Recently there has been a heated discussion in our class as to whether academic studies should be only oriented to the needs of the society and the government without considering personal interests. As this is an open question, opinions vary from person to person.
   Among the forty-five students of my class, twenty-five hold that academic studies should only be oriented to the needs of the society and the government. In other words, what the society and the government need is what researchers should do research on. What the society and the government oppose is what our academic studies should avoid. For example, our government puts a high premium on the developmnt of aerospace science and technology, thus we should write as many reseach papers as possible for the further development of areospace. Our society is against superstion, so our academic studies should avoid spreading superstion.
   Nineteen students argue that the society should honor researchers' research orientations rather than impose research tasks on them. In addition, the society should offer them sufficient economic profits so as to guarantee the sustainable development of their academic research.
   One student is of the opinion that our academic research should be oriented to the needs of the society and the government as well as to those of personal interests. Academic studies turning away from the needs of the society and the government are insignificant and academic studies without considering personal interests are hard to understand and accept within the present socioeconomic context.