Chapter 8 Social
[Social: An activity in which people appear calm on the surface, but in fact they are jumping back and forth between "Oh my God, please pay attention to me" and "No one should talk to me, I'm just a quiet eating machine". 】
After the dinner, Fu Guanshan immediately set off and returned to Hong Kong, and Meng Chu resumed his solitary life. The impact of this marriage is like a ripple that calms down after a brief disturbance.
He returned to the cycle of teaching, conducting experiments, writing notebooks, and guiding students.
Neither of them is worry-free.
He didn't have a teaching assistant - the school didn't assign him one, so he had to hire one himself, but he was reluctant to spend the money - so he had to mark the homework himself. Fundamentals of Software Design is a large-class course with a considerable amount of grading.
If grading homework can help us understand students' learning progress and improve teaching, then it is worth it. The key is...
Meng Chu pressed his eyebrows and slid to the next code.
This is obviously copied from each other!
It is obviously unrealistic to ask college students not to cheat on homework, but cheating does require some technical skills. Several people have mistakes in the same line of code. Can't they check it before copying?
Meng Chu wasted useless time and scored false points, thinking that this was really a long process of mutual torture.
It is easy for him to remember the students who copied their homework. But it is meaningless. University education is all about being "ignorant but blissful".
However, when he slid over one of them, he raised his eyebrows.
Okay, this is a bit unexpected.
After grading the homework, it’s time for the group meeting. This is Meng Chu's first year on the job. He has only one graduate student and two undergraduates who have been confirmed to continue their studies. The meetings are small and a square table is enough.
As usual, the group meeting was to explain the progress of the week's work. The graduate students were helping him with the meteorological instrument project, and the undergraduates were still in the internship stage. He simply assigned them to read a few papers every week and then make a report to the group.
However, as soon as the senior student opened his mouth, the atmosphere at the table came to a standstill.
The other two students looked at each other and then secretly glanced at Meng Chu.
This is obviously... a manuscript written by AI.
Nowadays, it is normal to use AI to organize literature reviews, but it cannot be copied completely. This guy was too lazy to even polish his work; some of his sentences don't even sound human.
After he finished reading, Meng Chu stared at the screen and asked him a few questions.
Sure enough, this student did not read the literature.
Doesn’t he want to publish a paper very much? How to understand cutting-edge research without reading articles? Do you want to submit a paper directly?
Meng Chu sighed, pointed at the screen and said, "This sentence doesn't make sense, does it? These two points can't be put in parallel..."
The student listened to his comments and nodded in agreement, his attitude was respectful: "Yes, yes, the teacher is right."
Meng Chu stared at him, his mind filled with the pain of marking homework.
Even students in his own group dared to copy homework in his own class!
He really wanted to use his authority as a teacher to scold the other party. However, after being emotional for a long time, the words still couldn't come out.
Forget it, let’s talk about it when we meet alone. If you curse at others in a group meeting and then go back to ruminate on it, will it harm the students' mental health?
He turned to the next student.
After the group meeting, he walked to the cafeteria to eat with a confused mind. The college recruited three new teachers last year, but the other two were PhDs from the same school and had already established their own school before he came. He had no idea how to maintain the friendship among the three of them, and was particularly afraid that he was the weakest link in the chain of friendship.
So, as usual, he found a quiet seat by the side and performed vital sign maintenance activities alone.
If the teacher has no acquaintances among the students, they will not chat with him. The meal was about to end peacefully, when suddenly a lady came over like a tornado and put down her plate with a bang on the opposite side.
Meng Chu raised his head and suddenly remembered. He did not have any friends at school, but he had relatives.
"I just saw a few students coming out with you," her husband's aunt asked, "did you just finish the group meeting?"
Meng Chu nodded.
"Look at your expression. You must be speechless because of your students." Fu Yanping's tone was light, but the spoon was cutting the steak into pieces.
"Not really... I just think they should try harder."
"I advise you to give up this fantasy," Fu Yanping pointed at him, "especially since you are supervising graduate students."
"Why?"
"They study for three years. The first year is for classes, and the last year is for job hunting. All in all, they only have one year to focus on scientific research," Fu Yanping said. "In that year, they have already graduated before you have even taught them how to write a book."
It was rare for a senior to take the initiative to pass on his experience, so Meng Chu quickly put down his chopsticks and fully joined in the conversation. "When I was studying for my doctorate, my supervisor treated me like factory parts, asked me to do odd jobs, and was not active in guiding my research," he said. "I made up my mind at that time that when I became a supervisor, I would never do that. I would care about their academic work, so that they could learn and achieve success..."
Fu Yanping made a "stop" gesture. "This is your expectation, not necessarily theirs, especially for masters," she said. "They study for employment, to graduate successfully, and to find a job using what you teach. This is their requirement. If you meet these requirements, you are a perfect mentor."
Meng Chu silently digested his passionate and unappreciated ambitions for a while, and asked, "Will a PhD be different?"
"It depends on the person," Fu Yanping said, "You'll understand when you become a doctoral supervisor."
Meng Chu smiled bitterly: "That's still a long time."
It is easy to evaluate a master's supervisor. In many schools, new teachers are directly assigned master's supervisors when they join the school. The difficulty of being a doctoral supervisor is completely different. First, doctoral programs are scarce, and second, doctoral quotas are also limited.
At Linyi University, the requirements for doctoral supervisors are almost the same as those for full professors.
"PhD students are not always worry-free," Fu Yanping comforted him. "I asked a new recruit this year to revise his thesis, but it was like asking a stone to fall into the sea. He asked three or four times before he submitted it. Guess what happened?"
Meng Chu said he couldn't guess. It was difficult for him to give an emotionally valuable response in this guessing game.
Fortunately, Fu Yanping has the gene of the Fu family to support themselves, and he slammed the table heavily to set the mood. "He just changed the introduction! Can you believe it? I wrote so many comments for him, but he didn't even turn to the second page!" When she said this, she took a deep breath, as if she was about to get stomach acid reflux.
Meng Chu suddenly realized. No wonder I heard a faint sound from the end of the corridor when I just went out. It turned out that Teacher Fu was angry again.
"Between him and my girl," Fu Yanping said, "I don't know who got angry first and caused me to have breast nodules."
It seems that the mother and daughter are still arguing.
"I feel tired when I teach three students," Meng Chu said. "It's hard to imagine what life is like when Teacher Fu teaches 12 students."
"It's okay, just a few more and it will reach the critical point."
“Critical point?”
"When the number is less than 20, the more students there are, the more things there are to do," Fu Yanping said. "When the number exceeds this, they can form a small group that operates automatically, with the old leading the new and the old leading the young. That's when I can be liberated."
God, Meng Chu thought, how many years are left before he reaches this critical point?
Then I thought, if that time comes, to support so many people, the amount of funding and projects he would need to get...
Is this possible?
Fu Yanping observed his heroic expression as he was ready to die and shook his head. "Teacher Meng," she said, "you should go out more often. Isn't the largest general semiconductor company in the country in the next district? Go and ask around and research what their technical needs are. Next time you have a corporate exchange, take the initiative to socialize with the executives. Maybe you can get a project."
The hospital leaders had also told him this, and it was indeed good advice, but for him, putting it into practice was as difficult as climbing to the sky.
He knew very well that in the end, every industry depended on connections, and even scientific research was no exception.
Without projects, he wouldn't be able to pay for instruments and equipment, let alone the rent for the laboratory.
He didn't know before he started working that he would have to pay rent for using the school's laboratory. After finding out, he was shocked. Was this doing scientific research or just drifting in Beijing?
"By the way, the institute will introduce a new system in the second half of the year," Fu Yanping gave him another heavy blow, "During the year-end assessment, the bottom six in scientific research scores will have to go to the school committee to make a reflection report. The people sitting below are all school leaders. Having the leaders remember your name in such an occasion will be very beneficial to your career development."
Meng Chuju's ability to think about danger has always been outstanding. When he heard this, his heart immediately started beating wildly, as if his career would end tomorrow.
He is a new teacher and his ability to take on projects is not as good as that of the old professors, so he must take action.
Back in the office, he rummaged through his mailbox, then opened WeChat, stared at the screen, and tried to take a deep breath.
In front of him is the portrait of his doctoral supervisor.
This mentor had been his nightmare for the past five years. There were very few times when he didn't want to hang himself after just a few words.
However, he is his biggest connection, his lifeline for scientific research, and also a big shot for evil spirits. One should not be too picky in life.
Meng Chu edited the text box repeatedly, deleting and revising, revising and deleting again. It took him almost ten minutes before he sent the message.
First, he asked about the teacher's health and work, then described his recent situation, and finally, he carefully asked, there will be an international conference in the field of electronic design automation in Hong Kong next month, does the teacher plan to attend?
After sending the message, he immediately placed the phone face down on the table, held his breath and listened carefully, praying that the other party would give a positive answer.
Considering that he has been working hard for five years, just say he will go!
A long time passed by minute by minute, and finally, the phone vibrated.
Meng Chu grabbed it immediately and clicked on the new message.
Don’t let it be a Taobao advertisement!
The moment the text appeared, he relaxed completely.
Yes, the other party will attend the meeting and we can meet and have a meal then.
Meng Chu replied respectfully, hoping that the words would reflect the gratitude in his tone. Then he opened the app and started booking tickets.
The moment he chose his destination, he suddenly remembered that there seemed to be another person there.
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