清华教授钱颖一 ：人工智能将使中国教育优势荡然无存
Qian Yingyi, professor of Tsinghua University: ARTIFICIAL intelligence will wipe out China's educational advantage
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南京择校 Select a school in nanjing
2021-12-12 00:28 The 2021-12-12 00:28
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我们现在面临的是一个比较急功近利的社会，盛行短期功利主义的价值取向，这对创造性思维是很有害的。
清华教授钱颖一 ：人工智能将使中国教育优势荡然无存
文/钱颖一
（1956年4月生，北京市人，祖籍浙江，无党派人士，研究生学历，经济学博士学位，教授。2012年当选为世界计量经济学会会士、2018年当选为清华大学首批文科资深教授，获得2009年孙冶方经济科学奖、2016年度首届中国经济学奖。）来源/网络
中国的教育有它的特点，这个特点中隐含了我们的长处。
首先，个人、家庭、政府、社会对教育的投入很大，这个投入不仅是金钱、资源的投入，也包括学生、教师时间的投入。这是由我们的文化传统，由我们对教育的重视程度所决定的。其次，教师对知识点的传授、学生对知识点的掌握，不仅量多，而且面广，所以中国学生对基本知识的掌握呈现“均值高”的特点。
我想，在了解中国教育长处的基础上来反思教育存在的问题，可能更有意义。
I think it might be more meaningful to reflect on the problems of Education on the basis of understanding the strengths of Chinese education.
我认为，中国教育的最大问题，就是我们对教育从认知到实践都存在一种系统性的偏差，这个偏差就是我们把教育等同于知识，并局限在知识上。教师传授知识是本职工作，学生学习知识是分内之事，高考也是考知识，所以知识就几乎成了教育的全部内容。
In my opinion, the biggest problem of Education in China is that we have a systematic deviation from education from cognition to practice. This deviation is that we equate education with knowledge and limit it to knowledge. Teachers impart knowledge is their own work, students learn knowledge is duty, the college entrance examination is also to test knowledge, so knowledge has almost become the entire content of education.
“知识就是力量”这句话深入人心，但是，创新人才的教育仅仅靠知识积累就可以吗？我的答案是否定的，教育必须超越知识。这是我对创新人才教育的一个核心想法，也是我们提出教育改革建议的出发点。
"Knowledge is power" is a popular saying, but can the education of innovative talents only rely on knowledge accumulation? My answer is no, education must go beyond knowledge. This is one of my core ideas for innovative talent education, and it is the starting point for our education reform proposals.
爱因斯坦的一句话给我留下深刻印象。他在1921年获得诺贝尔物理学奖后首次到美国访问，有记者问他声音的速度是多少，爱因斯坦拒绝回答，他说，你可以在任何一本物理书中查到答案。接着，他说了那句特别有名的话：“大学教育的价值不在于记住很多事实，而是训练大脑会思考。”
Einstein's words left a deep impression on me. On his first visit to the United States after winning the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921, Einstein was asked by a reporter what the speed of sound was. He refused to answer, saying that you could find the answer in any physics book. Then he famously said, "The value of a college education lies not in remembering a lot of facts, but in training the brain to think."
在今天，很多的知识可以上网查到。在未来，可能有更多的知识机器会帮你查到。所以爱因斯坦的这句话在当前和未来更值得我们深思。
Today, a lot of knowledge can be found on the Internet. In the future, there may be more knowledge machines to look it up for you. So Einstein's words are worth pondering in the present and future.
我们知道，人工智能就是通过机器进行深度学习来工作，而这种学习过程就是大量地识别和记忆已有的知识积累。这样的话，它可以替代甚至超越那些通过死记硬背、大量做题而掌握知识的人脑。而死记硬背、大量做题正是我们目前培养学生的通常做法。所以，一个很可能发生的情况是，未来的人工智能会让我们的教育制度下培养学生的优势荡然无存。
We know that ARTIFICIAL intelligence works through deep learning, the process of recognizing and remembering vast amounts of existing knowledge. In this way, it can replace or even surpass the human brain, which learns knowledge by rote and doing lots of exercises. And rote memorization, do a lot of questions is our present training students usually practice. So one possibility is that artificial intelligence in the future will wipe out the advantages of educating students in our educational system.
不久前，人工智能机器人参加了高考数学考试。报道说有两台机器人，得分分别是134分和105分（满分150分）。这只是开始，据说人工智能机器人的目标是到2020年能够参加全部高考。所以，经济发展需要“创新驱动”，人工智能发展势头强劲，这些都让我们认识到对现有教育体制和方法进行改革的迫切性。
Not long ago, an artificial intelligence robot sat the national college entrance exam for math. The report said there were two robots, with scores of 134 and 105 out of a possible 150. This is just the beginning, as ai robots are said to aim to be able to take all gaokao exams by 2020. Therefore, the need for "innovation-driven" economic development and the strong development of artificial intelligence make us realize the urgency of reforming the existing education system and methods.
知识越多未必创造力越强 More knowledge does not necessarily mean more creativity
我在教学实践中强烈地感受到，创造性思维的来源之一是好奇心和想象力。
In my teaching practice, I feel strongly that one of the sources of creative thinking is curiosity and imagination.
创造力确实需要知识的累积，但除了知识，还需要什么呢？爱因斯坦说过，“我没有特殊的天赋，我只是极度好奇”“想象力比知识更重要”。他说的好奇心和想象力，我觉得是我们过去比较忽视的。
Creativity does require the accumulation of knowledge, but what else does it require? Albert Einstein once said, "I have no special talent, I am only extremely curious" and "imagination is more important than knowledge". He's talking about curiosity and imagination, which I think we've neglected in the past.
受此启发，我提出一个简单的假说：“创造性思维=知识×好奇心和想象力”。这个简单的公式告诉我们，知识越多未必创造力越强。因为人接受的教育越多，知识积累多了，但好奇心和想象力可能减少，所以创造力并非随着受教育时间的增加而增加。儿童时期的好奇心和想象力特别强，但是随着受教育的增加，好奇心和想象力通常会逐渐递减。
Inspired by this, I propose a simple hypothesis: "Creative thinking = knowledge × curiosity and imagination". This simple formula tells us that more knowledge is not necessarily more creativity. Creativity does not increase with the length of time spent in education, since more people accumulate more knowledge, but less curiosity and imagination. Curiosity and imagination are particularly strong in childhood, but they usually decline with increasing education.
为什么？因为我们后来学的知识都是有框架和设定的，不管什么知识都是这样。在学习这些知识的时候，你的好奇心、想象力往往会挑战这些知识框架，但在绝大多数情况下，你的挑战是错的。因为经常受到打击和否定，所以客观上压制了你的好奇心和想象力。连爱因斯坦都曾经感叹，好奇心、想象力能在正规教育中幸存下来，简直就是一个奇迹。
Why is that? Because what we learn later is framed and set, no matter what kind of knowledge it is. In learning these things, your curiosity and imagination will often challenge them, but most of the time, your challenge will be wrong. Your curiosity and imagination are objectively suppressed by constant discouragement and denial. Even Albert Einstein once lamented that it was a miracle that curiosity and imagination could survive formal education.
这就形成了创新人才教育上的一个悖论：更多教育一方面有助于增加知识而提高创造性，另一方面又因压抑好奇心和想象力而减少创造性。所以两者的合力让我们判断教育对创新人才产生的作用变得困难，但可以部分解释为什么有些辍学的学生反而很有创造力。
This forms a paradox in the education of creative talents: more education on the one hand helps to increase knowledge and enhance creativity, on the other hand, reduces creativity by suppressing curiosity and imagination. So the combination of the two makes it hard to judge the effect of education on creative people, but it could partly explain why some dropouts turn out to be creative.
因此，并不是我们的学校培养不出杰出人才，而是我们的学校在增加学生知识的同时，有意无意地减少了创造力必要的其他元素。
So it's not that our schools aren't producing great people, it's that our schools are increasing students' knowledge at the same time, consciously or unconsciously, reducing the other elements necessary for creativity.
功利主义扼杀了创造性思维 Utilitarianism stifles creative thinking
创造性思维的来源之二，是有更高追求的价值取向。
The second source of creative thinking is the value orientation of higher pursuit.
创造性思维不仅取决于好奇心和想象力，还与价值取向有关，所以当我们讨论创新人才教育时，它不仅仅是一个知识和能力问题，也是一个价值观的问题。
Creative thinking is not only dependent on curiosity and imagination, but also related to value orientation, so when we discuss the education of innovative talents, it is not only a question of knowledge and ability, but also a question of values.
我们现在面临的是一个比较急功近利的社会，盛行短期功利主义的价值取向，这对创造性思维是很有害的。不久前扎克伯格在哈佛大学2017年毕业生典礼上的演讲，主题是讲人要有追求，要有更高的追求，就是要超越短期功利主义的价值取向。
What we are facing now is a more utilitarian society, where short-term utilitarian value orientation prevails, which is very harmful to creative thinking. Not long ago, Zuckerberg delivered a speech at Harvard University's 2017 graduation ceremony. The theme was that people should have pursuit, and they should have higher pursuit, that is, they should go beyond short-term utilitarian value orientation.
我把创新的动机分为三个层次，分别代表三种价值取向：一、短期功利主义；二、长期功利主义；三、内在价值的非功利主义。后面的比前面的有更高的追求。
I divide the motivation of innovation into three levels, representing three value orientations respectively: first, short-term utilitarianism; 2. Long-term utilitarianism; 3. Non-utilitarianism of intrinsic value. The latter have higher aspirations than the former.
对短期功利主义者而言，创新是为了发论文、申请专利、公司上市；对长期功利主义者而言，创新有更高的追求，为了填补空白、争国内一流、创世界一流；而对内在价值的非功利主义者而言，创新有更高的追求：追求真理、改变世界、让人变得更加幸福。
For short-term utilitarians, innovation is about publishing papers, filing patents and taking companies public. For long-term utilitarians, innovation has a higher pursuit, in order to fill the gap, to compete for the first class in China, to create the world class; For non-utilitarians of intrinsic value, innovation has a higher purpose: to seek truth, to change the world, to make people happier.
我们的现实情况是，具有第一类动机的人很多，具有第二类动机的人也有，但是具有第三类动机的人就少了，甚至可以说是寥寥无几。所以，我们之所以缺乏创新型人才，除了缺乏好奇心和想象力之外，就是在价值取向上太急功近利，太功利主义。急于求成的心态、成王败寇的价值观，导致更多的抄袭、复制，而较少真正的创新，更不太可能出现颠覆性创新、革命性创新。
The reality is that there are many people with the first type of motivation, there are people with the second type of motivation, but there are very few people with the third type of motivation, even very few people. Therefore, the reason why we lack innovative talents, apart from lack of curiosity and imagination, is that we are too utilitarian in value orientation. The mentality of eager to achieve success and the value of winning and losing leads to more copying and less real innovation, and it is less likely that there will be disruptive and revolutionary innovation.
改革不易，但变化令人鼓舞 The reforms have not been easy, but the changes are encouraging
基于以上的反思，我认为创新人才的教育需要创新的教育模式。
Based on the above reflection, I think the education of innovative talents needs innovative education mode.
我提出三条建议：第一，教育应该创造更加宽松的、有利于学生个性发展的空间和时间；第二，在教育中要更好地保护学生的好奇心、激发学生的想象力；第三，在教育中要引导学生在价值取向上有更高的追求，避免短期功利主义。
I put forward three suggestions: First, education should create more relaxed space and time conducive to the development of students' personality; Second, we should better protect students' curiosity and stimulate their imagination in education. Thirdly, in education, students should be guided to pursue higher values and avoid short-term utilitarianism.
这就对教育改革提出了更高的要求。因为目前学生培养方案的设计多以学生掌握知识的深度、广度为出发点和考核点，总觉得学生学得不够多、不够深，学得不够实用、不够前沿。但是如果我们更关心学生的好奇心和想象力，更关注学生的价值取向，那么我们的教育模式就应该有较大的改变。
This puts forward higher request to education reform. Because the current design of student training programs mostly take the depth and breadth of knowledge mastered by students as the starting point and assessment point, it is always felt that students have not learned enough, not deep enough, not practical enough, not cutting-edge enough. But if we pay more attention to the curiosity and imagination of students, and pay more attention to the value orientation of students, then our education model should be greatly changed.
在实践中，我也体会到改革是很不容易的，传统的观念、市场的压力、社会的环境都是制约因素。但是，对学生好奇心、想象力的关注，在社会上得到越来越多的共鸣；学生的个性发展也被上升到越来越高的高度。这些都是令人鼓舞的变化。
In practice, I have also realized that reform is not easy. Traditional ideas, market pressure and social environment are all constraints. However, concerns about students' curiosity and imagination are gaining more and more resonance in society. Student personality development is also elevated to higher and higher heights. These are encouraging changes.
所以，我相信随着中国经济进一步发展，随着社会对创新人才需求的增加，创新人才教育将会发生深刻的变化。
Therefore, I believe that with the further development of China's economy and the increasing social demand for innovative talents, the education of innovative talents will undergo profound changes.
文章来源：一个时代的记录
Source: Records of an Era
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Special statement: This article is uploaded and published by the author of netease We-media platform "netease", and the views expressed herein are solely those of the author. Netease only provides an information release platform.
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