1995 年回国时与北京医科大学（现北京大学医学部）基础医学院主管教学的副院长谈过中英大学教育的不同。最明显的差别是英国大学及格线（ pass ）是 40 分，优秀线 (first class, distinction) 70 分，而中国大学则分别为 60 分和 90 分。优秀需要 90 分不仅束缚学生，也束缚教师。学生不敢发挥自己的想法，提出自己的见解；教师不敢出可以让学生发展批判性思维的试题。如果中国大学及格线与优秀线也分别为 40 分和 70 分，学生学习、教师教学的自由度会大为增加。试题和判卷标准是学生学习的指挥棒，大多数学生是“战略型学习者”，怎么学能得高分就怎么学。因此，也难怪中国大学对学生创造性思维的培养起了非常有限的作用。 英国大学的优秀线是 70 分，并不等于大多数中国学生在那里能拿优秀。对于非数学、非数量类考试，一般是 5% 到 15% 的学生能得 70 分以上，难度不亚于中国大学的 90 分。英国大学判卷标准原则上讲，把教师讲的、教科书上的内容都答上还不足以得 70 分，要得 70 分以上需要表现出自己的批判性思维。这一批判性思维要求对习惯于教师划重点、给标准答案的中国学生是个挑战。数学、数量类考试中国学生成绩明显高于英国学生，非数学、非数量类考试中国学生成绩则往往不如英国学生。这方面不仅仅是语言问题，判卷标准一般要求不考虑语言水平（英语水平实际上是影响考试成绩的），而且有学习习惯的因素。中国学生常常对在考试中如何发挥自己的批判性思维感到困惑，对“战略型学习者”来说如何发挥自己的批判性思维也是一个如何得高分的问题。对此，我写过一个怎样考高分的短文，告诉学生怎样在答题时表现自己的批判性思维。现附上请博友、网友指正。 How to get high marks in exam? I had been asked this question in the past too. The answer is pretty simple. Firstly, you should have the knowledge which the exam will test. Enough knowledge is the basis to have high marks. How can you have enough knowledge? The best way is to be born with the knowledge as Confucius noted ( 子曰： “ 生而知之 者，上也 ”). If you were not born with the necessary knowledge, you needn’t be too disappointed by yourself;you have good companions. Confucius said he was not born with knowledge after all ( 子曰 ： “ 我非生而知之者。 ” ) Then what can youdo? Confucius told us that the second best is to study the knowledge ( 子曰： “ 学而知之者，次也 ”). Some of our students missed all lectures and studied nothing by now, and the exam is coming; what should they do? According to Confucius, it’s still not that bad to learn when you are in trouble (“ 困而学之，又其次也 ”). What is bad is you don’t study even when you are in trouble, which is what the ignorant people do (“ 困而不学，民斯为下矣。 ” ) Therefore,you had better start studying now at latest. To learn the knowledge you need for the exam, it would be good to have a photographic memory such that you can memorize everything by simply glancing over it once. If you don’t have such a memory,you would do better by spending much more time on reading textbooks and recommended reading materials . Once you have got enough knowledge for the exam, can you get high marks? Not necessarily. Getting high marks needs certain skills. You need to present your knowledge in a legible way. Generally speaking, the markers will look for some key points; covering all these points is a necessary condition for getting marks higher than 70%, but it’s not a sufficient condition. You need to know these key points and how to explain these key points. Those key points constitute what your lecturers have shown you in the lectures and what you should have read in textbooks. If you can do that and have done that, you can get a mark up to 70%, but not beyond 70%, since for non-numerical subjects the British marking system is looking for evidence of critical thinking when awarding a mark over 70%. So, you need to show that you can think independently and critically in your exam. You may argue that the British marking system for non-numerical subjects is non-sense, how can students think critically in one or two hours under pressure? This could be true, but the essence here is not that you produce any great ideas during the exam, but that you show you have the critical approach to tackle a problem. People are not always born with such critical approaches, so you usually need to train yourself into critical and independent thinking. To do this, you need to put your own thought into what you are studying, as Confucius remarked, “studying without independent thinking will not lead to real understanding; independent thinking without studying will lead to failure” ( 子曰： ” 学而不思则 罔，思而不学则殆。 ” ) . To corroborate the second sentence of Confucian quote, I marked one exam paper with over two-pages of independent and critical thinking for one question from a student who probably studied nothing from the module, and I could only give him 2%. That 2% was for his effort of critical thinking, given that he made no effort in studying the module. The critical thinking component which makers are looking for is actually very simple. Everybody knows that it is very unlikely for students to produce a great idea during exams, or for the teacher either. What you need to do is to evaluate, assess and compare those key points that have helped you get nearly 70%. You should provide your own idea on which is more important, reasonable, pertinent,feasible, practical or beneficial etc. wherever applicable. Once you have done those, your marker will be impressed by your critical and independent thinking,which will propel you (your marks) well beyond 70%. Critical and independent thinking is not that textbook says it’s white and you have to say it’s black.You will be very lucky, if textbook is so wrong that you can turn white into black. Although the critical thinking is just to evaluate, assess and compare those key points which you will write down anyway, you need to grow into the habit of evaluating and comparing different points listed by the textbooks or your lecturers, and thinking beyond the words used by the textbooks and lecturers. Since I started in this university, I found that our students appear too quick to ask questions. Although Confucius praised “clever and fond of learning, unashamed to ask questions frompeople below oneself” (“ 敏而好学 ，不耻下问 “), Confucius also said, “Not until a student does think very hard but still not get it, I will not give him a hint; only when a student tries hard to speak but has not got the right phrase will I give him a suggestion. If I mention one corner of an object, a student should also realize what the otherthree corners are like; otherwise I will stop lecturing (to let him think by himself).“ ( 子曰 : “ 不愤不启，不悱不发。举一隅不以三隅反 , 则不复也。 ” ) It seems to me that some students had not thought hard enough before they asked me questions. I wish that I could tell them to go back reading the textbooks and thinking more by themselves, without risking complaints by them to the Provost JJJ . Why is it better to work out solution yourself if possible? My experience is that even if I had been to a place several times with a friend who knows the way, I would still have difficulty to find the way; if I have been to a place on my own, even though I might get lost first time, I will know the way very well from the second time onwards. Cheng Zi noted, “If you tell students the answer before they think very hard and try very hard to talk about it, their understanding will not be solid and lasting; if you wait until they think hard and try hard to talk about it, they will have a sound and solid understanding.”( 程子曰： “ 不待愤悱而发，则知之不能坚固；待其愤悱而后发，则沛然矣。 ”) I hope that students will be listening to what Cheng Zi said, not that eager to get answers from their lecturers or tutors. Thinking more on your own is the best way to master the knowledge you need for high marks. An important aspect of your thinking should be how to use the knowledge/theories to analyze and solve problems especially real world ones. Confucius said: “If a person is able to recite the Book of Poetry, however, being a government official, he could not fulfill his responsibility; being a diplomat, he could not negotiate or have a dialogue; even if he has a lot of knowledge, what’s the use?” ( 子曰 ： “ 诵《诗》三百，授之以政，不达；使于四方，不能专对； 虽多 ，亦奚以为？ ”) The ability to use your knowledge and theories to solve problems also shows your critical thinking. Shiji (Record of History, 史记 ) said:”one thousand yes-men are not as valuable as one person who can speak out his mind.” (“ 千人之诺诺，不如一士之谔谔 ”) In answering exam questions, students should not be afraid of speaking out their own mind; writing down your own views is almost the critical thinking which markers look for. To summarize, in order to get high marks, Firstly, you need to have a good knowledge of the subject and be able to write down all the key points your lecturer mentioned in the lectures and expand them with knowledge from further reading. Secondly, you need to evaluate, assess and compare those key points; you should provide your own idea on which is more important, reasonable, pertinent,feasible, practical or beneficial etc. wherever applicable. Thirdly,you should be able to use theories to solve real world problems. Fourthly,if you haven’t studied anything yet for the module, you should act now to revise the module, as a Chinese saying goes, “polishing your weapon shortly before the battle, even if doesn’t make it sharp, can still make it shiny”. Good luck!
标签: 英国大学
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