A routine academic debate between two university professors in China has gone awry as one of them, Ji Guangmao from Beijing Normal University, retaliated his critic with coarse language in some 10 articles on his blog.

The issue has invoked heated discussions among the public on the moral levels of today's teachers. An online poll conducted by the China Youth Daily shows that more than 57 percent of the 2200 plus participants believed what professor Ji Guangmao did was wrong. More alarmingly, over 77 percent of the surveyed said the moral levels of today's teachers have declined compared with the past.

The newspaper quotes a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who stresses that a scholar must be able to stay rational when facing criticism. Professor Ji Guangmao has created a shock wave within the academic circle by blatantly trampling this basic rule.

An online poster further notes that the entire faculty of Beijing Normal University suffers from one individual's act in that it would change the way the society judges a teacher's moral level.

A deputy to the National People's Congress has suggested that in the new round of the evaluation system reform in higher institutions of learning, academic ability should not be the only yard stick. Instead, a teacher's moral level and the quality of his or her work should come first.