UNIT FOURTEEN
Education:One of the Key Words of Our Time
Education is one of the key words of our time. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states 'invest' in institutions of learning to get back 'interest' in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by text-books -- those purchasable wells of wisdom-- what would civilization be like without its benefits ?
So much is certain: that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births--but our spiritual outlook would be different. We would lay less stress on 'facts and figures' and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow- citizens. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable. Among the people whom we like to call savages all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all; it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is, equally equipped for life.
It is the ideal condition of the 'equal start' which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all. There are no 'illiterates ' -- if the term can be applied to peoples without a script--while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in Francein 1806, and in England in 1876, and is still non-existent in a number of 'civilized' nations. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the 'happy few' during the past centuries.
Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means. All are entitled to an equal start. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parents, therefore the jungles and the savannahs know of no 'juvenile delinquency.' No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children, and no father is confronted with his inability to 'buy' an education for his child.
adverse a.不利的,有害的
deprive vt. 剥夺,使丧失
[联想词] derive vt. 1.取得,得到 2.追溯...的起源 vi.起源
enlighten vt.启发,开导
[联想词] illuminate vt. 1.照明,照亮 2.阐明,启发
clarify vt.澄清,阐明
clarity n.清楚,明晰
preach vt. 1.宣讲,布道 2.竭力鼓吹,宣传 vi.布道,说教
preacher n.1.传道士,牧师 2.说教者,鼓吹者
[联想词] missionary n.传教士
defendant n.被告
savage a. 1.残暴的,凶狠的,粗鲁的 2.未开化的,野蛮的 n.野蛮人 vt. 1.乱咬 2.激烈抨击
[联想词] brutal a.1.野兽般的,残忍的 2.无情的,冷酷的
inherit vt.继承
[联想词] inherent a.内在的,固有的,生来就有的
tribe n. 1.部落 2.族
[联想词] clan a.宗族
ethnic a.种族的
compulsory a.必须做的,强制性的,必修的
attendance n. 1.出席人数 2.出席,参加,出席次数 3.护理,照料
attendant n.服务人员,侍者,随从 a.伴随的,随之而产生的
deem vt.认为,视为
monetary a.钱的,货币的,金融的
hamper vt.妨碍,束缚,限制
[联想词] curb vt.控制,约束 n.1.控制,约束 2.路缘
inhibit vt.阻止,妨碍,抑制
hinder vt.阻碍,妨碍
handicap n. 1.缺陷 2.障碍,不利条件 vt.妨碍,使不利
savannah n.热带草原
[联想词] plateau n.高原
meadow n.草地
peninsula n.半岛
inland a.内地的,内陆的 ad.在内地,向内地
juvenile a.1.少年的 2.幼稚的,不成熟的 n.未成年人,少年
[联想词] adolescent n.青少年 a.青春期的,青少年的 delinquency n. 1.少年犯罪,违法行为 2.失职,懈怠
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