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The Star
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Harvard speech sparks China debate on elite education access, privilege
Emotional remarks by a Chinese student who delivered this year's Harvard University commencement speech have sparked a debate in China about barriers to elite education. The speech by Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang, the first Chinese woman chosen as Harvard's student commencement speaker, called for global unity amid US President Donald Trump's plan to 'aggressively' revoke Chinese student visas. Internet users have since raised questions about a lack of access for many ordinary students who have struggled to be considered for prestigious universities, citing an uneven distribution of financial and educational resources. While some praised her message of 'a shared humanity', which echoed Beijing's diplomatic vision of 'a community with a shared future for mankind', others criticised her 'privileged' background and questioned whether she truly represented the broader Chinese student population. According to Harvard Magazine, Jiang, originally from Qingdao in eastern China, attended high school in the United Kingdom. She completed her undergraduate degree at Duke University before enrolling at the Harvard Kennedy School for a master's degree. Internet users also questioned her volunteer experience in the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation – where her father reportedly worked as a director, and which played a role in securing a recommendation letter for her Harvard application in 2022. Jiang's public scrutiny came a month following a national outcry in which a trainee doctor, who came from a privileged family, was exposed for submitting forged transcripts while applying to the prestigious Peking Union Medical College. The programme, piloted in 2019 and unknown even to many doctors, had allowed bachelor's degree holders from the top 50 global universities to obtain a medical doctor's degree after only four more years of medical training, bypassing a much longer course of study for most doctors in China. The woman's degree has since been revoked. Critics on Chinese social media expressed frustration that Jiang's academic path – shaped by international education and apparently supported by family resources – remained out of reach for lower- and middle-class families in China. Her success is being seen as emblematic of the widening gap in educational opportunities across social hierarchies, driven by the unequal distribution of wealth. Some users on China's Weibo social media network were incensed. 'How could an ordinary family afford to attend high school in the UK?' asked one person. 'To put it bluntly, she has resources or money – things most people do not have,' wrote another. 'She also knows how to plan: transferring from a high school in Qingdao to the UK ... then applying to Harvard. Few of us from ordinary backgrounds are even aware of such a path. And as for the connections she may have relied on – if you had a father like hers, I believe you'd use it too, perhaps even more ruthlessly.' Jiang's high school in the UK, Cardiff Sixth Form College in Wales, is a private boarding school with annual tuition for international boarders costing around £70,000 (US$94,500), according to the school's 2025–26 fee schedule. Most Chinese high schools are public and charge only a few thousand yuan per semester. Most students must sit for the Gaokao – China's most important examination – which serves as the primary path to university admission and plays a critical role in shaping a student's professional future. On Weibo, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a nationalist paper affiliated with People's Daily, said it was understandable that many felt it was 'unfair' that Jiang may have access to resources unavailable to children from ordinary families – especially in the current climate of fierce competition for quality education and rising youth unemployment. According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, the country's youth unemployment rate in April was 15.8 per cent, amid a sluggish economy and growing geopolitical tensions. It had peaked at 21.3 per cent in June 2023. Hu also cautioned against using Jiang's case to fuel discrimination against the broader community of Chinese students studying abroad, adding that not all of them were necessarily 'the rich'. 'China is an open society. We must have the mindset to engage in normal exchanges with world-renowned universities like Harvard, and the capacity to gain positive resources from them while guarding against negative influences,' Hu wrote, citing 'commendable' moves by leading Hong Kong universities to unconditionally accept all Harvard international students following Trump's ban. 'If Chinese students at Harvard choose to return to work in China after graduation, they should be encouraged and welcomed by society as a whole,' he added. Several news outlets have also weighed in, saying that the discussion reflected broader concerns about education equality. The Elephant News, from state-owned Henan Television Station, said internet users were not denying Jiang's personal efforts but rather a broader concern over privileged educational access. 'Her success undoubtedly benefited from privileged resources. The public ... points to a broader concern that the privileged have consolidated resources to pave an express path for their children to elite universities, while exceptionally talented students from ordinary families struggle to overcome economic and informational barriers,' the news portal wrote. Jiang has rejected the criticism in several lengthy posts on Weibo, claiming that she did not include the recommendation letter in her Harvard application due to a limit on the number of recommendations she could submit. She also said that she was estranged from her father, who divorced her mother. She added that both her commencement speech at Harvard and her responses on Chinese social media reflected her efforts to 'strive for a Chinese voice' in the public sphere. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Harvard president claims he is taking 25% pay cut following federal funding cuts
Harvard University president Alan Garber claims that he is taking a voluntary 25% pay cut as the institution faces nearly $3 billion in federal funding cuts by the Trump administration, according to a Harvard spokesperson. A spokesperson declined to provide Garber's salary or how much money he would be giving up. Garber, who was previously provost and interim-president, made $922,068, plus other compensation of $242,968 during calendar year 2023, according to Harvard Magazine. This isn't the first time Garber has claimed to take a 25% pay cut. In 2020, he signed a letter claiming he and other administrators would be taking a 25% pay cut amid financial challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. According to financial records, Garber's fiscal year 2020 pay was $825,670 — 86% of the previous year's pay of $955,759. The claimed cut will begin July 1, 2025, and last to June 30, 2026, for the 2026 fiscal year, according to a spokesperson. Other leaders from across the institution also say they are making voluntary contributions for the upcoming fiscal year, the university spokesperson confirmed. More than 80 faculty pledged to donate 10% of their salaries to support the institution, according to the Harvard Crimson. Harvard also announced that it will dedicate $250 million of 'central funding' to support research impacted by suspended and canceled federal grants. Read more: Harvard amends lawsuit against Trump admin following $450 million cut The claimed reduction in pay comes after Brown University announced in March that President Christina H. Paxson would take a 10% salary cut. Brown also announced a salary freeze for members of the President's Cabinet and a voluntary freeze for other highly compensated administrators. A staff hiring freeze, freezing non-essential travel and slowing spending were also implemented. Harvard announced in March a pause on hiring, which included schools and administrative units to 'scrutinize discretionary and non-salary spending, reassess the scope and timing of capital renewal projects, and conduct a rigorous review of any new multi-year commitments.' A month later, the schools and units in the central administration announced that non-union faculty and staff wouldn't be receiving merit pay increases for the upcoming fiscal year and there would be pauses on non-essential capital projects and spending. The pay cut Garber claims he has taken comes after a Tuesday announcement by the Trump administration, which said eight federal agencies were terminating $450 million in grants, on top of the $2.2 billion already frozen. The federal government pointed to 'pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment' as continuing reasons for cutting federal funding. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told the institution last week that the federal government would be barring Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the university continues to refuse to comply with the administration's demands for change on its campus. 'Harvard's campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination. This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it's not academic freedom; it's institutional disenfranchisement. There is a dark problem on Harvard's campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support,' the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said. President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that they share the same 'common ground,' but the university 'will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear.' Garber pushed back on the administration through a lawsuit in April. The institution argues that its constitutional rights had been violated by the government's threats to pull billions of dollars in funding if the school didn't comply with demands for an overhaul. Following the $450 million announced cuts, the university amended its lawsuit. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' the suit reads. New Trump investigation accuses Harvard of admissions fraud BU center with over 1,600 brains gets $15M federal grant to detect disease Billboards from Berkshires to Cape Cod highlight 'crisis' at Mass. community colleges Harvard amends lawsuit against Trump admin following $450 million cut Harvard 'failed to respond' to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered them again Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Experts reveal surprising factor having a massive impact on the economy: 'It's bad for almost everyone'
Economics professors from Stanford and Northwestern Universities determined that the economic damages of a warming climate are probably six times worse than we previously thought. According to their research, every one degree Celsius rise in global temperature (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) leads to a 12% decrease in the world's gross domestic product. As Harvard Magazine reported, assistant economics professor Adrien Bilal and his collaborator, Diego Kanzig, took an innovative approach to modeling the economic impacts of a changing climate. Instead of solely basing their analysis on local temperature changes, they studied extreme weather patterns, warming oceans, and global shifts more thoroughly. They studied data from 173 countries over the past 120 years, looking at how temperature shocks correlated to changes in income. They found that disruptive weather is costly to nations' economies and impacts individuals' purchasing power and financial stability. Bilal and Kanzig's research reinforces the interconnectedness of economics and a warming climate. They assessed the "social cost of carbon" at over $1,000 per ton, representing the economic damage caused by each ton of carbon pollution. This is a significant increase from the $150 per ton predicted by past models that didn't consider as many climate factors, the magazine reported. The researchers predicted a future GDP decline of 30% to 50% by 2100 based on current patterns. For individuals, they predicted a 31% drop in purchasing power by 2100 due to climate change. "The effects are more uniformly detrimental," Bilal told the magazine. "It's bad for almost everyone." Estimating how rising temperatures affect the economy enables lawmakers to prepare for shifts and choose how to reduce carbon pollution in their communities. Politicians typically place less importance on sustainability and environmental protection if the perceived effects on the economy are low. However, if economic impacts are high, they will pour more time, energy, money, and resources into conserving the planet because of the direct links to their countries' economic stability and success. Bilal and Kanzig's research encourages world leaders to answer the critical question of how to invest in climate resilience and adapt to changing weather patterns to minimize the economic impacts. They suggested various ways to take local action, including coastal defense strategies, relocations to less vulnerable areas, and shifting investments. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Staying up-to-date on critical climate issues is essential to understanding the problem's gravity and being open-minded to proactive solutions. The economic impacts of rising temperatures are just one of the many reasons why it is crucial to change individual and community habits now for the health of our people and planet. However, those economic risks could be the very thing that pushes policymakers to take climate change seriously and prioritize sustainability efforts for the benefit of everyone. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
