Cut red-tape in education

Apart from his legendary contributions in the nuclear arena, the well-known scientist Qian Xuesen posed a challenging question: "Why do our schools always fail to produce outstanding talent?"

Although everyone may have an opinion or two regarding the issue, the common consensus revolves around bureaucratization of education. No matter how anxious we are to see "world-class" colleges mushroom here, it would be just wishful thinking so long as our institutions of higher learning are run like miniature bureaucracies by career bureaucrats.

So, when the authorities recently talked about "de-bureaucratization" of education, it came as a ray of hope, although it was immediately dampened by skeptical college managers.