到自己的興趣。但像這種方法，在亞洲 比如中國就沒辦法，因為我們沒有那麼 多的、足夠的人才，即使整個亞洲加起 來也不可能有哈佛那樣（多的頂尖學者和 教授）。所以我們就必須要花心思，讓我 們的學生達到這樣的境界。我覺得，教 育對我來講，它的基本使命，就是這件 事情。 儲： 我過去幾年在香港教書，但要吸引學生 學科技是比較大的挑戰。受（香港）社會 環境影響，學生對法律、經濟、商業這 些科目的興趣比較高。所以我們就要循 循善誘，介紹科學的趣味以及裡面的思 路，它（科學）和文學藝術一樣，你一旦 瞭解之後，會非常非常吸引你，但要花 很大功夫才能體會到當中的奧妙，不是 件容易做到的事情。 劉： 我從一個不同角度來談談吧。有人問 我：你在世界頂尖的學校，學到什麼東 西？我說，第一、我知道天高地厚，因 為看到那麼多老師同學都是世界上最傑 出的人才，但我也知道天有多高、地有 多厚，換句話說，跟他們在一起，我會 很努力，大家不會相差太遠。所以一方 面要知道天高地厚，另一方面也要知道 天有多高、地有多厚。中國過去沒有這 樣的機會，讓我們的學生一方面很謙 卑，一方面也能建立信心。姚教授在清 華大學，一方面讓學生們眼界大開，你 看姚教授本人，還有他請來的朋友都是 計算機科學裡最頂尖的；而同時姚教授 也帶給他們信心，他的學生已在最好的 國際會議上發表文章，我覺得這個就是 教育的目的。 還有就是怎樣鼓舞學生下功夫做學問。 成為世界級的學者，一定要有個大師在 那邊給他做榜樣。我覺得姚教授做的 很重要的一件事情，就是讓學生看到： 啊，假如我努力的話，也許有一天，我 也可以到達這個（水平）。像姚教授、楊 振寧教授、丘成桐教授，他們建立了這 種大師級的榜樣給學生，不光是教他們 東西，還鼓舞他們，這是非常非常重要 的。 platform for students to achieve their maximum potential. But basically I think helping young people !nd answers to the two questions is the most important thing any university could do, because whether a country can have an advantage over other countries depends on whether its people can achieve their maximum potential. As with many other things, this is easier said than done, and it is the greatest challenge for any university that aims for excellence. We can’t just mechanically copy the practices of US universities because the circumstances are different. The best universities in the US have many top professors and scholars. These professors don’t have to go out of their way to educate the students; they just need to do their job. Even so their students still stand a better chance of discovering their interests than their Chinese counterparts because they have suf!cient freedom to access different courses and interact with all these excellent teachers. But this approach simply wouldn’t work in China or other parts of Asia, because we just can’t hold a candle to Harvard in terms of faculty strength, not even with all professors from Asia combined. So we have to be creative and design ways that suit us to help our students achieve a similar outcome. For me, that’s the intrinsic mission of education. F: I’ve taught in Hong Kong for a couple of years, and from my personal experience, I feel that it’s dif!cult to make Hong Kong students interested in science and technology; they are more interested in subjects like law, economics and business administration, probably because those are what society is interested in. So we have to draw them in patiently, by introducing them to the fun side of science and the logic behind it. Like art and literature, science is something that will fascinate you once you understand it better; but appreciating the beauty of science is not easy, it takes a lot of work to get there. L: I’m going to answer this question from a different angle. I was once asked: “What did you learn from the best university in the world?” I answered: “I was at once humbled and hopeful, humbled because I was surrounded by so many extremely talented people, hopeful because I was with them every day, and I knew that if I worked really hard, I would not be lagging behind too much. ” I think it’s very important to keep our students both humbled and hopeful, in other words, to instil in them both humility and con!dence. Prof. Yao does exactly that! He opens students’ eyes because he himself and the people he invites to give lectures are all top computer scientists. He boosts students’ con!dence through various ways, including helping them to publish papers at top international conferences. I think that instilling in students both humility and con!dence is an important mission of education. 7
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