Why are those treasure elective courses popular in colleges and universities？
Students prefer art appreciation elective courses.
Elective course teacher’s prize for students.
Works of flower arrangement class
Works of flower arrangement class
At the beginning of September, colleges and universities are gradually on the right track, and how to open the new semester is often closely related to whether you chose your favorite elective course in the last semester. Beijing Youth Daily reporter found that from Harry Potter science, detective Conan and chemical exploration to tree climbing class and motorcycle driving class, to hot pot washing class and wine tasting class … … In recent years, the "fancy" elective courses in colleges and universities have continued to go out of the circle, followed by a "war" of grabbing classes that will be staged every semester, and those elective courses with high popularity are often "hard to find a lesson". Why are college elective courses so popular with students? What are the gains after class? The reporter of Beiqing Daily interviewed students from seven universities and followed them to find out.
More than 1000 people compete
Two or three hundred places
Don’t call the roll, you can play with your mobile phone in class, and get good marks in the final examination … … In the past, the optional course of "paddling" that met the above three points was almost regarded as a "rest class" by students, and some even thought that such courses were "optional". In the past two years, the situation has greatly changed, elective courses have quietly become interesting, and the scene of grabbing classes is really fierce.
When Yan Xuetong’s Analysis of International Relations is mentioned, almost everyone in Tsinghua knows it. It can be said that this is the most popular public elective course in Tsinghua. When the course selection system is open every semester, the number of people who choose this course far exceeds the actual course capacity, and the students who are selected at one fell swoop are simply "European emperors" in the eyes of others. The same is true of the elective course "Western Music Appreciation" in Peking University. The number of classes is 200-300, and the course selection system shows that there are more than 1,000 people competing in the pre-selection.
Xiaojian (a pseudonym) said that Peking University has drawn lots to choose courses, and everyone has 99 willingness points each semester. Students should randomly assign these willingness points to all the courses they want to choose. Which course has more willingness points, the chances of being selected are great. Xiaojian put all 99 willingness points into "Western Music Appreciation" at that time, and this was the choice.
Zhang Yunnan of Xi ‘an Jiaotong University is a science student. Out of his keen interest in art, he chose a very popular art elective course — — "Introduction to Art", I didn’t expect that the students who took this course were basically science students, and often students who didn’t take the course made a special trip to rub classes. The course "Appreciation of Flower Arrangement Art" in Zhejiang Sci-Tech University is so popular that the teachers in the office next to the teachers are attracted to the classroom.
Teaching style course content
They are all "extra points" in elective courses
"Teacher Yan himself is very attractive, humorous and very friendly. He will specially prepare some interesting paragraphs or short stories for everyone to listen to, and often make everyone laugh. " Qu Wenkai commented on the teaching teacher of the elective course Analysis of International Relations. How good is Teacher Yan’s lecture? Usually, when taking elective courses, Qu Wenkai usually doesn’t choose a prominent position in the front, but occasionally sits in the corner and can "touch the fish", but in Mr. Yan’s class, he has been rushing to sit in the middle of the front.
Wu Siting is an English language and literature major from Sichuan International Studies University. Before that, she never thought that she could sing with the teacher in an elective class. That course is called "Visual Culture Research", which mainly studies the development history and theory of painting, photography, movies and other arts. The teacher Duan is a gentleman and elegant man. In order to let the students relax and immerse themselves in the works of art more thoroughly, he often plays songs during the lecture and invites everyone to sing together. She remembers that when explaining Van Gogh’s paintings, Mr. Duan picked up his guitar, played the particularly classic "vincent" and sang the chorus. Everyone couldn’t help singing along.
In addition to singing in class, Mr. Duan’s unique teaching style is also reflected in organizing photography, singing and painting competitions in the class from time to time. After the game, there was also a prize-giving session. The prize for the students was a book bought by Mr. Duan himself. On the title page, he wrote: "When words fail,music speaks." (When words cannot be expressed, the concert will guide you.)
The course content and classroom atmosphere also determine whether an elective course can be sought after by students. Like Peking University, the elective courses of South China Agricultural University are also "scoring points". Each student can score 100 points per semester, and they can vote for the courses they want at will. Most people will vote all 100 points for Health Fruits and Vegetables.
In Xi ‘an Jiaotong University’s elective course Introduction to Art, Zhang Yunnan was pleasantly surprised to find that Teacher Li Li had unique views on many things, and the teaching contents were also rich and varied, from historical anecdotes such as "Xi ‘an dug more than 1,300 tombs by subway" to literary stories such as "Haizi wrote the sun to write an epic" and musical knowledge such as "Shakespeare’s four tragedies". This course made him understand "literature and art"
Elective courses for students
Bring "unexpected joy"
According to the Survey Report on Elective Courses for College Students in 2022 released in March this year, college students have the highest preference for art elective courses, accounting for 48.3%. Among freshmen, the proportion of people who choose elective courses they are interested in is the highest, and among sophomores to seniors, elective courses with strong entertainment and leisure are the most attractive to them. In this regard, some people question that college time is precious, and we should learn more hard skills and professional knowledge instead of wasting time on "fancy" elective courses. Is this really the case? The reporter of Beiqing Daily found that elective courses not only contribute to students’ personality development, but also bring them "unexpected joy" sometimes.
After class, Zhang Yunnan was deeply touched. He felt that Teacher Li’s Introduction to Art not only gave him a strange journey to poetry and fantasy, but also made him, a somewhat formal science student, start to have some romantic feelings and learn to open himself and express himself.
According to Qu Wenkai of Tsinghua University, the course Analysis of International Relations can be said to have changed him the most since he went to college. Many phenomena in international relations can be directly reflected in daily life. For example, there are many similarities between the game between countries and the communication between people, which urges him to reflect on his way of doing things. In the past, his consideration would be simple and self-conscious, but now, he has gradually learned to think from the perspective of others and pay more attention to communication with others.
Shoushou (pseudonym) of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University also shared her romantic experience in the elective course "Appreciation of Flower Arrangement Art". In class, students will bring their own flowers to arrange flowers, and after class, everyone can give these flower arrangement works to others. "The flower gift box I made was given to the yoga teacher, and the flower arrangement was given to my roommate, and the flowers were given to the university teacher whose wedding day was in November." Shoushou said that this may be the most intuitive embodiment of learning success.
Besides, the art of love, a popular elective course of Beijing Foreign Studies University, is also very special. This course is taught by three teachers with different academic backgrounds, and leads students to think deeply about love, self, the other, gender, desire, intimacy and many other issues from the perspectives of film, sociology and drama. There are many forms of assessment. You can choose to make a sociological report, show it in class, or make your own micro-movie.
Student Xiao Wang directed a 5-minute short film at the end of the term to discuss the relationship between "understanding" and "love". Xiao Wang didn’t expect that her film received a good response after being shown in class. The teacher commented that the film was "absurd in style and skillful in using various artistic languages and expressions", and even called it a "real film" and encouraged her to vote for the Youth Film Festival. "If other classes are ‘ Sixpence ’ This lesson is ‘ Moon ’ 。” Xiao Wang said that in this course, you can show your personality and talents other than those advertised by the secular world.
conversation
It’s a good thing that the elective course is "weird"
Why are there diversified elective courses in universities? What is the significance of elective courses? The reporter of Beiqing Daily had a dialogue with Wu Rui, an associate professor at the School of International Education of Beijing Foreign Studies University (one of the three teachers who taught the elective course "The Art of Love").
Beiqing Daily: What is the opportunity for you and two other teachers to develop the elective course Art of Love?
Teacher Wu: The epidemic in early 2020 actually blocked many people’s offline meeting opportunities, blind date and marriage introduction activities were cancelled on a large scale, and the marriage relationship entered a virtual online communication stage. At that time, I discussed this topic with two other teachers and came up with the idea of setting up a course together. In addition, in 2020, the Ministry of Education just had a document to encourage and guide colleges and universities to offer courses related to marriage and love education, so we decided to offer this course. Now it is the fourth semester of this course, and there are about 80 to 90 students taking the course, which is very popular in the school.
Beiqing Daily: Is the classroom effect the same as you expected?
Teacher Wu: The classroom effect is as good as we expected, because there are many ways of assessment, such as guiding students to make movies or documentaries, doing social surveys and performing scripts … … In the meantime, I found that my classmates have a lot of fantastic ideas, and they can often catch some phenomena that even I didn’t notice at the moment. In a sense, it is students who are helping our teachers to open their minds and let us see that there are still many fields that need attention … …
Beiqing Daily: In your opinion, what are the reasons why soft elective courses such as love, literature, film and television are popular among students?
Teacher Wu: The courses of art, love, literature and movies are very popular, mainly because these courses conform to the leisure and entertainment methods and daily consumption culture of contemporary young people to a certain extent, such as watching movies, following dramas and reading online novels. But at the same time, we should be vigilant about this. Offering this kind of courses is not simply to let students go to the movies and plays to cater to and satisfy their tastes, but to return to the general elective course itself. The main purpose of the general elective course is to lead everyone to classics, explore classic topics, conduct liberal arts teaching and cultivate students’ general ability. For example, in the course "The Art of Love", we will guide you to read the theories and literary criticisms related to love and make conceptual and frame-based critical thinking, instead of making simple and simple and sentimental discussions such as online literature and consumer literature.
Beiqing Daily: What do you think is the significance of setting up some "strange" elective courses with these names in universities?
Teacher Wu: Elective courses are optional courses for students outside the training program, so it should be diversified and diversified. And why can elective courses be diversified? Because each teacher’s research direction and hobbies are diverse, which is exactly what needs to be combined in elective courses. In this sense, the "strangeness" of elective courses is a normal and positive phenomenon, which is different from the compulsory courses in the training scheme. Elective courses give a more free space in which students can get in touch with the freshest, most innovative and open knowledge and thinking. It is precisely because of this difference that the significance of elective courses is achieved.
This edition/reporter Wang Wei
Intern Niu Xiumin Li Qianxiao Cai Xueqin Sun Zhe
Coordinator/Lin Yan Zhang Bin
Photo courtesy/vision china
Photo courtesy of respondents