"Diligence" and "innovation" appear in one fifth of sampled Beijing school mottos, seemingly the most honored values for students, but some say schools are not being so "innovative" in establishing such slogans, The Beijing News reported.
A survey of 106 Beijing educational establishments, covering 54 universities and 52 middle and primary schools, showed that more than 80 percent of mottos are in similar format, comprising eight Chinese characters either in four words or two short phrases. The most commonly used words are "unity", "truth seeking", "diligence" and "innovation".
Some experts say phrases containing "unity" are likely to have been adopted since the 1950s, when the country promoted the People's Liberation Army's military spirit and call for collectivism. While "innovation" or "creation" supposedly originate from the 1980s to 1990s, in the wake of the country’s reform and opening up policies, said the report.
A Sina Weibo user, dubbed Fushunwang-chen, said school mottos should not cover every good value but be based on solid thinking of core and unique teaching goals.
Sina Weibo user Cuishaniu_organic said words topping the survey are "exactly" her primary school motto while Hu Xianzhang, a Tsinghua university professor, said values including diligence are time-honored ideals for students.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
