Peking University Has Always Been a World-Class University — What Is There to Argue About!
2006/8/24 14:08:07
Today online, I suddenly saw people again frenziedly hyping PKU's "first-rate, Nth-rate" issue. This world doesn't lack boring people, and even less does it lack people scrambling to become boring. So rest assured, PKU's "first-rate, Nth-rate" issue will continue to be an issue — an issue that makes the brainwaves of those whose mouths lack grapes, whose eyes see too many grapes, and whose hands hold only grape skins tremble a few extra times.
Peking University has always been a world-class university — what is there to argue about! I believe no department on Earth dares to compare with PKU's Chinese department. PKU's history, philosophy, and similar departments — probably very few departments on Earth dare to challenge them. There's a long list of such departments at PKU. If you don't agree, bring real skills to PK — shouting is useless!
Of course, PKU has plenty of garbage departments too — the economics-related ones, for instance, which have truly become garbage to the point of seriously damaging PKU's reputation. But so what? Which world-class university doesn't have garbage disciplines? Which world-class university has all its disciplines at world-class level? Moreover, PKU's garbage disciplines are already not so garbage by national standards, because any discipline at PKU — even the most garbage one — can be stated with certainty to rank in the national top five! If you disagree, gather any discipline from all other schools in the nation and PK with PKU!
Furthermore, the standard for "world-class" is inherently pluralistic. Why should the Chinese follow foreigners' world standard? Especially in the humanities — why should the Chinese apply foreigners' ideology to standardize themselves? For example, foreigners discuss their Christianity, and the Chinese discuss Daoism — do the foreigners dare say their Daoism studies are more first-rate than ours? Then on what grounds should the Chinese standardize their Daoist studies by the foreigners' standard for studying Christianity?
PKU has long been a world-class university — there is absolutely nothing to discuss. The only thing that needs vigilance now is that PKU's world-class status not tilt toward others' industry standards. PKU must have its own Chinese world-class industry standards. Why can't there come a day when "world-class" is measured by the Chinese standard! People in business all know that standard-setting power is the most important — and this applies equally to the issue of world-class universities!
PKU is PKU precisely because PKU can stand alone and walk its own path. Lose that independence, and PKU will no longer be PKU. The world has no name. The world is named by us. Let our standard become the world's standard, because the world has always been under our feet!