艺实习

Humanities and Social Sciences:
西方现代哲学
现代西方人文哲学
管弦乐大师及其作品
技术经济概论
法学基础
军事理论
当代资本主义
中国社会主义建设
马克思主义哲学原理
中国革命史

Foreign Language:

大学四级，五级，六级，六级后英语

======== Graduate ===============================

Mathematics:

张量分析 Instructor: 薛明德 (力学系)

Physics:

量子力学（二） Instructor: 徐湛 (物理系)
固体理论 Instructor: 倪军 (物理系)

Mechanics:

固体力学基础  Instructor: 姚振汉 (力学系)
计算固体力学  Instructor: 王勗成 (力学系)
实验固体力学  Instructor: 张如一 (力学系)
断裂力学   Instructor: 杨卫 (力学系)
损伤力学   Instructor: 余寿文 (力学系)
固体本构关系  Instructor: 黄克智 (力学系)
非线性连续介质力学 Instructor: 郑泉水 (力学系)

Humanities and Social Sciences:

自然辩证法
现代科学技术革命与马克思主义
社会实践

Engineering:

软件工程概论

Foreign Language:

英语
第一外国语专业阅读

Now the girl Tang is viewed

aerolee — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:49:31 -0400

Now the girl Tang is viewed in every newspapaer in chian. As a college student in nanjing ,I have not feel painful in my way of sutdy .

Education

hamanh — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:46:19 -0400

Dear All,

The post on Education in China and America is very interesting. Actually things on the education system happened in Viet Nam exactly as those mentioned in Suo's post.

Very nice essay！ We are

Kewei Li — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:23:16 -0400

Very nice essay！ We are expected to know more in China, However, as we know, there is no Nobel winner from Chinese school or some where. A lot of them come from US, that's a question?

Education in China and in America

Zhigang Suo — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:33:31 -0400

The New York Times Magazine this weekend featured a Harvard undergraduate student from China, and her work to shake up education in China. The article is long, but if you grew up in China, it should be a quick read, and fun. If you grew up in US or Europe, perhaps this is a helpful read, just to learn how other people live.

I entered college in China in 1981. Many things seemed to remain the same. For many things are dominated by one thing: the national entrance examination to get into college. In my year, about 4% high school students went to college. Now the number is 22%, as compared to 40% in the US.

The significant increase in the entrance rate doesn't seem to have alleviated the anxiety. As a parent to a freshman college student, I can attest that junior and senior years in high school are not much fun even for students in the US. Once a country has vastly increased the rate of college entrance, students will still want to get into "better" colleges. The rat race is on if you are a rat, no matter where you are.

The NYT Magazine article also mentioned the Soviet-style over-specialized education in Chinese colleges. My class in college had maybe 60 students specialized in compressors, another 60 students specialized in refrigeration, and yet another 60 students specialized in welding. I was among the 60 specialized in mechanics. I cannot recall the numbers exactly, but you get the picture.

It really wasn't as terrible as it sounds. In order to specialize in mechanics, we had to study math, physics and chemistry. We studied electrical circuits, alloy treatment, mechanical drawing, Fortran. We even had a continuous stream of humanity courses: history of communist party, political economics... I'm not sure I enjoyed all the courses, but I cannot claim that these courses damaged my brain, either. I remember some of the humanity courses required writing, which turned out to be a useful skill.

As a consequence of specialization, we did learn a lot of mechanics. By the end of college, we had courses on analytical mechanics, strength of materials, mechanics of structures, theory of elasticity, theory of plasticity, theory of vibration, fracture mechanics, fluid dynamics, finite elements, plates and shells, tensor calculus.

I often feel sorry for American students in my undergraduate class, knowing that strength of materials will be their first and last course in the mechanics of deformable materials. So many beautiful sights unseen! But they also seem to turn out to be OK. A liberal (and superficial) eduction doesn't damage their brains, either.

All this high level debate about education makes me dizzy, and turns me off. So far as I can tell, both systems of eduction work fine, and have their own limitations. The bottom line is that the quantity of knowledge is too large to be crammed into 4 years, and you'd have to make choices, making it either narrow or shallow or perhaps both. You'll just have to be prepared to engage yourself in life-long learning.

I suspect the Soviet-style specialization came about for a simple reason of economics: in old days in China, college graduates were so precious that the government would assign you a job after you graduated. In hind sight, it never stopped amazing me how an 18-year old could be convinced to devote his life to the specialty of welding, or mechanics for that matter.

But my American students have kept telling me that they are presented with too many choices and they spend too much time worrying about if they have made the right choices. Relax. Nobody will really know if you make right or wrong choices. So long as you remain curious enough to make choices, you'll be fine. We are all in this game of learning for life, unless you are like Michael Suo and dream about the ultimate method of learning.