研究生英语系列教程多维教程熟谙

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Students come to campus at a time of high expectancy. And yet, all too often they become enmeshed in routines that are deadening and distracting. As we talked with teachers and students, we often had the uncomfortable feeling that the most vial issues of life —the nature of society, the roots of social injustice, indeed the very prospects for human survival —are the ones with which the undergraduate college is least equipped to deal.

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The outcomes of collegiate education should be measured by the student’s performance in the classroom as he or she becomes proficient in the use of knowledge, acquires a solid basic education, and becomes competent in specific field. Further, the impact of the undergraduate experience is to be assessed by the performance of the graduate in the workplace and further education.

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But in the end, students must be inspired by a larger vision, using the knowledge they have acquired to discover patterns, form values, and advance the common good. The undergraduate experience at its best will move the student from competence to commitment.

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A recent college graduate wrote about the commitments of young people and their future. She asks:“what kind of nation will we be if we

cannot even commit ourselves to other people, much less to a set of abstract values?...what kinds of politicians will we elect if self-interest is our highest value, humanity an ‘inoperative’ commodity ?”

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When all is said and done, the college should encourage each student to develop the capacity to judge wisely in matters of life and conduct. Time must be taken for exploring ambiguities and reflecting on the imponderables of life —in classrooms, in the rathskellers, and in bull sessions late at night. The goal is not to indoctrinate students, but to set them free in the word of ideas and provide a climate in which ethical and moral choices can be thoughtfully examined, and convictions formed.

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This imperative does not replace the need for rigorous study in the disciplines, but neither must specialization become an excuse to suspend judgment or diminish the search for purposeful life objectives.

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We are keenly aware of the limited impact people and their institutions seem to make these days on the events of our time. But our abiding hope is that, with determination and effort, the undergraduate college can make a difference in the intellectual and personal lives of its graduates, in the social and civic responsibilities they are willing to assume, and ultimately in their world perspective. These intangibles, which reveal themselves in ways that are very real, are the