由诚而成懋业,敢闯而创新元——潘懋元先生的学术人格与创造性研究

Professor PAN Maoyuan's Academic Personality and Creativity

我国著名教育家、高等教育学创始人潘懋元先生的人生丰富多彩,是富于传奇的教育人生。研究潘先生的教育人生,从他求学、从教和研究等志向和阅历中可以发现,他的学术人格中有两个鲜明特征:一曰"诚",二曰"闯"。其一,他赤诚向学,是个有志于学的勤奋学子。赤诚向学的经历,为他以后的研究打下了受益终身、扎实宽广的学问基础以及科学管理时间的"弹钢琴"的工作方法。其二,他忠诚教育事业,是个幸福的好老师。从15岁时(1935年)失败的教学经历起他就立志从教。他热爱教育、热爱学生。他的家庭学术沙龙持续30多年,成为研究生教育的重要课堂和师生的精神家园。其三,他精诚开拓,是个极具创造性的研究者。他开创了高等教育学这门"中国创造"的新兴学科。潘懋元先生是个真诚的人。他以诚为根,一生忠诚地实践"诚";他诚中有闯,勇于创新,成就了一个中国学者、中国教育家的"中国梦"。真可谓:"由诚而成懋业,敢闯而创新元"。

Professor Pan Maoyuan, Chinese eminent educator, the founding father of Chinese higher educational research, is a legend. He is now over 95 years old and has been enjoying engaging in teaching for over 80 years. In his academic personality two traits are notable and critical to his success. One is his 'Cheng'(诚, loyalty, honesty, sincerity), the other is his 'can-do' spirit. These characteristics are manifested in three aspects through his strong will and life experiences as a diligent student, a happy good teacher and a creative scholar and researcher.Firstly, Mr. PAN Maoyuan sincerely longed for learning from childhood and has been pursuing it all his life. He was born in 1920 in a poor family in Guangdong province, South China. Thanks to the hard work and earnest expectation of his parents, PAN Maoyuan could enter school, which seldom happened in poor families at that time. His road to school was rough and rugged, but he fixed his mind on learning firmly and studied very hard, especially fond of reading all kinds of books. At university(1941-1945), he majored in Education and studied Economy as a minor. Apart from consistent studying, he did a lot of things, including part-time teaching. On his way to learning, he had laid a broad and solid knowledge foundation, from which he has benefited greatly in his later research work. Another important thing he learned was to manage his time properly, which he called the method of 'playing the piano',and from which he benefits in the rest of his life. Secondly, he is a happy good teacher and loyal to the education course. He loves to be a teacher so deeply that he once said that 'I'm lucky to be a teacher in my life. If there is afterlife, I still wish to be a teacher'. In fact, his first teaching experience at the age of 15 was a failure, which did not defeat him but rather inspired him to make every effort to pursue teaching career for the rest of his life. As a teacher, he loves his students very much. Every Saturday evening he holds academic Saloon in his family, which has lasted for over 30 years and has been growing more and more prosperous with the expanding of graduate students. His home has become an important classroom and a soul home for students. Until now he has been enjoying being a happy good teacher for over 85 years.Thirdly, he has a brilliant inquiring mind and is a creative scholar and researcher. He has a spirit of daring to be a pioneer and has opened up the Chinese Discipline of Higher Educational Research, which has commanded him great respect in China. His first attempt of the research of higher education was also a failing experience in teaching the university teachers pedagogy in the mid 1950 s. At that time researchers of general pedagogy focused mainly on primary and secondary education. The special problems of higher education hadn't caught the attention of relevant researchers. Pan Maoyuan insightfully grasped the principal differences between higher education and common education, and pointed out that the difference between them was not just a matter of degree, but a matter in kind. In his first research paper on higher education in 1957, he advocated that higher education was a kind of professional education proceeding on the base of common education, and a specialized discipline about higher education should be established. In 1978, he re-embarked on his research of higher education after ten years of interruption because of the turmoil of the Revolution of Culture(1966-1976). Thenceforth, he made efforts to successfully establish a discipline of higher education. He offered the first graduate program on higher education research research in China's Mainland in 1981 and published the first book of 'Lectures on the Science of Higher Education', which has laid a landmark foundation for the development of Chinese discipline of higher educational research. Until now the discipline of higher education has become an important discipline with growing researchers in China. Professor PAN's two personality traits of 'cheng' and 'can-do' are important, longcherished, core virtues in Chinese culture. Professor PAN Maoyuan is a sincere man. He has been conducting himself in the spirit of 'Cheng'. Because of 'Cheng', he has achieved great success in his pursuit of educational career and educational research. He naturally blends 'Cheng' and 'cando' to courageously blaze a trail of research from scratch. By virtue of his 'can-do', he has made numerous creations in his founding the discipline of the research of higher education. He has realized his dream as an eminent Chinese scholar and educator. Thus, Professor PAN Maoyuan has been molded out of 'cheng', and a new era of higher educational research has been unfolded thanks to his 'can-do'.