"Think of people as books and learn wisdom from them." The library hosted the second phase of Living Library in Room A136 of Building 2 on the evening of April 17th. Professor Xi, the Executive President of XJTLU, was specially invited into the "real library" to share his wisdom and nurture minds.
Goethe once said: "Reading a good book is like having a dialogue with a noble soul." Recently, the students personally read a good book, the real three-dimensional book in the shape of Prof. Xi, in nearly three hours, thanks to Living Library. They experienced his outlook on life, view of modern universities, gains of management in XJTLU, conception of education and his expectations of XJTLU students through this activity.
Wisdom in Life and Enlightenment in Mind
Prof. Xi made a punctual appearance in the classroom by 6:00 pm. After a brief introduction, he said frankly, "I hope this exchange activity is in an interactive dialogue form. By this I mean the microphone will be given to you and any questions are welcome, about school, about me, about society and so on. I promise I will open my mind to all the questions and answer them honestly."
"Would you please share the happiest and the most painful things in your life?" The first reader began the prologue of the activity with this interesting question.
"Well, different ages have different sorrows and joys. Honestly speaking, now I can't be happier than to see the continuous progress and the increasing recognition of XJTLU and the constant growth of XJTLU students. Then accordingly, my pain comes as well, which is to see the misunderstanding and malicious critics of XJTLU from the outside world. But I can understand that XJTLU will definitely encounter criticism when growing." Prof. Xi replied explicitly.
"To live is to suffer and struggle. But believe it or not, things will get easier when you face them positively, coupled with your ability and methodology. Now, I will quietly adopt an optimistic attitude towards pain and helplessness so that I'm able to handle them within three minutes on average. If you feel pain and frustrated, actually you are using others' mistakes to punish yourself. So, why not try to put it aside and take a positive attitude to overcome the punishment?"
"Active" was one of the keywords that was most frequently used when Prof. Xi answered questions. During the exchange, the students raised issues about administrative classes, insufficient cohesion of community organizations, the universal phenomenon of students' skipping class and how to cultivate an interest in intensive learning. Regarding these topics, Prof. Xi stated that we had to learn to be responsible for our own life. More importantly, future development depends on the current orientation. "Though XJTLU students have matured physically by university enrollment, they haven't matured enough in mental and social terms. Unfortunately, modern society has insecurity everywhere. That's why we have to learn to take charge of ourselves. In addition, the university has provided our students with useful guidance and services, which means that students are encouraged to take the initiative to acquire the resources consciously."
Prof. Xi expressed his opinion when a student said that he felt at a loss after spending one year in university. This student is believed to have reflected on the future because Prof. Xi regarded perplexity as a kind of progress. "What we fear most is that there is no confusion." He said. When it came to the situation of insufficient cohesion of student organizations, he stated that the leader was expected to clarify the vision and mission of the team. "In order to drive something forward successfully, we need to fully stimulate the members' enthusiasm and give them clear development goals."
After a student asked how to introduce the advantages of XJTLU to other people, Prof. Xi humorously replied, "If you want a brand in the short term, it is not a wise choice to select XJTLU; but if you expect your life to be more competitive, there is no better choice than XJTLU."
Read Life and Share Experience
Referring to the widely contemplated topic of how to gain success, Prof. Xi said "All trades and professions produce their own masters. So, it is hard to define success." However, he gave several suggestions on achieving success, "First of all, have your own dreams and set goals. Secondly, achieve them through your own efforts. I will give you some detailed explanation in the following. Different stages require different goals. In the process of achieving goals, you will not only have enough motivation, but also get the measure of success continuously; in addition, we must persevere and adhere to proper rules of conduct, as success also needs to be recognized by others; Last but not least is to have the correct approach and ability, of course, including the ability to integrate resources. "
Prof. Xi added "Being a responsible citizen is the first step to success, together with setting your own life goals. However, mere dreams are not enough. Success also requires hard work. That is why I wish all our XJTLU students to have not only dreams but also the wisdom to realize them. "
One student raised a question "Will educational background affect finding jobs?" which Prof. Xi had expected to discuss a decade ago. He answered that the degree plays two roles in modern society, "One is a stepping stone and the other is that it buys you three months of entry to conclude whether you are capable of the job. As we know, some doctoral capability can be far less than undergraduates' in the modern world."
Prof. Xi then continued talking about the function of stepping stones in modern society, "In the planned economy era, one entry may indicate a life appointment. But now the value of degree as a stepping stone is reduced due to the rapid decline in selection costs and the great increase in opportunities. Alternatively, what we value most is whether you have learned to be a responsible citizen, to see things from different points of view, to acquire lifelong learning skills and methods in university. And our university, XJTLU, is actively trying to create such an atmosphere for students’ edification. In fact, the real work of education is that when you forget the contents of your previous exams, you still own something to change your life. "
Limited Dialogue but Limitless Reading
Regarding childhood dreams, Prof. Xi encouraged the teachers and students that "When facing difficulties, I firmly believe that 'There is always a way out', and there are always opportunities waiting ahead. Make sure that different stages of life have various plans because the ultimate success is accumulated by achieving those short-term targets. I would like to introduce a saying in management to all of you, which is 'there is no best, only better.' And it’s the same in life, isn’t it? "
In a casual and lively atmosphere, the students performed enthusiastically, competing to raise their hands to speak while Prof. Xi communicated and discussed with them patiently and carefully. His humor in conversation, wisdom in words and vivid examples benefited the students present enormously and won him repeated warm applauses.
Meanwhile, Prof. Xi was also deeply impressed by the students' performances. From his point of view, this kind of face-to-face communication enhanced the degree of exchanging and receiving information. He hoped that Living Library can invite more professors, students and the community in the future, because "This activity allows students out of books, out of classrooms, to 'read' all kinds of wonderful lives, and experience different lives and attitudes. No matter how much a student can get from it, one point or more, his life may change thanks to this initiative."
Boheng Luan, a freshman from Financial Mathematics said that this was his first time to communicate with Prof. Xi face to face. "It was such an exciting thing to ‘read' the President, and feel the ideological wisdom through his life stories. "Another student, Zhi Jin who is now studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering PhD, said: "the activity provides the President and the students with a valuable opportunity of a two-way reading, narrowing the distance between each other. The feeling of communicating with the president is very real and cordial. "
Living library is a brand new initiative about reading experience, created by the school library from the beginning of the semester. It invites distinguished guests inside and outside school as the best-seller of each issue to have face-to-face communications with students. The school Library hopes to provide a communication space with unique breadth and depth for the whole university, relying on a series of such events.
Reporter: Haifeng Fu，Yuren Qiao
Photographer: Rui Liu
Editor: Hanlin Yang，Xianshu Meng