"Turn" to people who support and oppose "Working with full Linux"

I have been asked about my study, asked if I have found the ideal research environment. I always get some small animals, or it's the fun stuff. Really ashamed, because I have always felt that I have no say, has always felt that it was wrong. But the Cornell is already 1.5, can also say to the American education sentiment. My feelings may be wrong, or confined to my major or college. However, the general feeling is that American education is in fact a commercial test-oriented education, and foreign graduate students are basically used to cheat undergraduates money of cheap labor. The students can learn the real things, compared to the tuition they pay, but also less and less. The enormous homework and the examination pressure, has deprived the student to think the freedom, the real painstaking research environment is difficult to beg.

Let me slowly recall the experience of the 1.5 ....

On the August 3 of 2006, we came to Ithaca after a more than 20-hour flight. In the face of this small mountain village, we are very novel. The summer here is so beautiful, everywhere is green grass, everywhere is waterfall, tap water can be directly drink, the room all have carpet. It seems that everything is so beautiful, people are so polite. Just walk to the edge of the sidewalk, the car on the road slowly stop, let pedestrians cross the road. On the road met a person who do not know, he will somehow greet you, said: "Isn ' t it beautiful?" in short, Ithaca beauty is not to say more, the overall quality of the residents is still relatively high. Soon, however, this freshness disappeared with all the things that had happened to Cornell. The first impression that Cornell gave me was very bad.

In fact, the formal school is in 20 supposedly, we are so early to come, because of the need to participate in a so-called ITADP Summer program. ITADP is international teaching Assistant development Program, which is the training of TA. This training is mandatory, do not participate in the TA, will not be able to get financial support. We don't even have time for jet lag. Take such a course every day from 9 o'clock in the morning to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I don't remember when I applied for Cornell. They mentioned it, but after accepting the offer, they received a letter saying they wanted all foreign ta to take part in the training. I didn't think Cornell's impression was plummeted in my heart.

First of all, the Chinese classmates who have been trained, or are still suffering from the training courses, we all hate this thing. We have come to the unanimous conclusion that this training has little effect on improving English proficiency and is simply a waste of time and energy. The summer training is only one weeks, in small classes, at the end of the training will be assessed by the teacher. If you do not pass, you will need a compulsory course, called Educ 578. Educ at the end of the 578 period will have a measure, if not passed, you need to repair Educ 579. Then the Educ 580, ... The class number changed, but the course content basically did not change, unceasingly repeatedly, bored extremely. In short, the lesson is a lot of energy, affecting school. Most Chinese students are complain incessantly the course. A lot of people have been sitting on the bottom of the prison, for two years has not passed. If you really can stay, that's pretty good, the different departments are different. I know that a PhD student in the electronics department was canceled by the first phase of the assessment, and he had to turn his own money into a master's in computer science.

What about the nature of the course? I also remember deeply when Summer program, ITADP's main person to tell us: "You know why is here?"

... Know how important the undergraduate students is to us? You might even find a prince or princess on your class one day, from another country! "That's the same tone as the big Boss." We are ivy!. It's a noble school! It is not clear that our use is exposed, is for the undergraduate "princess" and "Prince" services. Later I heard that, indeed, this itadp was established under the strong request of the undergraduates ' parents. And the princes and princesses may still not get what they want.

This class is not to be out of order, the two sections of truancy will fail, thereby canceling the qualification of TA. This class is also not to be late, otherwise the teacher will warn you after class, if you are late will give you fail. The rules of this class are so strict that it's very special. There are no professional and non-professional courses with such militarization management. Let's see what this course is about. In fact, the main content is to tell everyone what is good teaching, what is bad, mostly nonsense. I remember talking about education when I mentioned that a good teacher should lead students to think, to tell them how knowledge is obtained, not to instill knowledge into students, to relieve students of stress and encourage them to innovate. It turned out that the teacher was very callous to my remarks. It was clear to me that she had not expected it in the slightest. All she wanted was to write on the blackboard and not write too small.

Then we do a lot of so-called microteaching exercises. Microteaching is the most basic common sense in the class of other students who take part in the course. For my part, the first thing I said was a binary tree. This exercise has a certain advantage, is to let me understand that in fact, many times the teacher thought that the students understand, in fact, the teacher only know that they understand, and do not know that the students do not understand. But then I found out that for Cornell undergraduates, it was almost impossible to know if they understood. Whether it is my lectures, or I and undergraduate lectures, very common situation is this: the teacher after a wonderful story, asked: "Do you understand?" "No one is in utter silence. Ask again: "Some people do not understand, please raise your hand." No one raised his hand, and there was silence. The teacher had no choice but to keep on talking. In short, we all think that others understand, are very afraid of others jokes themselves do not understand, feel very much like the domestic high school. But all in all, microteaching is very energy-consuming. Speaking one or two times is OK, repeated to do is very annoying. Another part of the course is to record their own words, 10 minutes or more, one weeks three times, must be submitted to the teacher's comments in a timely manner. This has some help in English, but the time is too much, for that 10 minutes, often need to prepare for two hours. And often can't find interesting topic, so feel very bored.

Because in the first phase, a professor in the department happened to give me an RA, so I didn't take part in Educ 578 (of course, like all Chinese students, my summer rating was not passed), so I was forced to take part in the course during the second phase. Every week this course takes too much of my energy, so that the only theoretical lesson that I chose during the second phase was that I didn't have the energy to finish it. On the one hand it is also due to the teacher's problem, he will only write the theorem on the blackboard ... Prove...... So then I dropped the course of the legendary bull-man, which led to the second phase of the ITADP course. A course that the department didn't think was a course, and it took me a semester.

Fortunately I behaved well, every time seems very positive appearance, very co-ordination with the teacher, in fact, in the heart scold this program. At the same time I am also more sympathetic to the teacher, because she is also a part-time job, said so long this lesson also feel a bit bored, although she did not say straight;-) So luckily, at the end of the day reluctantly passed the assessment, and then no longer have to go to that terrible lesson. But I don't know how many Chinese students are still suffering from itadp ...

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Cornell Feeling (2)
Talk about undergraduate education again, because I feel "prince" and "Princess" is actually very bitter, with in China High school almost. Because Cornell undergraduates are too many, there are more than 20,000 people, and everyone can take any one of the basic courses, so often overcrowded. My first semester to do CS 100m TA. 100m is the most basic programming lesson, the first half teaches Matlab, and the latter half teaches Java. God knows how matlab is used as a "programming language" to teach, so that in the latter half of the time students continue to be misled by MATLAB, using that way of thinking to write Java. But now 100m has removed the contents of Java and become a pure Matlab course. To learn Java, go to the 100j.

There were more than 280 students enrolled in that period, and I went to the class for the first time, and the professor asked us to meet the students. The result was only two ta, a large auditorium full of people, the professor almost did not know I was there. The students are very ignorant, so what the teacher says basically has nothing to do with it. Because there is basically no interaction, so it feels better to use a camera to shoot down, so that students can not understand the time to go back to see. But I know they will not do that, otherwise we will not come to class.

We have a total of 9 TA and 10 undergraduate consultant, responsible for correcting homework, test papers and answer questions. The programming job is two weeks, the midterm exam has two times, the final examination. Every time after the job is submitted, everyone will start organizing the correction. Those three examinations were more militarized, every time was classroom closed book exam, an auditorium upstairs downstairs are full. Test test Ah ... After the test, the guys put the papers in batches according to their names, and then "escort" them to a room to start the assembly. Draw a flow chart on the blackboard and a letter on it to draw an X on it. Usually from 9:30 in the evening until one or two o ' clock in the middle of the night to complete the task.

I changed my homework are very compassionate, do not have the heart for a little mistake to deduct points. If the idea is right, I will not deduct a lot of points. But not all TA are so good, some particularly tricky, will find ways to buckle down to show that they know more than others. If a heavy sentence is required, a written application is required. Many high-grade courses actually will be in the class name, some once a week homework, need to hand in the classroom classroom homework, if late delivery will be refused to accept, no consultation. Some of the homework needs to separate each problem in different envelopes, so that they conveniently assigned to TA, everyone only change a problem. Everything is mechanized. So undergraduates basically live in fear of homework, exams and scores. In such an environment, the so-called Western critical Thinking, is only a joke. This treatment is I have not met in most of Sichuan, now compare, Sichuan University is really a college ah;-)

Students are assessed on TA at the end of each semester and at the end of their studies. will be graded on all aspects. But I've never seen this score play any part. It is also said that Cornell to undergraduates have a variety of strange hidden fees to increase income, because the school has a large budget deficit.


Some of the comments I saw from elsewhere, I personally agree
(Excerpt from http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=346587208)

I vaguely felt that it was difficult for King Division to go to his ideal research environment.

Not the United States education system is not good, but so many years, at the expense of foreign scholarships for schools, as well as teachers, are not the best. It's the best school, MIT, and the best mentor, and he's not going to give the best resources to students from China.

Plainly, these years, through the GRE abroad, is basically to tutor as a teaching assistant, to help teachers work, than the top schools in the domestic excellent teachers are not much better.

Maybe I'll say, "Who's going to do the research for them?"

In fact, we do not forget, although foreign to the Chinese is very optimistic, but actually can really get the American elite resources, there are many ABC ah. The American-born Chinese are the top resource holders of the United States, and because of this, they have accepted the American culture, American values, is already a real American, so we can see the U.S. launch Mars probe when the Chinese scientists face.

The tragedy of Brother King Division is that he did not realize this. People think, he than the domestic students may be a little better than in the United States, long-American Chinese-American excellent? This kind of Chinese, perhaps in the 80 's not many, now has passed more than 20 years. This is certainly a lot of Chinese.

King Division Brother as an airborne, but fantasy to get the best resources in the United States, maybe.

We think of America's generosity as silly, as if the United States really have no talent, Americans really only love basketball, boxing, no one to do research, it is wrong.

The United States has no previous generosity, it is impossible as Qian Xuesen that era, there are masters to cultivate the Chinese.

Should we be happy or the other way around? Of course, the United States has begun to be stingy with China, indicating that China is beginning to grow up and that China is starting to become his rival.

King Division didn't see it, and he was imagining that the United States would give him a Chinese airborne, because brother King division thought he was here to help America do research.

King Division does not like the school to his teaching assistants training, if not to participate in the training, there is no award scholarship. Brother King Division, I'm here to study for you in America, how do you make me learn this?

He did not know that the old American money to let him come, is to let him to the undergraduate class. And these undergraduates are actually estimated that most are from Africa, Arabia and other land of the rich Prince, Princess, how may let him an airborne to teach local students. Isn't this very clear?

Now the trend is that many go to the United States to study undergraduate, reading is the international Student class, understand? It is the essence of bringing foreign students together in a class without mixing with the local student.

This will also lead to a lot of people who go to the United States to study undergraduate, also feel that foreign how do not want in the domestic propaganda, is also like domestic as spoon reasons.

(Foreign good, naturally there are Mr Yu and the flow of people to inspire everyone to learn the guise of propaganda, but actually improve his test-taking remedial class for the sake of income. Mr Yu is a talent, he is the Chinese test-oriented education tyrant, but also play a patriotic love dang, love the role of students. It can be predicted that, since the middle of the 90 's, the number of people who went abroad through the GRE test was very rare to do real research. They do well in the United States, relying entirely on the environment of the United States, with the sake of the multi-wood enterprises. It was hired by the Americans, not by scientists. So many 70后 study abroad, their ideal is to jump out of China's "Ondol", come to the American paradise, and then buy a car to buy a house. Can they compare with the people of the old age, or even the generation who studied in the 80? ）

The backwardness of China's education, in the final analysis, is the comprehensive strength of our country, the industrial strength of the weak caused by poverty. ）

In fact, there are excellent educational resources at home, but the country is not strong enough, at random these resources are very small, such as to the national defense hkust computer. The ideal land for Brother King Division should be here. In fact, frankly speaking, King Division Brother's strength is not good enough to be able to get these resources, so he only went to the United States University, but also, he has to get the best resources in the United States and difficulties, so he has been depressed.

Overseas students, have the strength, have the ideal, or return home to create a career it. But do not expect to get ten years of money, 20 years ago when the treatment of the return to study (mainly in terms of title), because the times are not the same, the knowledge of the people too few, so stand out, now you want to stand out, the light of a top overseas University of the Doctor hat is not enough, you also need to pay more sweat and But your starting point is still very high, so the chances of success are certainly more than others.

"Turn" to people who support and oppose "Working with full Linux"