A New Path of Higher Education

I'm reading the book "Building the International University: Minerva and the Future of Higher Education" by Stephen M. Kossyln these days. It's really a mind-blowing book about higher education.

We all want to live in a safe, civilized society, living a decent, wonderful life. But how? Some say we need to be rich. Others say we need freedom and democracy. As the time flows into 2023, we know they're not enough. Middle-class Chinese in big cities are rich, but they feel no safety. Russia is a democratic country after USSR collapsed. However, the Russians voted to elect a dictator who is ruling for more than 20 years and pushed them into an absurd, brutal war. Then how about providing Chinese democracy? That sounds good. But if you've lived in China long enough, you'll find that the Chinese today probably elect another dictator democratically, like what the Russians did 20 years ago.

So what are the missing puzzles in their jigsaw? One of them is political views about the world. To be more specific, the patterns of how a society should be organized, how people should be ruled, and the relationship between people and government. Thirty years ago Chinese intellectuals hoped higher education plays an important role in social evolution. Unfortunately, with the advent of 1989, it came to a dead end.

So the educational model of Minerva may be a feasible path for Chinese higher education. It's not expensive as that in western countries and decentralized enough to dodge the party's surveillance full in the air.

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