u.s. media double standards for chinese, american universities
peking university (photo: vcg)
by zhang ruojia
recently, a number of prestigious medical schools in the u.s. have announced their withdrawal from the u.s. news & world report's world university and professional rankings.
in response to this phenomenon, on january 27, some american media published an article named "revolt against educational rankings" to criticize university rankings. it pointed out that "u.s. news & world report" rankings have been suppressing u.s. higher education. more u.s. colleges and universities are called upon to change this situation by withdrawing from the rankings.
for years, there have been scandals involving misrepresentation of data and financial transactions by u.s. colleges and universities to improve their rankings. the article argues that universities can provide their own data of the rankings, which cannot guarantee their accuracy and reliability. the market competition and interests behind the rankings are certainly against the original purpose of education.
however, other american media had a totally different attitude when it came to the withdrawal of chinese universities from the world rankings in 2022. in the article of june 7, 2022, a magazine described the withdrawal of schools such as the renmin university of china from the rankings as an attempt to "education with chinese characteristics," and even said that china was closing its doors in the field of science and education.
in the same act of withdrawing from the ranking, the u.s. media expressed positive comments about american universities but made distorted comments about chinese universities. obviously, this reflects the long-standing practice of western countries to judge themselves and other countries by "double standards," which can even be published in the same media outlet in the same column.
the u.s. views the rise of china with a cold war mentality. even if china does something reasonable and pragmatic, it will be manipulated and distorted by u.s. public opinion.
in fact, the decision of chinese universities to withdraw from the world university rankings was made in accordance with the direction of china's educational development. the original intention of chinese universities to participate in the world ranking was to connect with the world and enhance the strength of education.
however, some of the ranking criteria of the world university ranking are not suitable for chinese universities, such as their requirements on the proportion of international teachers and students and the history of the school, which do not accurately reflect the strength and position of chinese universities.
in recent years, many universities have found that rankings are not the best way to achieve educational ideals. if universities are bent on rushing to the top position of the ranking, they will be lost in the path of making up indicators.
the act of withdrawal of chinese universities is a challenge to the irrationality of the education system in the western world. nowadays, chinese universities have enough self-confidence to run schools pragmatically and nurture talented young people for the country's benefit.
nevertheless, the american media made one-sided and limited "double standard" statements as a shock to the rise of china. its "double standard" behavior of clinging to prejudice and even deliberately denigrating china is not only futile, but also ridiculous.
