留言板
- [37]scnemsyang
- A Random Reflection on the Essence of "Education"
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People often find it surprising that I covered a wide spectrum of the academic disciplines (Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Management, East Asian Study, ...) and industry specialties (Semiconductor, information technology, fuel cell, mobile applications, cloud computation, broadband network, banking, finance, digital media, LED, ...) that I have engaged in during my relatively short career so far.
It dawned on me this past weekend that such intellectual adaptability has less to do with my biological making (i.e. nature) than my education upbringing (i.e. nurture). More specifically, it's the culmination of a series of luck that brought me to Harvard and Professor Ho as his pupil#48.
Like most Asian, I went through a cram style education system in my youth. I did not go to private school and my high school is at best mediocre in California (which ranked meagerly as 48th or 49th state (out of 50) on education in USA). I don't have much recollection of my high school years other than taking classes and tests. Frankly speaking, at that time, it would be hard to differentiate me against a test taking automaton. Life was uninspiring. Future to me is nothing more than more tests and eventually becoming an engineer or doctor with a big dollar tag.
So how did an average Joe like me get into Harvard? Who knows. The conspiracy theory is that it was an experiment that got tossed back and forth several times before the admission committee got tired of the debate and resort to a coin toss in my favor. Regardless, I was a pretty lucky guy considering the competition.
God was very good to me. My luck was on a roll. I got accepted into Professor Ho's DEDS group, and eventually "graduated!" What a wonder.
Not only did I graduate in the literal sense (i.e. attainment of a diploma), something wonderful happened -- I was magically metamorphed into an independent thinker and a compassionate citizen, or for lack of a better word, a "Harvardman".
I did not know why and how such enlightenment happened. All I know is that I begin to develop interest in literature, care about social justice, and find things in the world to make sense on their own across all disciplines. As Professor Ho prophesied in his teaching, I also learned the ability to master any topic within 3 months. Life is colorful and full of excitement.
This past weekend, I had another serendipitous engagement with this transformative function known as "Harvard/Ho Education". A group of Professor Ho's students gathered at Harvard to share our life stories since graduation. While the graduates span across different fields in academia, public service, and private sectors, everyone attributed their success to Professor Ho's teaching and its application to every facets of life. More concretely, we unanimously agreed that Professor Ho had cultivated us into rigorous "thinkers" and curious "philosophers" through a constructive and passionate education process.
I probably sound like a religious fanatic at this moment, but the formula is really quite mundane. Professor Ho and Mrs Ho guided us to look beyond the simple facts and appreciate the obvious. Whether it's another scientific breakthrough or ways to lead a happier life, when one finds his/her inner strength in thinking independently and responsibly, even the sky will no longer be a limit.
Long story short. Here is the consultant one-pager of my recent revelation:
- Professor Ho and Mrs Ho rock. They are true educators.
- "Principle factors" of a successful Liberal Arts Education and the Harvard magic
-- independent thinker with audacity to think differently
-- responsible philosopher with equanimity to listen unbiasedly and persistence to improve continually
-- compassionate citizen with humility to acknowledge our commonality with the less fortunate
-- rigorous decision maker with tolerance of ambiguity
-- diligent worker with the determination to achieve one's best potential
- The first 4 principle factors may sound abstract, but Professor Ho has proven that there is a practical training process. The solution does not involve faith or religion. It takes a teacher's compassion and determination to draw the best out of each of his students, and a rigorous training program with carefully coordinated resources.
- The 5th principle factor is the core of most Asian education system. It's objective and fair; and it lays the fundamental base for the other 4 factors. The western public education systems lag far behind on this dimension in my opinion. Unfortunately, in absence of the first 4 factors, the products from the Asian education systems may not be too different from the lifeless neural networks of the future.
- I am a very lucky guy
Cheers to two great teachers,
Mike Yang @ Changsha, 2011 April 12
Pupil#48 - 我的回复(2011-4-14 04:49)：Mike, the joy and reward of teaching is to get an unsolicited letter like yours every now and then. hanks for the kind words and sentiments. LH
- [36]祁峰
- oh
- [35]祁峰
- 我向您申请加我好友，您一直没加，提示信息是：正在等待对方验证中
- [34]祁峰
- 为什么不加我？
- [33]huayuwujie
- 何毓琦：新年快樂，恭禧發財。
- 我的回复(2011-2-5 01:52)：Thank you. You too.
- [32]Sweeper
- Did you read this week's Time Magazine cover story about “Tiger Mother” ? Is American media now all insane?
- 我的回复(2011-1-25 21:53)：Yes, I did. See also my recent blog article
- [31]焦静
- I have read your article on the website"http://blog.renren.com/blog/50262126/497323481", I learned more and feel more. I think I want to be a research all my life and in the past I never pay more attention to give a easy understood lecture, now I am applying to continue my PhD study in America. Hope to read more about your insigtful articles in future. Thank you.
博主回复：I cannot access the website you listed. Tell me which articles did you read?
- [30]huayuwujie
- 何毓琦：祝你平安和快樂！
博主回复：Thank you. but I don"t understand your comment #4 on my "California Dreaming" article
- [29]张檀琴
- Dear Professor Ho:
In China the elder"s duty is telling old stories and wisedom to youngers not doing hard work for yougers.
This is just what Professor Ho has done a lot.
博主回复：Thank you. Furthermore, fruits gathered with your own labor taste that much sweeter.
- [28]张檀琴
- Dear Professor Ho:
I am very aspired to read your articles, but for your elder age, you write only one article a week, so I hope you revise some your old writings on stories of yourself and wisedom by yourself then publish it.
祝愿何老师身体健康，合家欢乐。
博主回复：I"ll do so when appropriate and when the stories are useful to others.
- [27]张檀琴
- 亲爱的何老师：
我的专业是哲学，我非常想了解在美国的小学、中学和大学，如何传播哲学。
他们的教科书是什么样子。
或者说他们在公民教育阶段如何进行哲学、道德、政治方面的教育。我最关心的是他们使用的资料是什么样子。
如果您非常方便，请您写这方面的一些文章。
如果有批判方面的不便，您也可以通过邮件给我。
就算您对待一个初修行的学生。
此致
祝，礼
博主回复：Dear Yue, I appreciate your question which is rather open-ended. But I am the wrong person to provide an answer. I am at least 20 years removed from K-12 education since all my children have long graduated. Furthermore the US does not distingusih herself in this area ranking rather low in performance among deveopled nations.
- [26]甘永超
- 此留言已被科学网删除！
- [25]甘永超
- 我为一个问题伤透了脑筋，特向各位名牌大学名牌学科的名课名师恭敬地求教……
假如一位院士在他编撰的光学教科书第2页、第4页、第21页、第489页、第540页中多次指出：光的本质是量子的，光的量子理论能够包含光的经典电磁理论。可是，近80年来，“光的量子理论能够包含光的经典电磁理论”却又找不到一个实验证据(见《谁能破解这一神奇的怪现象？》http://www.sciencenet.cn/q/showtopic.aspx?g=physics&id=141)。您将怎样真实地面对学生并给学生讲解？要是那些天赋特好的学生不停地追问实验证据，您将如何应对……
还有，不少名校学风严谨，甚至是《实践是检验真理的唯一标准》的酝酿与诞生地，依贵校的学风校风该如何处理这样的问题……
不希望您马上作答，您可以与贵校的教授们讨论讨论、然后再告诉我……
- [24]孔玉侠
- 何老师您好：
我想请教您一下，如果写学术论文要引用一篇文献中的某些实验数据（文献中为图，没有具体数据），可不可以委婉地向文献作者索要实验数据？这样会不会不太好？
请您指教！谢谢！
博主回复：假如你有很好的理由,而且很礼貌的要求,我想一般作者会给你的.
- [23]吴中祥
- 建议数学家带头搞起个[数学圈]！
数学家高斯说： “数学是自然科学的皇后”，笛卡尔也曾说：“数学的概念和证明，能够而且必须应用于一切世俗科学”， 兰 德尔还曾说：“科学产生于用数学解释自然这一信念。”，马克思也说过：“一种科学只有在成功地运用数学时，才算达到了完善的地步！”，实际上任何科学，甚至任何的日常生活，都
离不开数学。
这些都充分说明了“数学”的重要性。
[科学网]有不少数学家，许多博客也都有很精彩的数学博文，和相应的数学评论和讨论。
但是至今还未建立起个[数学圈]，不利于有关数学问题的科普和深入的讨论，和促进其创新与发展。
建议数学家带头搞起个[数学圈]！
博主回复：Many thanks for your suggestion, Professor Wu. I am retired and not suitable to be the organizer except as the cheering section member.You should do it.Best regards.
- [22]刘剑
- Dear Prof. He,
I"m a PH.D candidate of Harbin Institute of Technology. I have composed one research paper and decide to submit it to IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. But I"m studying in Japan now, and the university has no IEEE Transactions database such that I can not get enough information about that Transaction. This is the reason I"m writing to you. I wonder that, generally, how much time does this Transaction will cost when reviewing one research paper and the time cost from receiving manuscript to publishing the paper? Thanks a lot. I"m sorry that I don"t know your email address. Therefore, I have to leave a message to you here.
Looking forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
Jian Liu
Harbin Institute of Technology
E-mail: liujianhit@hit.edu.cn
博主回复：Please read my article http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=32934
How to get a paper published - 关于论文发表（原文及译文）
- [21]张秀丽
- 何教授，看了您的《新学者融入世界科坛》，很受启发。其中一点是：我一直以为“审稿人”是个很大的荣誉，有很高级别。原来并非，只是贡献自己的服务。我研究机器人，在国外刊物也发表过几篇文章，觉得自己做审稿人也是可以的，立刻给国内的《机器人》杂志发了信，他们回复表示了欢迎。
这是走入学术届的一条路，没有人指点，自己可能意识不到。所以，谢谢您！
博主回复：Often times, young scholars are the most consciencious and up-to-date referees. Best of luck and success to you.
- [20]张显峰
- 何老师，您好！请教您个问题：美国评选院士是不是有指标限制？就像这次工程院增选院士一样，限定六〇个名额。
博主回复：Yes, every year there is a suggested quota for each discipline determined by the membership committee of the academy. But it is my im pression that this is not an absolutely strict limit that cannot be exceeded in extraordinary cases.
- [19]刘晓东
- 如果一个物理学博士向您请教有关能量不守恒的问题，您会不会把这个博士踢出去？
刘晓东
博主回复：第一我不是物理学博士导師.第二要看他怎么问这问题. 要一个博士研究生退学是一件大事. 不能隨便决定的.
- [18]周旭
- 何老师：
My current research is about systems biology and biological networks. I am wondering what"s the strategy to drive a nonlinear dynamic system from one steady state to another one, or from oscillation back to steady state. Could you recommend some books about control theory for nonlinear dynamics system to deal with these kind of problems.
Many thanks,
Zhou Xu
博主回复：I am sorry. This is not my area of expertise. I cannot help you. Nonlinear controllability and biologoical models are fascinating subject to study. You need to consult other experts. Good luck
