Is college education a general education or an elite education?

Is Chinese university education general education or elite education? In 2013, there were 9.15 million students enrolled in the national college entrance examination, with an admission rate of 75%. Even if the number of vocational high schools diverted from the high school entrance examination is included, and even if the goal of 1:1 for general and vocational high schools is reached according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education in 2013, about 35%-40% of the students will eventually enter the university. This is not elite education by any means. As for the necessity of general education and the current situation in Chinese universities, the previous answers have been more detailed, and we will no longer pick up advice from others. At present, China's university education (undergraduate) is generally "advanced high school education "+" vocational/professional education ".At least at the present stage, the purpose of higher education in China is still practicability and specialization. At the same time, there are certain requirements for general education to meet the requirements of "specialized personnel" in the program. As for elite education, it seems that it is not considered in the current stage of educational development in China. That is, even if there are gifted students, the country is limited by its strength and has no supporting educational facilities.

General education and elite education as a education concept, at different times, different regional culture background, different development of the traditional university, are each are not identical and evolving, and there is no distinct general or elite, the elite education is more of a corresponding mass education, general education more corresponding to professional education.

Generally speaking, the old universities in Europe, especially in Britain, are more elite, such as Oxbridge. This is because the traditional education concept of Europe is free education, which is not for the purpose of learning survival skills, exploring advanced knowledge, cultivating morality and wisdom. It originated from the education of free people in ancient Greece, and only free people with leisure time are qualified to receive such education, which naturally has class nature. This is also the requirement for universities to exclude the utilitarian nature of education and pursue knowledge, so they have formed a historical tradition of attaching importance to elite education. Even now, some European universities do not offer general education courses.In later development, the impact of free education in professional education, the conflict of the two, put forward the general education of America in the nineteenth century, the core ideas or inheritance of liberal education, but to create a sound social citizens, rather than noble gentleman, this philosophy nature promoted the popularization of higher education, general education in American universities in the most famous, and also The most prominent example is Yale University, which published in Defense of Liberal Science.

As for Chinese universities, they existed as affiliated institutions of the government at the beginning of their development and could not get rid of the control of government power. Later, the development of professional education took the mainstream position. "If you learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, you are not afraid to go anywhere in the world". In recent years, in view of the disadvantages of exam-oriented education, a quality-oriented education has been created from general education, but it is mostly a form. In order to solve the employment problem, many universities expand enrollment without limit. Generally speaking, both general education and popular education are lacking. But Yuanpei College at Peking University and Fudan College at Fudan University are the country's leaders in promoting general education, while the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), which refuses to expand its enrollment, is also a model for sticking to elite education.