By Anonymous, Contributor
This article has been edited as of Jan. 19, 2020
A previously published version of this article stated, "Contrary to what many people in the West may believe, state-run news stories about China, although heavily censored, are in fact quite accurate when they do get published." This has been corrected to, "Contrary to what many people in the West may believe, the fact that state-run news stories about China are heavily censored does not make them factually inaccurate."
The correction has been made to reflect the final submission of this piece published in print on Jan. 9.
The CSSA-gate at McMaster has triggered an interesting online debate between members of the Chinese community at McMaster and the rest of campus. Many non-Chinese students mistakenly believe that the Chinese students who questioned the procedures and implications of the McMaster Students Union’s decision are brainwashed as their life before coming to Canada was behind China’s “Great Firewall”. Some of them seem to perceive such Chinese students to be victims of an absolute information barrier, which supposedly leaves them no choice but to accept the government’s propaganda. Therefore, it seems righteous to “enlighten” those Chinese students with patronizing questions or bombardment of pictures of historical incidents like the Tiananmen Square Protest. These gestures, although they may have good intentions, are pretty amusing to this new generation of Chinese students who were born and raised in China, including me. Let me explain why.
First, Chinese people have access to the largest ever-increasing reservoir of information and news on China — in Chinese. Such information not only comes from state-owned media channels, but also non-official channels, social media platforms, online chatting groups and other online platforms. Contrary to what many people in the West may believe, the fact that state-run news stories about China are heavily censored does not make them factually inaccurate. Due to the rise of social media platforms as well as the anti-corruption campaign, it has become increasingly difficult and costly for government officials to cover up catastrophic or controversial stories. Therefore, most people, if curious enough, can get a pretty good grasp of what is going on simply by combining information from state media and other channels.
Second, while China’s “Great Firewall” does block a few websites, such as Google and Facebook, it does not block all Western media. In fact, Chinese people have access to a majority of Western media channels through state and non-state owned media. Some include the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Economist, CBC, The Globe and Mail and CNN. Selected news coverage on China and international affairs are translated into Chinese from tens of languages. In any country in the world, a larger blockade to absorbing foreign information is usually the barrier of a foreign language rather than the “Great Firewall”. Therefore, translated news stories offer a very informative picture of the world to the Chinese people.
Lastly, the “Great Firewall” is not an absolute blockade of information, despite the websites that are blocked by censorship. For those who want to obtain unfiltered information, they can get around the firewall through a VPN proxy to gain access to those blocked websites. Such VPN services are usually not blocked by the government.
You may argue that China’s censorship of information is still controlling people’s minds but — and this may come as a surprise to many — contrary to the idea that the Chinese are “brainwashed”, Chinese people are usually hyper mindful of the fact that the government dominates and controls information inflows. Hence, they do not take media at face value and are usually super critical of it. This is particularly true for educated Chinese students on McMaster University’s campus. They generally obtain information, compare multiple sources and do some further research before they come to their own conclusion.
In this new era of fake news in the Western media, more and more Canadians are trying hard to seek the truth and stay critical of Fox News, CNN, the National Inquirer, and tabloid sources that may provide dis-information, mis-information and mal-information. In order to be engaged citizens of the world, we all have to be investigative journalists to some degree to search for stories from different sides. However, in China, people have been carrying out such an independent investigation on controversial events for decades because of the apparent censorship.
Sadly, Chinese students were judged based on two assumptions: that the Chinese students are absolutely “brainwashed,” and China is an evil country. As a result, the Chinese students who questioned the treatment of Mac Chinese Students and Scholars Association by the MSU were mocked as if these students can’t think critically because they are Chinese. Therefore, despite the fact that we’re in Canada, Chinese students’ voices can be immediately dismissed, our rights can be compromised and our character can be attacked based on these assumptions.
This article is not arguing that Canadian students are “brainwashed” by all the fake news about China or that you shouldn’t believe anything Western media says about China. Rather, its purpose is to serve as a gentle reminder that biases against China and Chinese students can exist on campus. In this increasingly divided world, keeping a cool head and sticking to the facts are valuable qualities that make us Canadians truly multicultural and inclusive.
It takes some effort to do your own research, fact checking and comparing different sources of information, but we can’t afford to be lazy. It might not be that difficult to carry out a Google search on different sides of stories about the recent happenings about Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Mac CSSA. It might not be that difficult to truly listen and respect opinions from the Chinese students’ side as equals. If some members of our community, within the Student Representative Assembly or outside of the SRA, can truly reflect what happened in the MAC CSSA-gate instead of getting defensive and maintaining their anti-discrimination responsibilities merely as lip services, it might not be that difficult to correct the mistakes made. At least I wish.
An annual Globe and Mail survey has given McMaster University the highest grades in the country in some areas and deemed it worst in the nation for others.
The 2013 Canadian University Report was released by The Globe and Mail on Oct. 23, including the annual student satisfaction survey results.
McMaster University performed well in most areas and achieved an overall satisfaction grade of A, only being eclipsed by Western University—a consistent theme throughout most of the report.
Schools are graded and ranked in separate buy viagra made by pflizer groups according to size. This ensures that, for instance, McMaster, with a student body approaching 30,000, is not directly measured against Redeemer University College and its population of about 900 students.
In the large university category, McMaster tied for the highest grade in categories like research opportunity, campus atmosphere and academic counselling. The University was also near the top of the list for reputation with employers and quality of teaching and learning.
Mac was joined near the top of most grading categories by The University of Western Ontario, McGill, University of Alberta and University of Waterloo.
The report also shed light on some obvious areas of student dissatisfaction.
McMaster was graded worse than any university, of every size grouping, when it came to course registration. The locally well-known fact of SOLAR’s need for change is now nationally recognised.
The school is also tied for last, among large institutions, with York University in terms of city satisfaction, while other schools in Toronto and universities in Montreal and Ottawa received favourable grades and comprised of the top six on the list.
York fared the worst among large universities, acheiving an overall satisfaction grade of C+.
Medium sized University of Guelph and Queen’s University were given the highest grades in their catagory, while University of Windsor sits at the bottom of the preverbial barrel.
Grant MacEwan University and University of New Brunswick- Frederiction faired best and worst for small sized universities.
Schools termed “very small” did well for the most part. Every university in that catagory, with the exception of Brandon University, acheived a grade of B+ or highter.
The Globe’s report is different from traditional university rankings in that it is not just a ranking system. The Report gives grades to schools, and takes into account opinions for surveyed students.
Unlike the QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education Rankings and the Shanghai Rankings, the Globe and Mail Student Satisfaction Survey is more focussed on things like university environment and how students feel their university is doing, in addition to quantitative data on research opportunities and the like.
Where the other ranking systems measure things like Nobel Prize winners, endowment account balances and income of graduates, the Satisfaction Survey attempts to grade things that are more difficult to measure.
Infographic credit: Ben Barrett-Forrest / Multimedia Editor
Julia Redmond
The Silhouette
‘Tis the season for visits to campus from eager high-school seniors.
Last Thursday, annual Canadian university rankings were released to inform their decisions. The Globe and Mail’s Canadian University Report and Maclean’s University Rankings offer up a fresh batch of statistics, placing McMaster relatively high in many categories.
McMaster maintained its sixth-place standing in the Medical Doctoral category from Maclean’s rankings.
The publication makes such comparisons by using fourteen numerical indicators from each institution, using such data as the amount of research money, number of student and faculty awards, and number of library holdings.
In The Globe and Mail rankings, which assign grades to each school based on a survey of over 30,000 undergraduate students, McMaster averaged out around a B+ in multiple measures of student satisfaction. The University scored particularly well in student-faculty interaction, teaching style, campus atmosphere, recreation and athletics, and buildings and facilities among other large universities.
Not surprisingly, McMaster received a lower grade than all others (C-) in ease of course registration.
Dr. Peter Smith, VP Academic, is pleased with the University’s performance. “McMaster generally does well in all of [the rankings], which is rewarding,” he said in an interview. “It shows that McMaster is pretty good at everything it does.”
People should be wary of taking the rankings too seriously, though. As University president Patrick Deane explained, the rankings “provide a snapshot of one moment in time.”
Their methodology, he noted, is not consistent. Maclean’s focuses more on the reputation and financial aspects of schools, while the Globe and Mail looks to students for input. This can lead to discrepancies between the results.
For example, the Maclean’s University Report, now in its 21st edition, recently had to reorganize its categories, which are determined based on range of program offerings and funding.
Determining how universities should be compared is a complex process, and leaves room for debate.
“I don’t think any one of the rankings sums up the state of the University,” Deane said. “But as a group they do provide an interesting perspective on how we’re doing.”
All of this comes in the wake of the release of the Times Higher Education Report, released in early October, which placed McMaster 65th on its list of the world’s 100 best universities. McMaster was one of five Canadian universities to make the list.
“I’m always very proud of that,” said Deane of McMaster’s rank. “It actually suggests an institution that is very powerful for its size.”
