Thank you for your presence on such a cold and hazy day in the winter at the first Dongrun Innovation and the Future of Education Forum. The Dongrun-Yau Science Award concluded yesterday has embraced its ninth anniversary. The almost one thousand juries from home and abroad have selected dozens of outstanding innovative scientific talents from nearly a thousand contestants. So why do we want to select innovative scientific talents? Because innovative talents have promoted the progress of human civilization, and the emergence of innovative talents lays the foundation for the germination of science and technology. Since the 20th century, countries around the world have recognized the important role of developing education, encouraging creativity and invention, as well as cultivating innovative talents in improving a country’s competitiveness. The cultivation of innovative talents is the need of the times, and whether a country can occupy the active and dominant position in economic globalization largely depends on the scale and level of its scientific innovation abilities and innovative talents. The abilities to innovate and the innovation level of a society and a nation are closely associated with its scientific literacy, value orientation, social conditions and a free environment.
In addition, we must be caring and have a sense of responsibility, because a caring person loves and creates life, and those having a sense of responsibility benefit the human beings. The space for students to think positively is to guide students to discover and solve problems, enable them to adhere to their own views, so that their imagination runs riot.
How should we cultivate innovative talents? The conception of teaching centered on imparting knowledge should be changed, and students are expected to focus on the cultivation of ability. We should allow students to expand from classrooms to extracurricular activities, from the textbook to their own real lives, social lives and things that interest them in nature.
Traditional classroom is orientated to the teaching materials as the center, with the teachers as the carrier, to instilling knowledge as a driving force. Such education is unfavorable to cultivate the independent thinking and self-directed learning ability of the students. However, the ability in independent thinking and the self-directed learning is the most basic quality of an innovative talent. The development of science and technology and every major breakthrough will lead to the profound economic changes and great progress in human society. In today's world, the science and technology has become the most active factor in the social productivity. The key to scientific and technological competitions is the talent competition, and the improvement of human quality depends on the innovative education.
The heavy haze today does slightly affect our moods; but seeing the youthful face of students, I cannot help but thinking of 59 years ago, when an old man said to overseas students, "the world is yours, but also ours, but it is ultimately yours. You young people are vibrant, like the sun at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. We have high expectations for you." The future of the world is indeed yours, and hopes of the country rely on you!
Thanks!