Don't force students into lectures

A photograph published in China Youth Daily recently has sparked a fierce debate in the Chinese media. The photograph shows 92-year-old academician Wu Liangyong delivering a speech in the Great Hall of the People, which lasted more half an hour, with many students sitting in the back rows dozing or sleeping.

The incident is unfortunate considering that, despite suffering from ill health, Wu used a walking stick and the help of a companion to walk up to the rostrum and insisted on standing while delivering his speech. No wonder, many people have said the students are a shame on today’s youths and have soiled the reputation of their colleges.

China Youth Daily later published the full text of Wu’s speech on its online edition, with most of the people who have read admitting that it was an excellent piece of scholarship. Wu is reported to have spent days preparing for the speech which narrated his personal experience during World War II and after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76) and, in more ways than one, reflected the conditions prevailing in the country during those years.

Contrary to what some critics have said, however, Chinese students are not indifferent to academic lectures. In many universities, students have to book the tickets to attend academic lectures days in advance. When Li Ao, an influential scholar from Taiwan, delivered a speech in Peking University in 2005, the corridor was packed with students who could not acquire a ticket. Similar scenes have been seen during lectures delivered by other leading academics.

So, why were the students dozing during Wu’s lecture?

Reports show that a large number of the about 6,000 students present in the hall were fresh postgraduates from several Beijing-based universities while many others reached the venue in Shuttle buses, which suggests their “attendance” was “arranged” by their college authorities. A later Beijing Youth Daily report, which interviewed some of the students, confirmed that.

For long, university and college authorities have been “arranging” for students to attend lectures, sports meets and even commercial activities to ensure their “success”. If a student “selected” to attend such an event does not turn up, he/she could face college authorities’ criticism and even difficulty in clearing his/her semester. Many, if not most, Chinese students have had the experience of “acting as part of an audience”.

Officials who make such arrangements ignore the fact that they could deprive genuinely interested students from attending a lecture by forcing the indifferent ones to do so. And sometimes such arrangements can be embarrassing to the person delivering a lecture, as happened in Wu’s case.

Worse, by turning an optional activity into a mission, officials evoke opposition — even resistance — among “selected” students. More than half of the respondents to a 2013 on-the-campus survey said they wouldn’t like to hear even a single word of a lecture if they were “forced” to attend it. This is something educators should bear in mind before herding students into lecture halls.

Part of the blame for the sordid scene at the Great Hall of the People should, therefore, be shared by university officials who forced the students to attend Wu’s lecture. Not only did the officials undermine the wisdom of a 92-year-old scholar and ignore his frail health, but also they denied the students the right to decide whether or not they wanted to attend the lecture.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn