stem

The four major disciplines propelling our students and our society forward; all about education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Who Gives Tsinghua and Peking University Their Value?
A contest-admitted student had Advanced Algebra on his desk in senior year. He did not need to take the gaokao, but he still woke at 6:30 and left the study room at 11 p.m. Some classmates had already worked in university labs. Some read English paper abstracts. Some had taught themselves general physics.
By Jina day ago in Education
I Chose My College Because of One Line of Poetry
When the college entrance exam scores came out, I could apply to Fudan or Nanjing University. The majors were similar. The cities were both good. I wrote Fudan first on the application form. My pen stopped. I crossed it out and wrote Nanjing University. Because of one line: “Four hundred and eighty temples of the Southern Dynasties, how many towers and terraces in mist and rain?”
By Jina day ago in Education
The Cornell Gang Rape Case: One Night, Two Years of Silence, and a Campus Demanding Answers
I October 19, 2024, Ithaca, New York. No one can currently give a complete account, confirmed by a court, of what happened that night inside the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University. What is known: a then-20-year-old Cornell female student, after drinking at a sorority, went alone to the Chi Phi house to see a male friend.
By Jina day ago in Education
AI Built an Algorithm That Beats Dijkstra. Then You Try to Run It.
I found the news late one night. Vals AI used 10 Claude Opus 5.5 agents. In 15 hours, they generated 289 files, built the C-HD shortest path algorithm, and passed Lean Kernel verification. The headline said: beats Dijkstra.
By Jin3 days ago in Education
Computer Science Didn't Explode. The Job Market Did.
At a job fair, the computer science booth has a line. The civil engineering booth has empty chairs. Online, people say CS is dead. In group chats, students still ask how to transfer into it. Both things are true. They are just about different problems.
By Jin3 days ago in Education
Why English Still Matters for Ordinary People
The argument over English as leverage flared again in September 2026. Supporters point to doubled salaries. Critics call it worship of a language. The surface fight is about English. The deeper question is whether ordinary people still have a low-cost way to change their situation.
By Jin4 days ago in Education
China Has More PhDs Than Donkeys. The Joke Is Hiding a Harder Truth.
The Number That Started the Joke In 2025, China had close to 1.48 million people with a doctoral degree. In the same year, the national donkey inventory was expected to fall below 1.2 million. Put those numbers together and you get a viral line: China has more PhDs than donkeys. If Afanti were alive today, he might ride an old PhD instead of a donkey.
By Jin5 days ago in Education
The AI College Boom Is Outrunning the Teachers Who Have to Make It Work
In September 2026, the busiest thing on Chinese campuses was not opening ceremonies. It was plaque unveilings. Northwestern Polytechnical University launched a School of Flexible Electronics. Xiamen University unveiled a School of Intelligent Manufacturing. Nanjing Medical University’s Changzhou campus launched six innovation platforms at once. Earlier, Huazhong University of Science and Technology applied to add four majors, including Embodied Intelligence and Brain-Computer Science and Technology. Communication University of China sought to add Game Science and Technology, Esports, and other programs. Harbin Institute of Technology, Beihang University, and seven other schools introduced embodied intelligence majors. Anhui Normal University, a teacher-training school, launched three new engineering colleges aimed at artificial intelligence.
By Jin6 days ago in Education
They Didn’t Get Into Peking University. Now They Work There.
“Our students didn’t get into Peking University or Tsinghua. But they can go work at Peking University and Tsinghua.” That sentence comes from a teacher at a vocational school in Henan. On the world skills stage, Henan Chemical Technician College presented its electron microscope technology program. It is small. It is also the only one of its kind in China. The school says students are often booked by employers in their sophomore year. Over 101 graduates have entered Peking University.
By Jin6 days ago in Education
Who Really Runs China’s Schools? The 2,898 People Who Never Taught
Who really runs China’s grassroots schools? The 2,898 people in charge In 2019, Beijing Normal University surveyed 2,898 education bureau directors across 26 provinces. Cheng Jianping, then a national political advisor and party secretary of the university, found the results alarming. Many grassroots education leaders had been appointed or transferred from outside education. They lacked the professional capacity to guide reform. A book by Cong Chunxia of the National Academy of Education Administration added detail: only 39.3 percent of directors had previously served as principals or deputy bureau directors. 60.7 percent came from township governments, county party committees, or county government offices. Among sitting directors, 43 percent had no education work experience.
By Jin8 days ago in Education
My Daughter’s Classroom Was 20 Degrees. The Teacher Told Her to Wear More.
The Vent When my daughter came out of the school gate, she had her zipper pulled up to her chin. She pushed her hand into my pocket. Her fingertips were cold. The afternoon sun had gone weak, and the maple leaves along the fence had begun to curl at the edges.
By Jin9 days ago in Education
The 23rd Floor: A Medical Student’s Death and the System With No Exit
Around 1 a.m. on September 15, 2026, at the Baiyun Campus of Southern Medical University, a 23-year-old student in the eight-year clinical medicine program fell from the 23rd floor of a dormitory building.
By Jin18 days ago in Education