Over the past few months, people all over Taiwan have been gossiping about the Lu An-ni incident. At first it was simply a case in which Lu, an MA student applying to a PhD program at National Taiwan University, claimed that the oral exam segment of the entrance exam was unfair. But as the controversy grew, and the media pushed the issue along, it was discovered that Lu was having a love affair with her thesis advisor Wang Wen-yang. Wang, it so happens, is also the eldest son of Wang Yung-ching, founder of Formosa Plastics, one of Taiwan's corporate giants. Since the younger Wang was also the chief executive of one of the corporation's subsidiaries, the scandal ended up driving down stock prices of the company and thus even affected the world of finance. In addition, Lu accused one professor who gave her the oral exam, Chen Hsi-chao, of plagiarizing from a foreign scholar, and another professor on the oral exam board of sexual harassment.

There is documentary evidence to prove the charge of plagiarism, which has been censured by the academic world and society in general. As for the charge of sexual harassment, which goes right to the heart of a professor's reputation, Lu was unable to provide any corroborating evidence, while the professor denied the charge and students of the department mounted a petition campaign in support of the professor. Nevertheless, Lu's tearful declarations and reckless reporting by the media have already cast a shadow over the professor.

Everybody has a different version of events, and it is impossible to know which is true, especially when the people involved have used the media to attack others, selectively leak information, and intimidate people. Many professors, feeling they are facing a common enemy, have declared that it would be best for them not to participate on oral exam committees in the future to avoid the possibility of being dragged into trouble despite being perfectly innocent. "We ask that the university hire a team of attorneys to sue her [Lu]," some angry professors unwilling to accept the insult to the dignity of their profession declared at a meeting of the Campus Affairs Committee called in November. Kuan Chun-jung, a professor of agricultural economics, called on the school to establish a "Committee to Uphold Respect for Faculty."

Professors and students have few opportunities for meaningful personal interaction. Just how large is the gap between their ways of thinking?

The end of respect?

In traditional Chinese society, people were instructed to respect "Heaven, Earth, Monarch, Parents, and Teacher." The shidao ethical code-demanding respect for teachers and virtuous behavior by teachers-took shape 2,000 years ago, set deep roots long ago, and has been passed on from generation to generation. But society has been changing rapidly in recent years. Of particular importance has been the dissolution of political authoritarianism, the shattering of respect for authority, and the rise of "democratic consciousness" throughout society. The academic world has been facing its own crisis of "the deconstruction of authority."

In middle and primary schools, teachers who adhere to the traditional authoritarian form of instruction get into trouble. It's no longer startling to see stories in the press of students and parents thinking that the behavior of such teachers is wrong, some teachers have even been physically attacked. Now we're hearing calls to "maintain respect for teachers" even from university campuses, where the nation's highest- ranking intellectuals are trained. This means that the traditional respect for teachers is being widely challenged all across contemporary society.

Recently the students and professors of a certain department at NTU had a dispute over the right to use the research room. Students released open letters and put up posters attacking their teachers.

"Some students, you can't tell whether they are here to learn or here to reform the university," says one professor who has been teaching at a national university for over two decades and can't stand to see students grilling their professors at departmental meetings.

And the following incident occurred at the School of Law at National Chengchih University: A student was dissatisfied with the teaching materials used by a certain senior professor. One day, when the bell rang for class to begin, the student rushed to the front of the room and read a declaration of the "Ten Crimes" of this professor, and then disappeared, never to return to that class for the whole semester.

Stories like these are less and less exceptional on university campuses. Many professors have come to believe that a number of factors have laid hidden bones of contention in teacher-student relations in recent years-politicization of all aspects of life, democratization in society, the promulgation of the new "University Law" three years ago, rising feminism.... Relations have become much more subtle and complex.

Students have established their own self-governing organizations, with election of the head of the student assembly by direct vote. The activism and participatory zeal of contemporary students means that schools cannot lightly ignore them.

Idealistic or misguided?

Many teachers have discovered that students today are different than they were "in my generation." Students feel they have something to say, and they dare to stand up and say it, and in a strong, direct way. "l don't know how to deal with the students," is something that many professors worry about to some extent.

The first shock to student-teacher relations came from the dissolution of the concept of authority that has followed political liberalization. Under the old University Law, students had little leeway to dispute the instructional and administrative systems. But around the time of the lifting of martial law, students began to participate in movements for social and political reform, and the methods and spirit of such movements have been imported into the campus. Using sit-ins, soap-box speeches, "big character" posters, banners, and pamphlets, students have worked with a small number of reform-minded professors to fight for their aims: "Reform the University Law!" "Eliminate military training and supervision systems from our schools!" "Make military-oriented classes and those on the ideology of Dr. Sun Yat-sen optional!"

These movements, with support from society, have brought about rapid change on campuses. Extra-curricular affairs committees at schools have eliminated the censorship system for student publications. Schools have set up "free speech plazas," walls for big character posters, and places for soap-box speeches, thus creating forums inside the system for students to criticize the status quo. Also, students are now given teacher evaluation forms to fill out for the reference of teachers in improving their pedagogy.

Since the implementation of the new University Law in 1994, students have been empowered to set up "autonomous self-government" on campuses, as well as to participate in Campus Affairs Committee meetings and sit on all committees. Whereas in the traditional system students were passive recipients of what the school opted to give them, today they are increasingly a part of campus governance. They have the right to sit and discuss things with their professors as equals, and to have a strong voice in all matters of general interest on campus. They constitute a growing power.

Ho Teh-fen is a professor of law at NTU who led students to the Legislative Yuan to call for reform of the University Law. She still recalls her ideals at that time: "The deeper meaning behind the design of the new system was to return to the business of 'education' itself, to dismantle the politicized old authoritarian system, and to allow students and professors to develop their own creativity and innovations. The idea of allowing student representatives to participate in Campus Affairs Committee meetings was to allow students to learn how to participate and express their views, and to gain a deeper level of character development from the ideas and deportment of the faculty at these meetings."

But it seems that the new climate on campuses has not developed completely in the direction of these ideals. Ho Teh-fen has discovered that many unexpected phenomena-the results of excess and extremism-are spreading.

New youth, new students. Many teachers find it hard to understand anything about the students, from their external behavior to their innermost thoughts.

Accepting student criticism

Many teachers find it hard to adapt to the changes taking place in their system. One professor who has been teaching for 20 years says that the "special privileges" that teachers long enjoyed are today coming under fire.

"In the past system of education, students were expected to sit quietly and accept as truth whatever they were told--or else. The teachers had authority, and could survive for a long time regardless of how well they taught, or whether their knowledge was up-to-date, and no one would challenge them," says Li Chun-fang, an associate professor in the Department of Education at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). As a result some professors became lazy, and there have certainly been many cases of professors "teaching the same old stuff every year" or teaching things they know little about.

The situation today is somewhat different. About six or seven years ago, universities began giving teacher evaluation forms to the students, in hopes of improving communication about the effectiveness of instruction. Faced with criticism by his students, one NTNU professor then in his 60s angrily put up his own "big character" poster, denouncing this "great transgression of ethics."

True as it may be that older professors may have trouble keeping up with the times, there are plenty of professors of all ages who feel that the students are unqualified to evaluate them."These days a huge number of students cut class, sleep in class, or don't pay attention to the lectures. If they aren't even able to fulfill their own responsibilities, where do they come off judging my teaching performance?" says one displeased professor of the history of political thought.

"Some professors just throw the evaluations in the trash without looking at them," says Kao Chiang-hua, a professor of education who promoted the evaluation system at NTNU. Many teachers think that their students can't possibly understand their level of academic ability, so they assume that the answers to such questions as "Do you feel the teacher offers a rich selection of material in class?" are not reliable.

While many teachers feel "offended," one student responds, "Maybe we can't really be sure about the teacher's level of scholarship, but we are the ones with the most direct sense of the professor's teaching ability and the atmosphere in the classroom. The professors should be a little more humble, think about what others say, and improve themselves."

After opposition from many faculty members, NTNU ended up altering its teacher evaluation system. Teachers now decide themselves whether they wish the students to evaluate them. Some schools have altered the name of the process from "evaluation" to "student opinion."

Many students work part-time outside of school. Most don't need the money to pay tuition; they just want the extra spending cash.

Teachers in misery

The strengthening of independent thinking among students is something that ought to be encouraged as part of the process of growing up. But the performance of the students as members of "campus society" has by no means been satisfactory as far as many faculty are concerned. Ho Teh-fen worked very hard to win for students the right to participate in school affairs. Today, however, they don't seem to be using this right very appropriately. Most student reps are busy with their school work, activities, and personal lives, and are not very active at meetings. They are rarely well-prepared before they speak, and sometimes just shoot their mouths off without even being very clear about the issues at stake.

Chen Chiao-mei, head of Academic Affairs at National Chengchih University (NCCU), says jokingly, "In the past those complaining about repression used to moan that 'the people are living in misery,' but now it's 'the officials are living in misery.'" The saying applies quite aptly to campuses if the words "students" and "teachers" are substituted for "people" and "officials."

Two years ago, at orientation sessions for new students at NTU, some students chanted, "We don't want the old school regulations!" At a Campus Affairs Conference at a certain school, one student asked the school president "Are you selling off school property for your own profit?" Growing numbers of such stories leave many faculty members sighing. "The ethical relationship between elders and youths has been shattered. lt's a situation present everywhere in society, and campuses are merely one link in the chain," says Pao Tsung-ho, a professor of political science at NTU.

Many professors don't think that it is right that many students are now grilling their professors in the same manner that members of the Legislative Yuan assail government officials from the other party in interpellations. Professor of mathematics Yang Wei-che, a liberal in many ways, says that the Campus Affairs Conference is a product of "the politicization of all aspects of life," and that giving the students seats at such meetings is simply "a mockery of democracy."

But the students are not especially troubled over "destroying ethical relationships." They are more interested in "securing their rights."

For example, there was a dispute at NCCU over parking spaces, for which professors were given priority. Some students put up posters proclaiming, "we are the main body of the campus, but often are the most exploited group!" Liu Chu-li, director of the student guidance center at Soochow University, recalls an occasion when a freshman walked into the center demanding to leave his personal belongings there. But she turned the student down on the grounds that the center could not be responsible for the property of students. The young man exclaimed, "The administration should provide any service that students might require!"

"Teacher Hsiao-hung" （first at left） often uses two-way exchanges of ideas in her classes instead of traditional one-way lecturing to passive students. This method is very popular among students these days.

Who runs this place?

With student empowerment consciousness on the rise, the big question lurking in the background is really, "Whose school is this anyway?" Kao Chiang-hua argues that the faculty, students, and administrators are all "dominant groups." "The students are the dominant group in terms of 'receiving education,' the teachers are the dominant group in terms of 'providing education,' and the school officials are the dominant group in terms of 'administering education.'"

Since they are all "dominant groups," each should have rights and interests which should not be ignored by anyone. Under the current system, the Campus Affairs Conference perhaps offers the three sides an opportunity for discussion and compromise. But of the three "dominant groups," which really is the one that runs the school?

Yang Wei-che believes that "the most important group is the professors, not the students. Students are on the receiving end of education, and are just transients on campus."

But there's no question students have a different point of view. Wang Ching-ning, the current speaker of the NTU student assembly, says that the idea that "you are only here for four years, I am here for life," is very much open to dispute. "What professors want is to accumulate resources in the areas of their specialized research, and they want the layout of the school and the distribution of resources to meet their needs. The function of having students participate in the Campus Affairs Conference is to prevent the professors from sacrificing the students' interests for their own."

A professor retorts, "Making things easier for the professors benefits the majority of students, whereas making things convenient for the student only helps the individual."

But Chang Ting-hao, a senior in the Department of English at Fujen Catholic University, says that such a statement is going too far. He argues that many professors, seeing themselves as carrying the heavy burden of passing along knowledge, believe that there is nothing wrong with enjoying a few fringe benefits on campus. But there are plenty of these same professors who are talking big about their grand mission in life yet are calculating every penny they make and complain that they are "low-wage labor." Chang continues, "they are here to make money, we are here paying money. On the basis of the idea that the customer should always get what they want, I don't approve of special privileges for the faculty." He argues, "Respecting teachers is a completely different matter from agreeing to give them special privileges."

You can see more of this consumer mentality in the way students participate in campus affairs. As Yang Wei-che points out, some students see the Campus Affairs Conference as the highest policymaking organ, and they want to have a controlling proportion, and use political tactics to gain the upper hand. But "a school is not a country, and the Conference is not a legislature. The legislature takes citizens' money and acts on behalf of the citizens, but it isn't the students who are paying our way."

Most of the budget of "national" (state-run) institutions comes from the national treasury, so the students are indeed not the source from which they get their money. However, since the boards of directors of some private universities have difficulties raising funds, students' tuition fees are a major source of their operating income. Hence the concept that "students are consumers" has become prevalent in private universities in recent years.

Election time is here again, and many professors are busy using their out-of-class time to stump for candidates.

Intellectual competition

As student empowerment has raised its head, the old campus order has come undone, and professors, students, and administrators are finding it difficult to know where to draw the new lines. Who should get to use the research rooms, or the parking spaces? Should there be a new cafeteria built for the students, or the faculty? How much of the school's administrative resources should be devoted to student services? Many such topics are now subjects of contention.

Universities are, in theory, palaces for debating truth, and all subjects should be open to rational discussion. Yet many schools have recently discovered that there are many issues that cannot safely be broached, especially political topics.

One professor who preferred not to be named says that most students who have a clear political orientation tend to be extremists in the cause of change. Therefore, professors who prefer to work within the system, or who favor the Kuomintang or the New Party, are usually unwilling to express their views. Thus they are often labeled as "conservatives," and even classroom discussions are likely to decay into emotional debate and recrimination. On top of this is the current trend of "campus democracy," where everything is decided by majority vote, so that the professors have divided into clearly defined camps; if you offend the students, they will work with other professors to attack you, so why bother?

For many dedicated professors, it is harder and harder to understand this generation of students. Kuan Chun-jung is most impressed by the way that "students today are getting much better at using 'strategic behavior'-figuring out people's relation-ships (who is getting along or feuding with whom), manipulating people's psychological reactions, and laying out tactics before going into action to achieve a specific objective."

He returned from the US to teach at NTU six years ago. Because he has clearly expressed opposition to student participation in street demonstrations, he has been labeled as being in the "Kuomintang diehard faction." He has had the experience of students trying to tape-record him in conversation, and has witnessed the Lu An-ni and research-room incidents, leaving him feeling that this isn't the way things are supposed to be.

"If a teacher has really done something inappropriate, he or she should be publicly accused. But if some student just has a personal grudge, or jumps to conclusions, and spreads negative comments about the teacher, this will affect the way other students look at the professor in question, and that's not something you can just shrug off," says Kuan, explaining why he strongly advocated setting up channels for students and faculty to make appeals.

Yet, since the professor is always in the role of giving out the grades, and the student must worry about his or her marks, few students are willing to take on their teachers face-to-face. "Private criticism" is seen as being relatively safe; anyone who wants to go a little farther can put out an anonymous leaflet. "The teachers control our grades. Although some of them might have the character to accept criticism and open debate, you can't always anticipate that kind of character," concludes Wang Ching-ning.

Kao Chiang-hua （first at right） took his students to Hoping Island for a "creative class." Amidst blue sky and green ocean, the professor and his students grew closer together through sharing of "the creativity of nature.".

Keeping their distance

Another new issue affecting teacher-student ties is relations between the sexes. Two years ago, the "seven wolves of NTNU" incident shed light on the long running, but heretofore unpublicized, problem of sexual harassment of female students by male professors. The incident has certainly served as a warning to many professors of questionable morals. But there has been some spillover affecting "innocent" instructors.

It is said that many male professors now refuse to meet alone with female students; if such a meeting is unavoidable, they keep the door open to dispel any doubts. More seriously, it is rumored that some male profs will not serve as advisors to female students. As one academic puts it, with the rise of feminism on college campuses, it is impossible to keep considerations of "sexual consciousness" out of teacher-student relations.

But the effect of this might be chaos. Chang Hsiao-hung, a professor of foreign languages and literature at NTU and a leading feminist activist, says that she can "understand" the concerns of profs who hold these views, but she cannot "forgive" their "backlash" behavior. "Male teachers should understand the weakness of the position of women on campus, and treat women students on equal terms. They shouldn't deprive women of the right to choose their own thesis advisors."

Any faculty who still believe in concepts like "a woman's place is in the home," and "there is no point in women getting highly educated," had better watch their ideologies. This is because one of the items now part of the student opinion survey at NTU is "prejudicial speech" on the part of the professor.

In fact, the activism of women students today is something professors cannot ignore. Two years ago, a professor at NTU told his male students that they should try out prostitutes when they do their military service. Several women students found the professor's speech to be "verbal sexual harassment," and they began a petition drive in the department and put up a poster in protest. The professor defended himself on the grounds of freedom of speech. Eventually, continued protests by women students caused the school to punish the professor, so that now he can only teach elective courses, not required courses.

Increasingly "pragmatic"

Sayings like "one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father" (which is to say, a teacher deserves the same level of respect as one's own father) and "students take on responsibilities for their teachers" reflect traditional ideals of the feelings between teacher and student. But as the years pass, these feelings seem to be weakening. Lin Chin-chuan, director of Academic Affairs and also chairman of the Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages at Soochow University, recalls vignettes of campus life from when he was a student 20 years ago like they were yesterday: "You could often see heartwarming scenes at the parking lot. When the school vehicle arrived, students would take the initiative to go on the bus and pick up their teachers' books for them. And they would see the teachers off at the parking lot again after class." When he was class representative, he had an old teacher for morning class, and Lin had to go and make sure the professor got up every morning. This prof had a heart condition, so Lin always brought a blanket to class-just in case.

"In the past, students considered it an honor to help their teachers and participate in group affairs. Today students avoid this like the plague, and if you ask them to help out, they want to know what's in it for them," says Kuan Chun-jung. He remembers well one occasion when the department was having some activity and he needed students to help run some errands. The students replied, "How much do you pay?" In fact, in the end the department did cough up some work-study money. "By this reasoning, in the future if students ask their professors to write letters of recommendation, should the profs ask for payment?"

Relations in the classroom are also affected by self-interest. Classes with little homework and easy grading are the most popular, while those with rigorous demands get the cold shoulder. It seems even graduate students feel this way. Ho Teh-fen, who used to be seen by her students as a "comrade-in-arms" in reform, says that because she is strict and doesn't let her students slip by with inferior work, the number of students asking her to be a thesis advisor has declined each year, and now very few at all come to see her.

"Often the classes that are scheduled first thing in the morning 'go out of business.' Students today aren't used to getting up early; it seems they have too many things going on the side," says Lin Chin-chuan. At a meeting of student advisors at Soochow University, one professor stated that he investigated why so few students came to class. He discovered that many students were scheduled to work during class hours, with school becoming a purely secondary activity.

"Some classes aren't taught very well, and the professors just use the same material year after year, so it doesn't matter if you go or not. Anyway, you can always photocopy somebody else's notes," explains one sociology student as he prepares to head off on a joy ride to Tanshui with his classmates. He really hates those professors who have nothing to offer in class yet "blackmail" their students into coming to class by taking the roll.

Neither teacher nor friend

Many students have their complaints about the content and methods used by many of their professors. But from the teacher's point of view, as one prof sighs, "the students' complete lack of enthusiasm for learning really makes it impossible to get fired up about teaching." Students only come to seek her out when they need a recommendation letter.

"There is little personal feeling," says NTU's Pao Tsung-ho. In the past students used to go to their professors' homes for dinner or at the New Year, or they would take class trips together.... Many of today's instructors carry such warm memories from their days as students. "Relations between students and teachers these days lack any sentimental bond. University education is more like a shop that sells knowledge, or an exchange of benefits," he avers.

You can see some clues from the advisor system. Universities still retain this system, and each semester pays professors who act as advisors a special fee as compensation for the professor's acting as a counselor to students outside of class. However, with many professors busy with their own efforts to get ahead or do research, relations with students remain remote. Add to this the fact that "these days many students have more non-academic life experience than their professors, and the profs have no idea how to help their students out," says Ho Teh-fen. As a result of these factors, the advisor system is increasingly irrelevant, and some teachers just give their advisors fees to the students for their collective use.

"Now if you want to see a student, you have to find out first whether the student will pay any attention to you," says one prof who has served as an advisor. "Once I happened to be on the bus and I ran into a student who was always avoiding me. I stayed on the bus all the way to his stop just to get a chance to talk to him."

"Students don't like too much 'interference' from their teachers," says another professor. But what makes her confused is that, although university students are already adults, in Chinese society they are still seen as "growing children." So if a student gets injured while taking a trip, for example, the parents and the media blame the school and the teachers for failing in their responsibility to "protect" the students. "Teachers have lost a great deal of their power, but are their duties correspondingly reduced?" she wonders with exasperation.

The new teachers are coming!

As in the rest of society, teacher-student relations are tending toward "equal rights." It is unlikely the trend can be reversed. But looked at from another angle, the increasingly assertive attitude of students may be of help in constructing a new student-teacher modus vivendi. Students no longer buy into according formal respect to their superiors, and they would rather treat the professors as friends. The definition of "friend," in this case, is that the professor no longer has authority simply by virtue of his or her role.

One university student says that he often goes to chat with the profs that he likes. "Professors just happen to have specialized knowledge in one particular field. Otherwise they are just like anybody else. For example, this history professor that I like a great deal doesn't really have cable TV figured out."

"In the past, society was very closed, and it was hard to get information, so people really respected their professors," says Lin Chin-chuan. Now we live amidst an information explosion, with rapid development of all forms of media. Teachers are no longer the only source of knowledge. Naturally the paternalistic, god-like authority they enjoyed in the past has declined, and it has become necessary for them relate to students on a more personal level.

Some young professors have brought a new style to campuses, creating a new model for student-teacher relations.

The biggest trademark of these new teachers is that they want to "overturn" the superior vs. subordinate relationship in all its forms-ritualized expression and forms of address, authoritarian teaching methods, lecturing from a raised podium....

Some professors eschew formal dress, and look as "sloppy" as their pupils. They play basketball with the students, have "cool" personalities, and have a lot to offer in class. Some have deliberately shattered the old rule that students "shall not address the teacher by name" (but use only their title). For example, Liu Yu-hsiu, a teacher of foreign languages and literature at NTU, has made it taboo for her students to address her as "Teacher." She insists that they call her by her first name.

Chang Hsiao-hung has also asked her students to address her by name, though she has found that a few students just can't get it out of their mouths, and they end up calling her "Teacher Hsiao-hung." "The teacher is only superior in terms of knowledge, but teachers and students are equal when it comes to human relationships," she says. Thus Chang doesn't hesitate to answer "l don't know, let's work this through together" when a student asks her something she is unfamiliar with. She often laughs at herself in front of the students: "I don't give you any moral guide to life, and I don't give you any marketable knowledge, and actually I'm more and more confused about everything myself."

Far from saints

Students describe the difference between using "Teacher" and "Hsiao-hung." When you say "Teacher," you feel a little inferior, and are psychologically preparing to "be edified." But "Hsiao-hung" carries with it limitless space for challenge. "It causes the students to have doubts about the teacher and what they are being taught, which is definitely positive in terms of academic development," says Chang.

There certainly are many younger professors who want to lower status barriers and relate to the students more as friends. But when such relations do develop, it often happens that students lose any sense of respect at all. Liu Chu-li raises some cases in point: Sometimes a student will call in the middle of the night just to chat with the teacher, forgetting that they should respect the teacher's time of.Or a student might barge right in to the office, sit at the desk, and pick up the professor's phone to make a call. "Though a teacher might not say anything about it, they feel that their privacy has been violated."

"At first you want to be both teacher and friend, but it turns out to be neither teacher nor friend," Liu concludes.

Not to mention the possibility that, given the impact of concepts like "equal rights" and "upraising disadvantaged groups," the result may not be equality, but the placing of the teacher in the disadvantaged position. "When students put up posters, or make personal attacks with rumor and innuendo, can the teacher sue the students? Chinese society has always had the image of teachers as being completely devoted to their students, so how can we take issue with the students expressing themselves?" complains one professor who chooses to remain nameless.

In the face of Machiavellian students, some professors have decided to stand their ground and just carry on as they have always done. After more than a decade of university teaching, Kao Chiang-hua can say, "I don't let the students' attitude get me down." In fact, often it's a sign of affection if students today kid professors and argue with them. But the important thing, in the end, is whether or not the teacher has something profound to impart to his or her students. In fact, when students talk about Kao they use expressions like "really knowledgeable" and "easy to get along with." "He doesn't just teach the materials, he teaches people," says Huang Yu-wen, a student from the NTNU music department who chose Kao's class as an elective.

Faced with an irresistible tide, more and more professors are having trouble adapting. Chang Hsiao-hung suggests that teachers may need to establish "support groups" to help each other cope with the new generation of students.

Reassessment all around

Perhaps the root of the problem is that, while many profs bemoan the decline of respect for teachers, others like Ho Teh-fen wonder whether all professors "deserve to be respected." "Many teachers have done nothing but academics, get their degrees, and grab hold of a teaching position, always relying on 'tactical maneuvering.' Yet what do they really know about teaching?"

Chen Chuo-ming, head of the Changhua Normal University, says that in the Chinese tradition teachers were supposed to have been able to teach both the material and the man. Teachers trained for ten years, and after this hard labor and sacrifice, not only did they acquire knowledge, they acquired a strong character as well, and this was reflected in their essays and lessons. But modern training for professors creates researchers only specialized in one particular area.

Kung Peng-cheng, now a professor in the Graduate Institute of History at Chung Cheng University and tapped to be president of the future Fo Kuang University, sees part of the problem as being innate to education in a capitalist system. Students pay tuition, while professors are paid by the credit. "It's ridiculous to ask the students to respect the teachers in a situation where knowledge is assigned a monetary value."

Chinese higher education has been shifting away from the traditional "master-disciple" system of local private schools to large-scale universities ever since the arrival of modernized university education from the West in the late Qing dynasty and early Republican periods. The traditional respect accorded to teachers has correspondingly been subject to decline. In the early Republican period, Luo Longji, a student at Tsinghua University (then located in mainland China), stayed at the school for nine years, and he chased off three university presidents. So the situation of today's university professors is by no means unprecedented.

Perhaps it is no longer timely to insist on doctrinaire respect for teachers. As teacher-student relations move in the direction of equality, many professors look forward to replacing the old dogma with "the mutual respect that should exist between all individuals." "We should go back to looking at student-teacher relations in universities from the starting point of 'academic ethics.' Professors should devote themselves to research and teaching, and spend less time on outside work or seeking fame and fortune in society. And students should ask themselves whether they are truly doing all they can to fulfill their responsibility to learn," says Ho Teh-fen.

Where do we go from here in redefining the ethical relationship between students and teachers? Perhaps the best place to start will be for each individual to look to his or her own role.

[Picture Caption]

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(photo by Huang Tzu-ming)

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Professors and students have few opportunities for meaningful personal interaction. Just how large is the gap between their ways of thinking?

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Students have established their own self-governing organizations, with election of the head of the student assembly by direct vote. The activism and participatory zeal of contemporary students means that schools cannot lightly ignore them.

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At a conference on extra-curricular activity clubs, the school president, dean of academic affairs, and dean of general affairs all attended to be questioned by students. This sight is increasingly frequent on today's campuses.

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New youth, new students. Many teachers find it hard to understand anything about the students, from their external behavior to their innermost thoughts.

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Many students work part-time outside of school. Most don't need the money to pay tuition; they just want the extra spending cash.

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"Teacher Hsiao-hung" (first at left) often uses two-way exchanges of ideas in her classes instead of traditional one-way lecturing to passive students. This method is very popular among students these days.

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Election time is here again, and many professors are busy using their out-of-class time to stump for candidates.

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Kao Chiang-hua (first at right) took his students to Hoping Island for a "creative class." Amidst blue sky and green ocean, the professor and his students grew closer together through sharing of "the creativity of nature."