西南联大英文课 西南联大英文课之十四

西南大学英文课之十四 What shall we educate for?教育的目的何在？作者开篇就将中国传统教育与希腊教育做了对比。Traditional Chinese education was similar to that of Athens in its best days. 希腊人从小就背诵荷马，从头到尾。同样的中国小孩自小就被要求熟背经书。而且知识的传授方式也是类似的。Opinions should be such as could be discussed pleasantly at dinner, not such as man would fight for. 但是中西方的思维差异还是能够明显看出来的。When a politician was ousted he led a band of exiles to attack his native city. When a Chinese official was disgraced he retired to his hills and wrote poems on the pleasures of country life. Accordingly, the Greek civilization destroyed itself, but the Chinese civilization could be destroyed only from without. 所以中国有那么多的Hermits，有那么多的吟风诵月之词。作者认为科学和民主的关系是：Without science democracy is impossible: the Chinese civilization was confined to the small percentage of educated men and the Greek civilization was based on slavery. 所以中国的传统教育模式是不适应于现代社会的。近代日本的教育目的是非常明晰的：the tendency to make national greatness the supreme purpose of education.重视教育而且目标明确使得日本在战后迅速崛起。恪怀守旧和恪守信条都不应该是教育所追求的成果：Neither acquiescence in skepticism nor acquiescence in dogma is what education should produce.知识当然是重要的，但是获取知识是有一定困难的：the dogmatist forgets the difficulty, the skeptic denies the possibility.信条注意者会忘记困难，而持怀疑态度者则否认可能性。Kindliness was sacrificed for the sake of toughness; imagination, for the sake of firmness.教育培养人才，而未来人才一定要为自由服务。The administrator of the future must be the servant of free citizens, not the benevolent ruler of admiring subjects.归根到底，教育的本质目标就是育人，而日本的教育将学生视为工具而不是教育的目标：The harm, as with the Japanese, comes from regarding the pupils as means to an end, not as ends in themselves.所以，作为教育的主力军，教师的理念应该怎样定位？The teacher should love his children better than his state; otherwise he is not an ideal teacher.当然，能一直秉持这种教育情怀的教师是不多见的。