Editorials

Professional tools

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-14 08:02

Sichuan University's Zha Changping, who has a PhD in religious studies, took a designated test on computer usage twice to qualify for a professorship.

But he failed both. So, despite all his achievements - Zha has four books and more than 100 theses published at home and abroad - he remains a lecturer.

The official requirement for the qualification sounds reasonable to many people - it aims for all academics qualifying for professorship and its academic equivalents to be proficient in a foreign language to facilitate cross-culture communication and exchanges, and for them to be proficient in using computers.

Computer and foreign language skills can make a big difference in the country's quest for more overseas exposure.

The commonly intimidating Greek language is no obstruction for Zha. He is also able to use a computer. But the qualifying exam entails some expertise that has little to do with his job as a religious researcher.

Zha is frustrated and he is not alone. Many of us have similar experiences in obtaining official certification of professional competence, but perhaps we tried harder or we were luckier - and we held back our frustration.

Many people may be in favor of lowering the requirements in computer usage tests. That will indeed save a lot of unnecessary trouble. However, do we need such a threshold for religious studies at all? We seriously doubt it. A person's professional competence should be judged on his or her academic achievements - not on the tools he or she employs, be it a computer or a pen and paper.