Inspiration from the tropics of astronomy
2022-09-14
At the beginning of the school year, the "unpopular" astronomy major has attracted much attention. In the past, astronomy has been regarded as the choice of idealists. The price of looking up at the moon seems to be the loss of sixpence on the ground. In recent years, with the increase of national investment in basic disciplines and the completion of more astronomical space projects, the demand for domestic astronomy talents has further increased. Chen Pengfei, a professor of the School of Astronomy and Space Science of Nanjing University, once wrote that from 1999 to 2020, an average of one more university in China established an astronomy department every year, and the number of undergraduate students enrolled in astronomy in China increased from 28 in 1994 to 208 in 2018. In 2018, based on the original five disciplines (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological science, computer science), the training plan for top students in basic disciplines added 12 disciplines such as astronomy, making astronomy, as one of the basic disciplines, more important. From the perspective of the trend of colleges and universities to run astronomy majors and carry out astronomy education, although the domestic astronomy education started late, it has entered a stage of rapid development, and various colleges and universities have successively established astronomy majors. In view of this, many observers pointed out that astronomy, the traditional and unpopular major in the college entrance examination, will usher in a hot opportunity. In recent years, China has attached great importance to the training of talents in basic disciplines. Since 2020, the Ministry of Education has launched the "Foundation Strengthening Plan", focusing on the major strategic needs of the country, and exploring the selection and training of top innovative talents in basic disciplines. Over the past three years, more than 18000 people have been recruited, including the recruitment and training of astronomy talents. More and more colleges and universities pay attention to the training of basic discipline talents, including astronomy talents. We are happy to see the popularity of astronomy. Therefore, it is all the more necessary to reaffirm respect for the law of talent training in basic disciplines. It is necessary for colleges and universities to objectively evaluate the current training of astronomical talents and the demand for social talents when they set up the major of astronomy. In reality, according to the current scale of professional training, the "employment matching rate" of astronomy graduates engaged in astronomy education and scientific research is not high, only about 50%. According to statistics, undergraduate astronomy graduates are mainly going to pursue advanced studies. Some universities have 70% of them, but a large proportion of them are not majoring in astronomy. Although the undergraduate education of basic disciplines is not employment oriented, but focuses on the cultivation of students' generous basic discipline ability and quality, there is no doubt that the analysis of the whereabouts of graduates with low "counterpart rate" will inevitably affect the construction and development of the major to a certain extent. With the establishment of astronomy in more schools, this problem deserves attention. Colleges and universities offering astronomy should scientifically and rigorously demonstrate the newly established majors according to their own school running orientation and conditions. Another issue worthy of attention is that China's basic education should pay attention to cultivating students' interest in basic subjects and their ambition to become top talents in the field of basic subjects. Basic education schools in China should pay attention to protecting students' curiosity. In classroom teaching and after-school community activities, they should pay attention to the cultivation of students' discipline quality and interest. Especially at the stage of high school education, we should broaden students' horizons and help them with their studies through various channels, including offering elective courses
Edit:sishi Responsible editor:xingyong
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