Characteristics of the Mindset and Behaviour of University Students in the New Era and Educational Countermeasures ()
1. Introductory
The “new era” is marked by the great changes that have not been seen in a hundred years, in which economic globalization, political multi-polarity, cultural diversification and social informatisation are developing more deeply, the international situation and the world pattern are undergoing profound changes, and all kinds of information mixed with political standpoints, ideologies and thoughts are widely disseminated through the new multi-dimensional media, which have a new impact on university students in the new era in terms of their mindset and behaviour, affecting their ability to think and their level of action. To do a good job of ideological and political work in colleges and universities, we should “To adapt to events, to evolve with the times, to innovate in response to the situation”, where the events, time and situation have all changed in the new era. This paper will explore the characteristics of the ideological concepts and behavioural styles of university students in the new era from multiple perspectives, and put forward corresponding educational countermeasures.
2. Characteristics of the Mindset and Behaviour of University Students in the New Era
2.1. Strong Political Concepts, Firm Stance, Love for the Party and Patriotism, but Some Students’ Political Cognition Is Still Superficial
University students in the new era generally have a firm political stance, they care about national events, pay attention to political developments at home and abroad, and are able to correctly understand and grasp the Party’s lines and policies. In the face of various social trends and challenges of public opinion, they are able to keep a clear mind and hold fast to their political beliefs. With the progress of society and the improvement of democratic consciousness, the enthusiasm of new age university students to participate in politics is gradually rising, but their sensitivity is not high, and some students still have some superficial tendencies in political cognition. They tend to stay only at the level of basic understanding of political theory and lack in-depth study and understanding of political theory. For some hotspot events, some students have limited reactions, both positive and negative, due to the lack of in-depth political cognition, and are relatively deficient in capturing and positively responding to the risk points; they tend to be easily influenced and misled by various trends of thought and find it difficult to make correct judgements and analyses in the face of complex political issues.
2.2. Pluralistic Values and Jumpy Thinking, but Insufficient Objective Feedback and Enforcement of Standards
University students of the new era grow up in an open, diversified and complex social environment and are influenced by different cultures, ideas and values. Their pursuit and definition of life are more diverse, and their judgement and evaluation of values are more pluralistic. They respect differences, tolerate differences, are willing to try new things and pursue individualised development. The process and content of their education before entering into the university is rich, focusing on cultivating innovative thinking and critical thinking, and the development of the Internet and social media also provides them with more information sources and communication platforms, making their way of thinking more flexible and changeable. In this process, students generally have certain strengths and abilities, and are eager to be noticed, but often lack a sense of collective integration, have higher requirements for platforms, pursue personalisation, pay more attention to self-expression and subjective feelings, and neglect feedback and assessment of objective facts, and are easily influenced by subjective emotions (Li, Tang, & Ge, 2009). At the same time, due to the strong ability to receive information, the way of thinking is affected by fragmented messages, the discernment and judgement of the problem is prone to repetition, sometimes the more detached from the norm, the more likely to be concerned about the same thing will often have different views and interpretations. Such differences are not only reflected in individual values, but also more profoundly in the blurring of social norms and standards of behaviour. Due to the lack of uniform standards and norms, university students often find it difficult to form a consistent course of action when confronted with problems, leading to a decline in execution and efficiency.
2.3. The Learning Process Is Autonomous and the Lifestyle Is Networked, but Some Students’ Self-Control Is Weak, and Inconsistencies in Behaviour and Thinking Occur
As the parents of college students are becoming more and more cultured, parents provide a more relaxed growth environment, and then the students’ sense of autonomy is stronger and stronger, more and more students have their own clear attitudes and ideas about the choice of profession, stronger ability to obtain professional knowledge independently, and higher expectations and requirements for the provision of classroom knowledge. They are no longer satisfied with passive acceptance of knowledge, but take the initiative to explore, research, and seek ways to solve problems. In addition to classroom learning, new-age university students also actively participate in online courses, academic lectures, practical activities and other forms of learning, forming a diversified learning system. At the same time, new-age university students communicate and share information through social media and instant messaging tools, and online games, online videos and online music have become their main means of leisure and entertainment. Learning life is highly dependent on the Internet, there is a certain degree of pan-entertainment, some university students time management is not appropriate, self-control is weakened, resulting in a disconnect between the behaviour and the goal, once the lack of healthy and positive network habits tend to have a greater negative impact on learning, mentality and so on (Zhang, Wu, & Huang, 2021).
2.4. Development Planning Is Pragmatic and Purposeful, but the Goal Is Not Firm and Easy to Accommodate and Change
In the current fully competitive environment, university students need to fully consider their future development direction and competitiveness, this development goal based on reality, on the one hand, university students often have clear goals and plans when planning their personal development, they know exactly what they want and how to achieve these goals, they are willing to invest time and energy to learn and improve themselves in order to achieve their own planning goals. On the other hand, if the guidance is not sufficient, under the environment of information explosion and many external disturbing factors, some university students lack sufficient self-knowledge as well as firm beliefs and faith, which may easily lead to university students focusing on pursuing the maximisation of their own interests to the neglect of the needs of the society and the country (Tong & Lin, 2019). At the same time, the new-age university students generally live in a relatively stable family support environment, and in the process of striving towards their goals, when other options arise or when they find that they cannot achieve what they want by paying for what they want, or when they lack sufficient confidence and motivation in their own goals and pursuits, they tend to open up a strong sense of “self-protection” ,and attach great importance to the concern and protection of their personal interests.. When faced with difficulties and challenges, they are prone to waver and give up, leading to easy accommodation and change.
3. Educational Responses
3.1. Unity of Knowledge and Action, Making Efforts in Organisational Education and Cultural Cultivation, and Strengthening Ideological and Political Education
Colleges and universities should strengthen the political theory education of university students and increase students’ interest and motivation in learning political theory. The attractiveness and effectiveness of political theory courses can be improved by improving teaching methods and means and increasing the proportion of practical teaching (Wang, 2022). Create a good campus political culture atmosphere and guide students to actively participate in political learning and practical activities. Students’ political enthusiasm and participation can be stimulated by organising political lectures, seminars, debates and other activities, strengthening the cultivation of students’ political literacy and discernment, and helping them to establish a correct worldview, outlook on life and values. The supervision and management of campus media should also be strengthened to prevent the spread of undesirable information and erroneous thinking.
3.2. Comprehensively Promote, Making Efforts on Standardisation and Personality Training, and Broadening the Way of Value Leadership
Provide university students with comprehensive and accurate objective feedback and action guidance through the establishment of an objective feedback mechanism and enforcement standards, and at the same time strengthen publicity and education on enforcement standards to enhance students’ awareness of compliance and enforcement. Improve students’ ability to analyse and make judgements when facing problems by cultivating critical thinking and systematic thinking, and guide them to think from multiple perspectives to avoid limited and one-sided thinking. Strengthen value education and guidance to help university students establish correct values and outlook on life, and at the same time, respect differences, tolerate differences, and promote exchanges and integration between different values. Under the environment of diversified values and jumping thinking, university students are actively encouraged to carry out innovative activities to provide more opportunities and platforms for their growth and development, so as to better understand their own abilities and interests, and explore their own potentials and strengths, and at the same time, provide more experiences and lessons for university students to help them better cope with the challenges and opportunities in the future.
3.3. Resonance between Reality and Reality, Making Efforts on Platform Building and Content Creation, and Enhancing Students’ Network Literacy
In view of the characteristics of networking and informatisation of university students in the new era, colleges and universities should strengthen education on network literacy and improve students’ network literacy and information literacy. Through the opening of network literacy courses and the holding of network security lectures, students’ awareness of network security and information discernment ability should be strengthened, so as to prevent them from being influenced and infringed by undesirable information. Actively provide healthy online content and wide quality educational resources to provide students with rich and diverse learning resources. These resources can include subject knowledge, culture and art, science popularisation, mental health, etc., to meet the diverse learning needs of students. (Zang & You, 2018) At the same time, the platform should establish a resource evaluation system to ensure the quality and effectiveness of resources. Build an interactive community for students to provide a platform for students to communicate with each other and learn from each other, in which students can share their learning tips, exchange learning experiences, and participate in discussions and interactions, so as to enhance the interactivity and interestingness of learning. At the same time, the community can also become a stage for students to show themselves and realise their values, stimulating their enthusiasm and creativity for learning (Qiu & Guan, 2022).
3.4. Keeping Abreast of the Times, Making Efforts on Career Education and Social Practice, and Dovetailing Professional Knowledge with National and Social Needs
Colleges and universities should strengthen education on career planning, help students understand their career interests and development directions, and guide them to establish correct career concepts and values by offering career planning courses and organising career counselling activities. Strengthen the contact and cooperation with enterprises and industries, and provide students with practice opportunities including volunteer service, internship training, scientific research projects, etc., so as to build a bridge connecting professional knowledge and social needs. Through social practice, students can gain a deeper understanding of the society, their careers, and the national social needs, so as to enhance their sense of social responsibility and sense of mission. At the same time, it can also help undergraduates to strengthen their self-knowledge, understand their own interests, abilities, values and other aspects, and apply what they have learnt in practice to improve their practical ability and innovation.
4. Conclusion
The ideology and behaviour of the new era university students are outstanding, showing a firm position in political concepts and superficial cognition at the same time, the problem of insufficient objective feedback and implementation standards while the values are diversified and jumping, the problem of inconsistency of self-control and behavioural thinking while learning and living networked, and the problem of easy change of goals while planning for personal development show pragmatism. While planning personal development, there is also the problem of easy change of goals. Colleges and universities should formulate corresponding educational countermeasures for these characteristics, strengthen ideological and political education, pay attention to personality cultivation and value leadership, and strengthen network literacy education and social practice, so as to promote the all-round development of university students. At the same time, colleges and universities should pay close attention to the social changes and development trends of the times, and constantly adjust and improve their educational countermeasures to meet the development needs of university students in the new era.