The kind of  professors our schools need

As Americans stand in awe of the Shanghai high school performance but more and more Chinese middle school and college graduates flock to US universities, one has to ask what has gone wrong with our higher education.

The short answer for many is a lack of good professors. Going to seminars, watching news and reading op-eds by leading scholars in the US, I feel constantly reminded of the kind of professors our schools urgently need.

When Larry Summers talked about Asia and global economy at an Asia Society meeting last week, his title is simply professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, instead of being director of the White House National Economic Council where he served until the end of last year.

Summers, a former Treasury Secretary, former World Bank chief economist and former president of Harvard University, is teaching two courses this spring semester, one on the crisis economics to delve into the history and evaluation of the policy response to Great Recession and the other on American economic policy.

The same is true with Condoleezza Rice, who returned to Stanford University in 2009 as political science professor after serving as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor during the George W. Bush administration.

A former Stanford provost and a professor who won two of the highest teaching awards, Rice is undoubtedly popular with students despite her possible different world view. Last September, Rice became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB).

Having chatted with Rice and sat in the Stanford class of William Perry, the former Defense Secretary, on world security, I know why their classes are relevant, popular and inspirational.

At Stanford GSB, many professors had either worked at government economic departments or once were successful entrepreneurs. When cases involving Silicon Valley companies are discussed, founders or chief executives of those firms are often invited to the classroom.

In journalism schools, whether at Stanford or Columbia or others, many professors boast a stellar background as a reporter or editor.

This contrasts sharply with Chinese journalism schools where most of the professors and lecturers have had little journalism practice themselves. Students often find it hard to heed their advice on how to conduct interviews and editing a copy since the professor’s only experience with news media was his four-month internship back in his student days. Many prize-winning journalists would probably be disqualified to lecture by Chinese school standards which require a master’s degree for teaching job.

It is true that similar things are happening in China in the past years. Former State Council Information Office chief Zhao Qizheng took the job as dean of the journalism school at Renmin University and former Vice Foreign Minister Wu Jianmin assumed the role of president of China Foreign Affairs University.

However, the number of former Chinese officials going to teach in schools is miniscule compared with the US where professors once holding prominent positions in governments, businesses and international organizations are virtually in every school.

Going back to school is never a loss of face or status. Last week, I met a former senior US State Department official, who is back to teaching at a prestigious university. I remember he said years ago that he only intended to work for the government for two years. He likes the teaching job. It allows him more time with his young children.

While Americans like Summers and Rice hop between government and school, it is often a one-way traffic in China. Once you join the government, it becomes an obsessive lifelong career. The benefits entitled and possible rent-seeking opportunities implied would often discourage any idea of going or returning to a teaching job that is often poorly paid.

Of course, not every official and businessman would make an excellent teacher. But not having people with that experience in our schools would make our schools and students disconnected with the real world.

When our professors know nothing but textbooks, it is not surprising to see an exodus of our students to American and European universities.