Peking University, Nov. 21, 2012: Recently, a blog written by Cheng Daizhan, a professor at Tsinghua University, triggered a heated debate on the Internet. Up till now, it has about 160,000 views on the original website alone. The blog has been among the top 10 most discussed topics on Beida Weiming BBS and teachers and students at Peking University hold varied opinions.

The story is about a PhD student in mathematics who chose to quit doing scientific research after graduation and teach in a high school in Beijing instead, which was beyond the wildest dreams of his mentor who has been so proud of this ace student.

Listen to the inner voice of the professor and the PhD student and different voices in response to have a better insight.

Voice of the professor

“I first met the student in his fourth year as an undergraduate in the Department of Mathematics, Tsinghua University. After he became my PhD candidate, he impressed me a lot by his extraordinarily solid mathematic knowledge and skills. It is great pleasure when we have discussions together. In addition, he is much more talented than most students in terms of sensitivity in academic research so I cherish him deeply. He has also earned the reputation of being the most hard-working student in the lab. He followed every instruction I gave him and never said no to any task.”

“I insisted that he should conquer English, which I once was held back with. Since his first year of PhD, I have sent him to international conferences at least once a year. With my assistance, he has paid academic visits to England, Singapore and the US many times. ”

“Today he has an enviable resume:   more than a dozen journal papers, more than a dozen conference papers, a co-authored book entitled Introduction to Semi-tensor Product of Matrices and Its Applications, World Scientific (600 pages). He has also won a couple of academic awards. He is only 25! He is indeed a rising star in academia, and I expect a great academic future from him.”

“To my great surprise, upon graduation, he told me that he had made the decision to take the offer of a high school in Beijing, regardless of years of brilliant work is in scientific research. I was in shock and worried. I had a word with him for almost two hours right away, trying to persuade him out of his decision but he maintained that he was bored and uninterested in doing research. I also turned to my colleagues for help, all of who attempted to sway him but in vain. At night I couldn’t even get to sleep.”

According to the after-thoughts in his second blog, Cheng Daizhan tried to find the reason why it happened and respect his student’s choice. “After pondering for days and seeing other people’s comments, I realized that partially it was my fault to treat him as my substitute, to expect him to fulfill the dream that I dreamed of. I should respect the way he chooses because the individual understanding of values differs. His choice teaches me a lesson that I should make more effort to inspire student's interest in academic research rather than simply distribute assignments and focus only on academic results all along. ”

“However, it still pains me to see an excellent PhD graduate with high potentials choose to waste his advanced knowledge and academic talent in teaching high school students. It is just not right.” Cheng Daizhan wrote. “Universities, research institutes and the society should reflect on how to better facilitate scientific researches and retain the talents in academia. Right now I have seen an equally severe discrimination of wealth in academia as in the whole society.”

“Why China cannot produce world-class scientists today?” Cheng Daizhan asked in his third blog. “Maybe the biggest deficiency in our education system is that we fail to instill the pursuit of ideals and the spirit of sacrifice for science into the young.”

Voice of the PhD student

“First of all, I wanted to express my gratitude to Professor Cheng. His is not a pushy but quite a nice mentor. It is because I know that he has great expectations from me that I dare not open my mouth to tell him straightforward that I don't really enjoy doing scientific research. Sometimes I even can hear a voice in my heart struggling, ‘Hang on there, don't leave.’ Yet I believe for me it is the right time to leave academia and start to do what I really enjoy doing.”

“The reasons why I choose to leave are quite simple–tiredness and incapability. I was always such an obedient student that I tried my best to accomplish every task with good quality and ahead of the deadline, which led Professor Cheng to misunderstand that it was my interest to do research thus more tasks were assigned to me. I felt trapped in an endless circle. In terms of capability, I never regard my papers published in authoritative periodicals as top ones. Maybe they were just a little bit more useful than others. But am I able to write a revolutionary article and become an influential master of mathematics? I know I am not. Diligence does not equal to talent and it needs talent to survive in academic world.”

“On the contrary, I really appreciate teaching in high school. I truly believe I have the personality and capability required of a teacher. In addition, it lights up my world to witness the progress of my students and gives me a sense of achievement. This is my ideal life with stability.”

Voices of other people

Professor Zhang Haixia at Peking University deeply feels the pain that bothers Professor Cheng Daizhan. She personally has two similar cases where the students whom she once made an effort to help with and expected great achievements from eventually took a path away from fulfilling their full potentials. "Pragmatism and utilitarianism flooding in the academia in China today lead to a negative circle: the students of higher potential flee out of academia to earn more money and fame while other students of less potential plunge into academia, working hard day in and day out but hardly achieving any breakthrough; the fruitless of scientific research in turn attracts less and less funds and fewer and fewer talented people." Zhang Haixia wrote in her Sciencenet Blog.

But students seem to echo with the PhD student more often than not.

"For the young, choosing a lifelong enterprise matters more than just having a temporary job. Both the young and their teachers and parents should have a broader view and break away from the conventional belief that being a scientist is nobler than other professions. The young in modern society have their freedom to live their own lives." said Guo Shijie on his Renren Blog.

"When there is a gap between ideal and reality, be brave and responsible for yourself. Don't be afraid to be different. Listen to your inner voice and simply be yourself." said a student nicknamed “Yanyuan de Yanzi” on her Renren Blog.

"I'm very glad to see that somebody is pursuing his own life rather than living a life arranged by any other person." "Follow your heart to make a decision. Even if he comes back to academia one day, at least he will know the things he longs for at that time." Several students commented on Beida Weiming BBS.

This incident gives us an opportunity to think about the life we want to pursue, the roles of teachers and the purpose of education. It already transcends the scope of individual choices and touches the key challenges that bother the academia and society for years. It will be a long-lasting debate but it also offers questions that we all need to constantly ask of ourselves: "Am I on the right path? Is this what I want to do with my life? Is this the meaning of my life and how I want to be remembered?"

Reported by: Meng Yiran and Chen Long
Edited by: Chen Long