Zhang Taofu, Dean of the School of Journalism at Fudan University: Finding the Best Path to Open Up Yourself, Major, and the World | Major | Zhang Taofu
Zhang Taofu, Dean of the School of Journalism at Fudan University, delivered a message to the new students at the 2023 Student Welcome Conference. The following is the full text:
Good afternoon, students and teachers!
First of all, welcome all new students from all over the world and across the country to Fudan. Congratulations! From now on, you all have a common name: Fudan News Man!
Welcome to Fudan, thank you for choosing the journalism and communication major. You come to Fudan with overweight expectations, and you may also enter the journalism and communication profession with weightlessness confusion. In your expectations or confusion, there is pure personal imagination mixed with many social distractions, which is also normal. The key is how to embark on a new journey in life? In this era of interconnected everything, how can we find the best path to our ideals through professional navigation? How to establish an effective connection between oneself and the world? How to reconstruct professional moats in the era of value liquid and knowledge flow? A series of confusions and problems need us to open up.
Zhang Taofu, Dean of the School of Journalism at Fudan University, sent a message to the freshmen.
The rapid and iterative revolution in communication technology has deeply rewritten the way the world exists, placing communication at the center of human life. In this era of ubiquitous traffic, the journalism and communication profession has been pushed unprecedentedly towards the center of the rapids. When you choose the journalism and communication major, the opportunities are unprecedented, and the challenges are also equal. The key lies in how to seize them. Since communication is so important, we should not worry about the future path, and there is no need to underestimate this profession through the cracks of "modernism", nor should we narrow our professional prospects.
Some people define the 21st century as the era of "modernism", which refers to people shifting their focus to the present moment, on-site experiences, and the most noteworthy things in the present. Our culture has become a noisy state where everyone is trying to capture the fleeting moments. People pay attention to the fleeting scenery under their noses, but they don't care about the rising and falling clouds of tomorrow. The main cause of this modernist dilemma is closely related to the revolution in communication technology. Hayes once said that information technology has given rise to people's "super attention". He believes that the characteristic of super attention is the rapid shift of focus in different tasks, a preference for diverse information flows, the search for highly stimulating things, and a low tolerance for monotonous states. Super attention is only present and oneself, disregarding the existence of others and losing interest in public issues. Han Bingzhe believes that the digitization of all networks and all social interactions has not made it easier for people to meet others. On the contrary, it is more convenient for people to pass by strangers and others, ignore their existence, and seek like-minded individuals, leading to a narrowing of our experiential perspective. Thus causing the disappearance of the other.
Nowadays, many college students are wasting a lot of energy on short-term profit calculation, internal competition, confusion, and shortsightedness in long-term issues. Many top universities are producing top performers, and students flock to pursue beautiful indicators and dignified success. In fact, the true purpose of university education is not to create life winners in the sense of success studies, but to cultivate talents who are conducive to enhancing the long-term well-being of the country, society, and the news and communication industry.
The current communication pattern and industry ecology are still in a highly uncertain state, with the known being far less than the unknown. The task of understanding and transforming the world is extremely heavy. We need to have a larger perspective and broad mindedness, and make deeper and more arduous efforts. This unprecedented communication revolution has extended our professional operations to boundless waters, and our ability radius has not been matched. The current and future mission of choosing the journalism and communication major is to make constructive contributions at the macro level, to build the journalism and communication industry into a hub profession strongly related to many professions, and to build the journalism and communication industry into the central system of the social system.
At this critical juncture, you are shouldering a heavy responsibility. This requires you to go beyond short-term goals, break free from personal siege, and truly start from the long-term goals of the country, society, news and communication industry, and even human society's development. With persistent and resilient efforts, do not let floating clouds cover your eyes, boldly pursue your dreams, and strive for innovation. Students should take the initiative to break free from the current and super attention, use professional consciousness and wisdom, unite the power of the community, solve the problem of severe dilution of professional concentration caused by the socialization and flow of communication, and break the professional moat, and promote the deepening of media society towards goodness and goodness.
Looking for your own positioning in the era and social landscape, you will find that there are millions of career paths, and the standards for success are not singular. There is no need for people to be stuck in narrow alleys of life, trapped in the mud of the secular world. Instead, they should untie the ropes that bind their thoughts and thinking, look at the long cycle, and boldly explore in professional waters and the depths of the open sea. Here are a few points I would like to share with you, summarized using 7 key words for your reference and criticism.
One is confidence. Only with faith in the heart can one go far. The more confidence declines on the larger fundamentals of society, the more it tests our beliefs and confidence. Confidence is not only the engine that drives us forward, but also the anti slip chain that prevents sinking and retreating. The ideal of journalism and professional confidence, even in the face of various setbacks, still have to hold their unyielding heads high. At critical moments, if you don't advance, you will retreat. Only by moving forward can we reach.
The second is curiosity. Maintain an inexhaustible curiosity about knowledge and the world. The journalism and communication profession is destined to be filled with curiosity about unknown issues, fields, and the world. Driven by curiosity, decipher the hidden truth, open up the unknown world, record the ups and downs of the times, promote social progress, and uphold fairness and justice.
The third is focus. In this era of overwhelming attention, "focus" has become a luxury item. The dazzling information releases a massive amount of noise and noise, seriously disrupting our focus, and various "heart to heart" algorithm recommendations are ubiquitous, making it difficult for us to focus. To enter the journalism and communication profession, one must forge a strong will and mind, and reject the interference of full-time and holographic communication.
The fourth is joining the WTO. Studying journalism and communication is destined to be a part of the world. You must face the world in front of you and use professional wisdom and strength to influence the bustling world you are facing. However, the world you are facing today is extremely complex, so complex that even with our best efforts, we may not be able to understand it. In addition to the physical world, the entire super complex world also has a virtual world. The ambiguity and subtlety between the virtual and the real have made it difficult for me to understand and transform the world. This has put forward extremely high requirements for our professional abilities, which forces us to double our efforts and quickly improve our ability to enter and benefit the world.
The fifth is the eagerness to learn. In an era full of uncertainty, reading is an ark that transcends uncertainty. Youth is a good companion for reading. "Good academic performance" is our school motto, and "erudite and determined" is also written in our school motto. The learning interface of journalism and communication major is extremely large, and the knowledge coastline is extremely long. Because we care about the whole world and belong to the true world care, this requires us not to be trapped on a knowledge island. We need to build the knowledge chain long enough and strong enough.
Six is to practice. In recent years, the problem of news and communication majors shifting from reality to virtuality has become more prominent, and whether it is teaching or research, virtuality has become a headache for professionals. We have taken strong measures to correct this issue, but it is not thorough enough. Marx once said: People should prove the truth of their thinking in practice, that is, the reality and power of their thinking, and the shore of their thinking. The integration of knowledge and action is a necessary requirement for the journalism and communication profession, and knowledge and action are strongly connected. Journalism and communication studies are the study of practice and action, and our largest laboratory is the boundless and bottomless whole truth society. To immerse oneself in the hot society, to establish education on the land of China, and to write papers on the land of China, there are countless opportunities and infinite challenges here, and the key depends on our actions.
Seven is interesting. Excellent and interesting. Dilute the anxious utilitarian heart, enjoy the deep learning process, maintain inner richness, have an interesting soul, a relaxed temperament, and a sunny mentality, give more empty shots to life, and appreciate the charm and charm of beauty in the process of seeking truth and kindness.
Finally, I wish you all a worthwhile trip, and every day is a new beginning.
