What is a good education? Is it one that covers as much as possible of human history and a

Question

What is a good education? Is it one that covers as much as possible of human history and achievements, past and present? Or ode that gives graduates the ability to find employment promptly when they leave school? Is it a broad education or a specialized one? Should it provide students with a vast collection of facts, or merely train them to think? Should a future engineer gain only the knowledge that will enable him to do his job properly, or would a richer background improve his professional ability as well as his personal life? The debate goes on and on, with good arguments on both sides.

In the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. the question was not even worth asking. A good education was, of course, a broad one based on the humanities. An educated man knew “something about everything”. He was familiar with the great deeds and the great ideas of the past. He had read extensively；he was able to use his own language correctly and often elegantly. He could join in any conversation about plants, planets, painters, or politics. He was at ease in the world, and he knew that his education would open to him any career that he might want to try. Even if he was mostly interested in literature, he had some knowledge of the sciences and the techniques of his time。

Answer 1

正确答案：
什么是良好的教育?是不是一种尽可能包罗我们的历史和今昔成就的教育?或是一种使毕业生在离校后能马上找到职业的教育?那是一种一般的教育还是专门教育?它应该给学生提供大量收集来的事实，还是训练他们思考?一个未来的工程师是否只应该获得能使他干好本职工作的知识?更广博的知识是否不仅会改善他的个人生活而且也可提高他的业务能力?这个问题至今争论不休，双方都有充分的论据。
在18、19世纪，这个问题甚至不值得一提。良好的教育当然是基于人文学科的一般性教育。一个受过教育的人“凡事都懂一点”。他熟悉古代的伟大业绩和思想，他博览群书，能正确地使用他的语言，而且常常用得很高雅。他能参与任何关于植物、行星、画家或政治的谈话。他日子过得自在舒畅，知道他所受的教育会给自己开辟任何他想从事的事业的道路。他虽然对文学深感兴趣，但也懂得一些科学知识和他那个时代的技术。