首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)In 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "I am not fully informed of the practices at Harvard, but there is one from which we shal
(1)In 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "I am not fully informed of the practices at Harvard, but there is one from which we shal
admin
2019-03-25
49
问题
(1)In 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"I am not fully informed of the practices at Harvard, but there is one from which we shall certainly vary, although it has been copied, I believe, by nearly every college and academy in the United States. That is, the holding the students all to one prescribed course of reading, and disallowing exclusive application to those branches only which are to qualify them for the particular vocations to which they are destined We shall, on the contrary, allow them uncontrolled choice in the lectures they shall choose to attend, and require elementary qualification only, and sufficient age."
Unfortunately, there is a steady push of students into the STEM subjects so they can get high-paying jobs when they are done.
(2)This is college admissions decision season—a time when many young people have traditionally looked forward to an educational experience quite different from what they had (sometimes just endured)in high school. The days of checking off boxes to prove their worthiness to some future gatekeepers would be over. In college there might be requirements, but there would also be much more freedom, much more relevance, and much more intellectual excitement.
(3)But the discourse about colleges and universities today is undermining these hopeful expectations. Everywhere one looks, from government statistics on earnings after graduation to a bevy of rankings that purport to show how to monetize your choice of major, the message to students is to think of their undergraduate years as an economic investment that had better produce a substantial and quick return.
(4)There are good reasons for this. One is the scourge of student indebtedness. When students graduate with mountains of debt, especially from shady institutions graduating a small percentage of those who enroll, they can fall into a vicious cycle of poor choices and ever more limited horizons. They are collateral damage in a world of rising tuition. While the wealthiest families have been benefiting from enormous tax breaks, many states have dis-invested in public universities, putting great pressure on these institutions to collect tuition dollars. Middle-class and low-income students often borrow those dollars to pay the bills. And the bills grow ever greater as colleges raise tuition in part to meet the demands of rich families for campus amenities so that their children can live in the style to which they have grown accustomed.
(5)But even students without the pressure of loans are being encouraged to turn away from "college as exploration" and toward "college as training." They hear that in today’s fast-paced, competitive world, one can no longer afford to try different fields that might improve one’s ability to interpret cultural artifacts or analyze social dynamics. Learning through the arts, one of the most powerful ways to tap into one’s capacities for innovation is often dismissed as an unaffordable luxury.
(6)Parents, pundits and politicians join in the chorus warning students not to miss the economic boat. Study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, they chant, or else you will have few opportunities. Other subjects will leave you a "loser" in our not-so-brave new world of brutal change. College, they insist, should be the place where you conform and learn to swim with this tide.
(7)As president of a university dedicated to broad, liberal education, I both deplore the new conformity and welcome an increased emphasis on STEM fields. I’ve been delighted to see mathematics and neuro-science among our fastest growing majors, have supported students from under-represented groups who are trying to thrive in STEM fields, and have started an initiative to integrate design and engineering into our liberal arts curriculum.
(8)Choosing to study a STEM field should be a choice for creativity not conformity. There is nothing narrow about an authentic education in the sciences. Indeed, scientific research is a model for the American tradition of liberal education because of the creative nature of its inquiries, not just the truth-value of its results. As in other disciplines (like music and foreign languages), much basic learning is required, but science is not mere instrumental training: memorizing formulae isn’t thinking like a scientist. On our campus, some of the most innovative, exploratory work is being done by students studying human-machine interactions, using computer science to manipulate moving images to tell better stories, and exploring intersections of environmental science with economics and performance art.
(9)Fears of being crushed by debt or of falling off the economic ladder are pressuring students to conform, and we must find ways to counteract these pressures or we risk undermining our scientific productivity as well as our broad cultural creativity. (10)I’ve heard it said that students today opt for two fields of study, one for their parents and one for themselves. Examples abound of undergraduates focusing on: economics and English: math and art: biology and theater. But we make a mistake in placing too much emphasis on the bifurcation. Many students are connecting these seemingly disparate fields, not just holding them as separate interests. And they are finding that many employers want them to develop these connections further. Exploration and innovation are not fenced in by disciplines and majors. Students who develop habits of mind that allow them to develop connections that others haven’t seen will be creating the opportunities of the future.
(11)When Thomas Jefferson was thinking through a new, American model of higher education, it was crucial for him that students not think they already knew at the beginning of their studies where they would end up when it was time for graduation. For him, and for all those who have followed in the path of liberal education in this country, education was exploration—and you would only make important discoveries if you were open to unexpected possibilities. About a century later W.E.B. Du Bois argued that a broad education was a form of empowerment not just apprenticeship. Both men understood that the sciences, along with the humanities, arts and social sciences had vast, integrative possibilities.
(12)This integrative tradition of pragmatic American liberal education must be protected. We must not over-react to fears of being left behind. Yes, ours is a merciless economy characterized by deep economic inequality, but that inequality must not be accepted as a given: the skills of citizenship acquired through liberal learning can be used to push back against it. We must cultivate this tradition of learning not only because it is has served us well for so long, but because it can vitalize our economy, lead to an engaged citizenry and create a culture characterized by connectivity and creativity.
For fear of_____, well-off students also tend to choose STEM subjects in college.
选项
A、indebtedness
B、falling off the economic ladder
C、peer pressure
D、lacking capacities for innovation
答案
B
解析
第5段首句提到,即使是没有债务压力(without the pressure of loans)的学生,即家境好的学生(well-off students)也被怂恿转变观念,从“大学即探索”转向“大学即培训”(“college as training”),即选择STEM,接着解释了原因是人们在现代社会再不能尝试不同的领域(no longer afford to try different/fields)。第9段首句对前文的原因作出总结,贫困生是因为债务压力(crushed by debt),而家境好的则担心/经济状况的下滑(falling off the economic ladder),故选项B为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ltEK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
CrossCulturalBusinessPresentationsWithinthebusinessenvironment,understandingandcopingwithinterculturaldifferencesb
CrossCulturalBusinessPresentationsWithinthebusinessenvironment,understandingandcopingwithinterculturaldifferencesb
EvolutionoftheEnglishLanguageI.LEXICON—ThevocabularyofEnglishisimmenseand【T1】_____【T1】______—Thesequenceofado
EvolutionoftheEnglishLanguageI.LEXICON—ThevocabularyofEnglishisimmenseand【T1】_____【T1】______—Thesequenceofado
WhyLearningSpanish?TheimportanceofSpanishisgrowinginEurope.Spanish,with400millionspeakers,isthefourthmostcom
ShouldYouLearnThai?HereareeightfeaturesaboutThailanguagetohelpstudentsdecidewhethertheywanttolearnThaiorno
MeaninginLiteratureI.AUTHOR—Interpretauthor’sintendedmeaningbya)Readingotherworksby【T1】_____【T1】______b)Knowingc
MeaninginLiteratureI.AUTHOR—Interpretauthor’sintendedmeaningbya)Readingotherworksby【T1】_____【T1】______b)Knowingc
TheProcessofAnalyzingaPoemI.Genre—Possibleforms:sonnet,elegy,lyric,【T1】_____,etc.【T1】______—Differentgenreshav
A、HarvardUniversity.B、YaleUniversity.C、ReadCollege.D、MIT.C在谈到PrincetonReview的大学排行第一位时,主持人提到是ReadCollege,故选C项。
随机试题
用单动卡盘加工偏心套时,若测得偏心距偏小时,可将靠近卡盘轴线的卡爪再紧一些。()
判断呼吸衰竭的主要依据是
建筑节能工程检验批质量验收应参加的人员有()。
价值工程对象应根据企业条件选用适宜的方法,就可以取得较好效果,常用的方法有()。
丁公司坏账核算采用备抵法,并按应收款项余额百分比法计提坏账准备,各年计提比例假设均为年末应收款项余额的8%。2014年年初“坏账准备”账户的贷方余额为68000元;2014年客户甲单位所欠20000元按规定确认为坏账,应收款项年末余额为950000元
既是我国农村经济制度的基础,也是农村集体经济组织经营方式的基础是()。
[资料一]某省滨海市下辖某县土地管理部门作出收回光华公司土地使用权的决定。光华公司不服,向法院起诉,法院裁定不予受理。此后,光华公司向滨海市土地管理部门申请行政复议,滨海市土地管理部门受理后,经过审查,作出了维持该县土地管理部“收回光华
A公司是一家儿童用品制造商,该公司一直注重挖掘市场需求,推出满足市场新需求的产品,最近该公司经过市场调查发现,许多家长在孩子上幼儿园时,非常希望能够掌握孩子的最新动态,有情况能够及时与孩子沟通,经过研发,该公司推出了一款能够打电话的手表,让孩子能够随时和家
左边给定的是纸盒的外表面,下列哪一项能由它折叠而成?
Forthemostpart,thethousandsoflanguagesintheworldtodayfallintooneoftwocategories:tonalornontonal.Twolingui
最新回复
(
0
)