issue55 写的比较滥，请大家多批评！

happyman2000UID: 136936

Issue 55.  Competition for higher grades of study seriously limits the quality at all levels of study.
人们为了更高的分数而竞争，严重限制了人们各个阶段学习的质量。

Admittedly it is not the most effective method for modern education to encourage students to compete for higher grades, but there is indeed no other means that can better improve the quality at all levels of study. Competition for higher grades has its meanings in that it can satisfy the needs of the modern society best despite its defects.

The maim problem of propelling students to compete for higher grades is that it may seriously mislead or even distort the behaviors of schools, teachers and students such that the true purpose and essence of education would be unutterably ignored. For the purpose of higher grades, teachers and students will place too much emphasis on memorizing knowledge and doing exercises because these are the acknowledged keys to deal with all kinds of examinations. The essence of this educational method is to concentrate on knowledge itself, rather than the improvement of students’ “moralities” and “mental abilities”, which are the really valuable aims of modern education according to Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Declaration of Independence. Under this educational environment, students may develop a good grasp of knowledge and can do examinations skillfully, but their creation, critical thinking and other intellectual abilities would undergo a little improvement.

However, to point out the problems is usually easier than to resolve the problems. Several practical concerns make it very difficult for any society to put its above consciousness about the negative effects of competing for higher grades into its educational practice.  

For one thing, the violent competition of modern society propels any individual and social organization including educational institution to produce as many qualified products (students for educational institution) as possible at the lowest cost. Encouraging students to compete for higher grades provides such an approach through which modern education can “produce” qualified—of course not the most highly qualified—students in a relatively efficient manner. The underlying reason is simple: after setting up the standards of grades, the uniform processes of educating students and the uniform standards of evaluating students can be settled correspondingly. As a result, education becomes something highly similar with manufacturing industrial products in assembly lines. The uniform educating processes bring about the efficiency in teaching students, and the uniform evaluating standards can make sure that no unqualified students can graduate from school. Without these standards, maybe some ideal products (or students) can be manufactured out, but the possibility of producing unqualified products would significantly increase. Therefore, though students are certainly not best educated by this means, at least this means can ensure all graduates are qualified, to some extent, which is just what the modern society desires for.

Another function of competition for higher grades is that it can screen the high-qualified students from those relatively low qualified. This function is very important for the society especially when it must be determined who has the qualification to attend Harvard University, or who should be paid more among new employees graduated from schools. Economists generally call this function as signal. That is to say, higher grades, though do little to individual ability and social development, can serve as a signal revealing the relevant information about who are more intelligent or more efficient. Without this signal, people will find it difficult to make correct choices when confronted with asymmetrical information about individual faculties. To reduce the possible risk of wrong choices, people have to spend a lot of time in observing the actual performance of students, which contributes to the waste of social resources and therefore increases the cost of the whole society.  

To sum up, though competition for higher grades is somewhat detrimental to the realization of true aims of modern education, without it, the efficiency in modern educational system will undergo a serious decline, and the society will fail to discriminate the excellent students from all, and in a word, the benefit from relinquishing this method will be far much greater the lost.   (654 words)

GcanadaUID: 118286

能交个朋友吗?
你的句法用的太好了,新4看了很多了吗?
你肯定是只英语大牛啊!

happyman2000UID: 136936

最初由 Gcanada 发布
[B]能交个朋友吗?
你的句法用的太好了,新4看了很多了吗?
你肯定是只英语大牛啊! [/B]

你实在是过奖了，这坛子里面的真正的大牛多着呢！哪轮得上我这种小辈！
互相学习！

gambellUID: 122696

你和feier还有莹莹，for you sake的每篇文章我都会粘回去看（学习和互评）,嘿嘿，以后见到我不要奇怪啊

dreamflyerUID: 21967

请教楼主，你练习的篇目有所选择嘛？比如说，你有没猜题或听到人说猜题的范围什么的呢？我发现我练的跟大家在练的方向都不一样啊。我是按顺序一个一个啃。这样是不是太没效率？

dreamflyerUID: 21967

就我的水平看来，写的真的很不错！
结构很清晰，是有保留的赞同。而且，可能是因为反对的原因太明显了，所以放在了前面：一味追求高分有悖于教育的最终理念。
然后是一个过渡段，进入到赞成部分，可以说是向现实投降了：
第一，只有考试制度，才可以使最大限度的“生产”出标准合格的产品。
第二，分数提供给社会简单易行的识别学生能力的方式。
角度都很到位，说理清楚。不过感觉推理多了例子少了。
语言方面也不错，偶尔有一两个小错误，估计是粗心的，暇不掩玉。
呵呵，不过我的意见是真的抛砖引玉了：）

happyman2000UID: 136936

多谢各位的评论！